The Tour de France concluded in Paris Saturday with Lance Armstrong being the second American to win ever. He was seven minutes and 37 seconds ahead of Swiss Alex Zuelle. The green jersey, which is awarded for points, was won by German Erik Zabel, who has also won it the three last years. The “King of the mountain” jersey was won by Frenchman Richard Virenque, who organizers refused to invite to the race due to last year’s doping scandal. Italian Mario Cipollini, who won four successive stages in the first week of the race, and Belgian sprinter Tom Steels, who won three stages, played the other leading roles in this year’s Tour.

In Istanbul, Turkey, the European swimming championships are well underway. Alexander Popov from Russia, twice world and Olympic champion, suffered his first 100 meters freestyle defeat in a major championship in eight years, losing to Pieter van den Hoogenband from the Netherlands. Despite Popov’s loss, Russia still leads the medals table in front of Germany and the Netherlands. The championships conclude this Sunday.

Italian soccer team Parma recorded a 31-0 victory over the lower division team Morgex last weekend. Mario Stanic from Croatia scored eight, Marco di Vaio four and Argentinean Crespo three. The rest of the goals were split among the rest of the players. The victory is the highest scoring margin by an Italian Serie A team this year.

Australian pole vaulter Emma George, who holds the world record in the event, was lucky to avoid any serious injuries when she missed her landing bag during practice Monday and fell from four and a half meters. She sustained bruises, but no broken bones from the fall, and is only allowed to swim for the next ten days. The injury might affect George’s preparations for the track-and-field world championships, which starts in Seville, Spain on Aug. 20.

In Formula One racing, Briton Eddie Irvine won the Austrian Grand Prix Sunday in a Ferrari. He was .313 seconds ahead of David Coulthard, also from Britain, in a McLaren. With the win, Irvine moved within two points of the overall leader of the championship, Mika Hakkinen from Finland.

Also in F-1 news, Michael Schumacher from Germany, who was injured in a crash in England earlier this month, might not return to racing this season, according to his teammate in Ferrari, Eddie Irvine. However, Austrian surgeon Reinhard Weinstabl, who operated on German tennis star Steffi Graf’s knee in 1997, said he believed Schumacher could return after a six-week break, which means he could race in the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug. 29 at Spa-Francorchamps.

In English soccer news, Arsenal’s French striker Nicolas Anelka’s transfer is still not settled after Anelka failed to agree to Italian club Lazio’s personal terms. However, he refuses to return to London. Arsenal has responded by taking Anelka off the transfer list, claiming that he is no longer for sale. Lazio representatives on the other hand, say that talks are still ongoing. The battle for the striker has been going on for over two months, the transfer sum agreed on by Arsenal and Lazio was 22 million pounds, or $35 million.

Finally, the world’s largest youth soccer tournament starts in Oslo, Norway this Sunday. Norway Cup attracts 22,000 players under 19 years from 34 different countries. New countries this year are Uruguay and Somalia. 1,273 teams are registered and will play a total of 3,000 games during the six days the tournament lasts.