Beijing Olympic Games

France to bid for 2018 Winter Olympics

PARIS (AP)—France will bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

The French Olympic Committee agreed Wednesday to bid for the games. Grenoble, Nice and Annecy are among the expected contenders.

City officials have until mid-October to declare interest, and the French committee will select its candidate in March.

The International Olympic Committee will choose the host city in 2011.

France hosted the Winter Games in Albertville in 1992. Paris lost recent bids to host the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

Among other cities that have announced bids or interest in 2018 are Pyeongchang, South Korea; Munich, Germany; Geneva; Tromsoe, Norway; and Reno-Tahoe, Nev.

Track & Field HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals Arkansas sanctions upheld; track titles in doubt

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP)—The NCAA upheld sanctions against Arkansas’ track and field program, although the school still hopes to keep two national titles in question.

Arkansas said Tuesday it will ask an NCAA committee handling track and field scoring to clarify how many points the Razorbacks must vacate from the 2004 and 2005 men’s outdoor national championships. The Razorbacks won the title both years.

Arkansas was penalized for violations involving sprint star Tyson Gay and a former assistant coach. The NCAA handed down its decision last October, taking away the two national titles and giving the school three years’ probation.

The school appealed, calling the penalties excessive. On Tuesday, the NCAA said it had denied Arkansas’ attempt to change the start date of its probationary period—and that meet results from when Gay competed should still be vacated.

“Although we differ in our view in the appropriateness of the penalties and the application of the probation period, we respect the appeals process,” Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long said.

At least one matter is unresolved.

In its appeal, the school argued that deducting Gay’s individual points might not necessarily cost Arkansas its championships from 2004 and 2005. The Razorbacks won the outdoor title by 16.5 points in 2004 and 11 points in 2005. The school contended that Gay’s individual point totals for the meets could be as low as 16 points for ‘04 and 8.5 for ‘05, depending on how individual points are awarded among athletes on a relay team.

For example, Gay was on a four-man relay team in 2005 that earned Arkansas 10 points. The school questioned whether it should have to subtract 10 points or 2.5 when vacating Gay’s contribution.

Arkansas said Tuesday it was told to consult another NCAA committee for clarification on that issue.

“As noted by the appeals committee, I believe it is important to seek clarification of the proper method for calculating the points that must be vacated,” said John McDonnell, the longtime Arkansas coach who recently retired. “This determination will have an important impact on the ultimate outcome of the sanctions imposed against the university.”

Arkansas has won 40 national championships in track and field and cross country, not including the two in question.

Arkansas self-reported violations committed by former assistant Lance Brauman, who was convicted in 2006 of embezzlement, theft and mail fraud. The convictions stemmed from his time at Barton County Community College in Kansas. Brauman was coaching Arkansas when he was convicted. He then resigned.

Gay, who won the world championship last year at 100 and 200 meters, transferred from Barton County to Arkansas.

The university has acknowledged that Brauman and his wife provided impermissible transportation for the athlete and helped arrange lodging for him during the summer of 2003, prior to his enrollment at Arkansas. The school also reported Brauman or his wife helped the student enroll in a correspondence course in a way that constituted improper assistance, and that Brauman asked his sister-in-law to tutor the student and helped arrange for two people to serve as proctors for tests in the correspondence course.

Track & Field HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals 5 Russian race walkers banned for doping

MOSCOW (AP)—Five Russian race walkers, including world record-holder Sergei Morozov, have been suspended for two years for doping.

Morozov, Viktor Burayev, Vladimir Kanaikin, Igor Yerokhin and Alexei Voevodin were sanctioned by the national federation for testing positive for the endurance-enhancing hormone EPO, the All Sport news agency said Tuesday.

Morozov holds the world record in the 20 kilometer walk, and Kanaikin is the former record holder in the event. Voevodin was the bronze medalist in the 50K walk at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Morozov and Yerokhin tested positive on June 29, and the others on April 20, All Sport said.

The was no immediate comment from the federation.

