Are you talking about shooting sequences? Because the card writing takes place after the image has been captured. Unless you're shooting sequences and the capture rate isn't fast enough, the problem isn't card write speed. Plus, card write speed only makes a difference after you fill the camera's buffer. That would be after you shoot a sequence of a few frames. Until you fill the buffer, any lag is caused by camera electronics. Fast cards are nice if you shoot a lot of frames quickly. But for me - and I shoot sports too - I really only notice the speed when I'm transferring to the computer or reformatting my cards. It's rare that I actually hit my camera's buffer and rely on card speed. That said, I do buy fast cards because I know that when I do hit the camera's memory buffer, I will not have to wait longer than necessary for the files to write to the card so I can shoot again.

Most likely, you're going to have to learn to adjust your timing a little. You could also upgrade your camera body. The Olympus E-3 is very, very fast. Your E-500 is a couple of generations old now and a new body would perform better in many areas and have noticeably better image quality.