Los Angeles -- U.S. Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard says she and her boyfriend, photographer Sacha Brown, are "thrilled" after getting engaged.

Los Angeles -- U.S. Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard says she and her boyfriend, photographer Sacha Brown, are "thrilled" after getting engaged.

Beard, who has won seven Olympic swimming medals, said she and Brown got engaged on Christmas Day and are excited to move forward in life together, People.com reported Friday.

"We are thrilled to be starting the next chapter in our lives together," the Olympic standout said. "We are completely in love and to top it off we are best friends. Sacha proposed on Christmas morning in the most perfect way I could imagine. He is truly the man of my dreams and every day I spend with him is a blessing."

The couple have been dating for three years.

Beard began competing in the Olympics when she was only 14 and has since taken part in four straight Olympic Games, People.com said.

The 27-year-old athlete also has a modeling career, having appeared in the men's publication Playboy.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.

Charlotte Church's ex-boyfriend hunted over £20million heroin find at his home

By Justin Penrose Crime Correspondent, sundaymirror.co.uk 25/01/2009

Police are hunting Charlotte Church'sex-boy friend after a staggering £20m haul of heroin was seized from his home.

Scotland Yard detectives yesterday took the rare step of revealing they want to question Kyle Johnson - who had a stormy 18- month relationship with the Voice Of An Angel star - about the giant Class A drug haul. He has been missing since the drugs, imported from Afghanistan, were found last month.

The 150kg seizure - among the biggest ever recorded in the UK - was found in the bedroom of Johnson's terraced house in East London.

The high-grade heroin had been cut and put into hundreds of brown envel-opes for distribution.

Detectives believe the drugs were smuggled in through Turkey and across Europe by an organised drugs ring.

KATIE NICHOLL: Nadine Coyle sets the stage for acting career

Girls Aloud frontgirl Nadine Coyle is planning to follow in the footsteps of bandmate Cheryl Cole by branching out on her own.
The 23-year-old Ulster-born beauty is to launch an acting career.

‘I’m really excited about it but we’ll have to see what happens,’ the LA-based singer, who is dating New York Giants player Jason Bell, told my source.

‘Girls Aloud are going to have to work around me a bit because my home isn’t in London.

'I love being in LA and don’t feel the need to come back to the UK so much.’
Colleague Cheryl has become the nation’s sweetheart since appearing as a judge on The X Factor.