ESPN Olympic Sports

Runners competed in this past weekend's Beijing Marathon despite "hazardous" conditions, according to multiple reports.

Runner's World reported that an estimated 30,000 people were expected to participate in Sunday's half marathon and marathon events, but some of the runners dropped out early or wore masks during the race.

One of those runners who dropped out mid-race was Chas Pope. He posted before and after pictures of his mask vis Twitter:

Ran 10K of the Beijing Marathon (in a mask) in hazardous air conditions then abandoned it. @iaaforg #Airpocalypse pic.twitter.com/9waLpuSymn

— Chas Pope (@china_chas) October 19, 2014

Mask before and after running 10K of #BeijingMarathon in hazardous air - glad not in lungs @totobobo #Airpocalypse pic.twitter.com/XVAMCJMdXF

— Chas Pope (@china_chas) October 19, 2014

For more details around the Beijing race conditions, check out Competitor.com.

STELLENBOSCH, South Africa -- Oscar Pistorius will finally learn his fate Tuesday when a judge is expected to announce the Olympic runner's sentence for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius could be sentenced to years in prison, or he could be given a suspended sentence and a fine and receive no jail time for shooting Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home.

More than seven months after Pistorius' trial started, Judge Thokozile Masipa will announce what punishment she has decided on after finding him guilty of culpable homicide, which is comparable to manslaughter, but acquitting him of murder.

Prosecutors have demanded at least 10 years in prison for the double-amputee athlete. His defense lawyers have suggested that three years of correctional supervision, with periods of house arrest and community service, would be appropriate.

Pistorius testified during his murder trial that he mistook Steenkamp for a dangerous nighttime intruder about to come out of the cubicle and attack him when he shot four times through the door with his 9 mm pistol. Judge Masipa last month ruled that Pistorius did not intend to kill Steenkamp, but he acted negligently and with excessive force in the Valentine's Day 2013 killing.

He was also convicted of unlawfully firing a gun in a restaurant weeks before Steenkamp's death. That normally carries a fine for a first offense, but has a maximum of five years in prison.

Masipa has a wide range of options available to her at the climax of the trial because there is no minimum sentence for culpable homicide.

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LONDON -- Rejected time and again for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the IOC will soon be seeking suitors for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

It will be hoping to attract a competitive, high-profile field to show there are cities that want to host the games rather than shun them.

Even before Oslo became the fourth city to drop out of the race for the 2022 Games, the International Olympic Committee had started reviewing its bidding system to make it more appealing and less expensive for future host cities.

Making the process more flexible -- allowing cities to tailor a bid to their own needs from the start rather than adhere to strict IOC requirements -- is central to IOC President Thomas Bach's "Olympic Agenda 2020" reform package.

Recommendations are being finalized this week at an IOC executive board meeting in Montreux, Switzerland.

Potential bidders for 2024 are waiting to see exactly what changes are being made. The new rules will be put to a vote at a special IOC assembly in Monaco from Dec. 8-9.

Bids will need to be submitted next year. The host city will be chosen in 2017. A look at some potential 2024 candidates:

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ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson discusses the testimony of a psychologist who called Oscar Pistorius a "broken man" as the Olympic runner's sentencing hearing began Monday:

After winning her first World Cup race in December of 2012, American skiing sensation Mikaela Shiffrin met 11-year old Emma Lundell of Sweden, a young fan who was battling leukemia. The two posed for a picture together and Shiffrin wrote about the experience on her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Tonight I met a young Swedish girl Emma Lundell....http://t.co/rF961N5q

— Mikaela Shiffrin (@MikaelaShiffrin) December 20, 2012

Now, almost two years later, Lundell is finished with her chemotherapy treatments. With some help from Swedish site SPORT-Expressen, Lundell made a video message for Shiffrin, updating her on her health. Shiffrin’s reaction is priceless.

Is it just me or does everything suddenly feel right in this world?

Read more on Shiffrin and other top female athletes at espnW.com.