Sports Shorts: Golfer Olesen charged with sexual assault

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday

Danish golfer Thorbjorn Olesen has been charged with sexual assault, being drunk on an aircraft and common assault and will appear in court on August 21, Metropolitan Police have said.

The 29-year-old was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on July 29 and subsequently released under investigation after returning from a World Golf Championships event in Memphis.

"A man has been charged in connection with an incident on an inbound flight to Heathrow Airport on Monday, 29 July," a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in statement.

"Jacob Thorbjorn Olesen, 29, of Redcliffe Road, Kensington and Chelsea, was charged by postal requisition on Thursday, 1 August with sexual assault, being drunk on an aircraft and common assault.

"He is due to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, 21 August."

Olesen's lawyer Paul Morris had said in a statement on Monday that his client cooperated fully with the police during their investigation, but could not comment on the matter while legal proceedings were ongoing.

Olesen has five European Tour victories and made his Ryder Cup debut in Paris last year, beating American Jordan Spieth in the final-day singles.

Britain's Olympic champion Mears retires to follow music career

Britain's first Olympic diving champion Chris Mears, who won gold with his 3m springboard synchronised partner Jack Laugher, has retired from competition to pursue his music career.

The 26-year-old, who claimed the country's first Olympic gold medal in diving alongside Laugher at the Rio Olympics in 2016, had taken a break from the sport late last year.

"What a journey," Mears, who is now a music producer and DJ, wrote on Instagram on Tuesday. "My road was certainly bumpy. But in order to get to something from nothing, you need to work hard, keep improving, and never give up."

In 2009, Mears was given a 5% chance of survival after suffering a ruptured spleen but that proved to be the turning point in his life and three years later he was competing at the London Olympics.

Mears and Laugher retained the Commonwealth Games 3m springboard synchro title in 2018 and won silver at the European Championships in Glasgow in their final event as a pair.

Laugher, 24, now dives with Dan Goodfellow and the pair won silver at the world championships last month.

Mears, who with Laugher also won bronze at the 2015 worlds and gold at the 2016 European Championships, put out his first single 'Mexico' in 2015 and is planning further releases and collaborations over the coming months.

"I’m now working full time in the music industry," he added on Instagram.

"I've had a (diving) career full of amazing memories, friendships and experiences I'll always look back on and smiled. I've learned lessons that I will take with me for the rest of my life."