Russia’s track and field athletes were dogged by doping allegations before and during the Beijing Olympics.

Kanaikin and Morozov both went under the world record at the national trials in March, but neither competed in Beijing. Kanaikin was dropped from the squad and replaced by 2005 world champion Sergei Kirdyapkin.

Morozov was entered but did not start the 20k race in Beijing.

Seven Russian women were provisionally suspended by the IAAF in July for allegedly manipulating urine samples.

Track & Field HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals 2 Belarusian athletes banned for doping

MINSK, Belarus (AP)—A shot putter and steeplechaser from Belarus drew two-year bans for doping.

The Belarusian Athletics Federation said Tuesday the decision to discipline shot putter Yulia Leantsyuk and steeplechaser Irina Bakhanouskaya was made last month. Both competed in the European Cup in France in June.

Leantsyuk tested positive for testosterone on July 22 and Bakhanouskaya for stanozolol on July 21, federation spokeswoman Nastassia Maryinina said.

Track & Field HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals American Jackson wins 400 hurdles in Japan

KAWASAKI, Japan (AP)—Olympic bronze medalist Bershawn Jackson of the United States won the 400-meter hurdles Tuesday at the Super Track and Field meet.

Jackson got off to a slow start but recovered to surge ahead of Kenji Narisako of Japan down the stretch in 49.33 seconds. Narisako finished in 49.68.

American Miriam Barnes won the women’s 400 in 53.18. Damu Cherry of the U.S. took the 100 hurdles in 13.07, while teammate Candice Davis trailed by 0.06.

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey of Britain won the 100 in 10.19, edging American Michael Rodgers by 0.07. Nobuharu Asahara of Japan, running his last race, followed in 10.37.

Koji Murofushi of Japan won the hammer throw with a heave of 265 feet, 10 inches, ahead of Krisztian Pars of Hungary at 264-8 and Beijing gold medalist Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia at 257-10.

King, US Olympic dressage team disqualified

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP)—The United States was disqualified Monday from its fourth-place finish in the Olympic team dressage event for a positive drug test.

The International Equestrian Federation said rider Courtney King’s horse Mythilus tested positive for the banned substance felbinac. The medication is used as an anti-inflammatory pain reliever.

The FEI said the disqualification was automatic despite a plea from the U.S. Equestrian Federation on behalf of King’s teammates Steffen Peters and Debbie McDonald.

“The behavior of anyone at the top of the sport and particularly at the Olympic Games must be faultless since the eyes of the world focus on performances at such events,” the FEI said in a statement.

King also lost her 13th place in the individual dressage class and received a one-month ban already served since she was suspended during the Beijing Games.

A hearing on the case was held Sept. 7 at FEI headquarters in Lausanne. King argued that she gained no competitive advantage and had not mistreated her horse because of the nature and small amount of the substance found. The FEI classes felbinac as a banned medication, not a doping product.

While noting King’s “impeccable record and reputation,” the FEI said she had not explained how the substance entered her horse’s system. The tribunal repeated FEI policy of ensuring that horses compete only when fit.

“This requires doping and medication rule violations to be strict liability or no fault offenses,” the governing body said.

The U.S. equestrian team was praised for its “excellent stable management” at the Olympics, and for its efforts trying to find out the source of the positive test.

The FEI said it believed neither King “nor anyone on her behalf or related to the USEF had knowingly administered the medication to the horse.”

King’s case is one of six positive tests from the Olympics being heard by the world federation this month. The equestrian events at the games were held in Hong Kong.

Halkia appears before Greek prosecutor over doping

ATHENS, Greece (AP)—Greek hurdler Fani Halkia appeared Monday before a prosecutor investigating the doping case that led to her expulsion from the Beijing Olympics, and insisted she did not intentionally use performance-enhancing drugs.

Halkia, the 2004 Olympic 400-meter hurdles gold medalist, tested positive for the steroid methyltrienolone on Aug. 16.

She told reporters that Athens prosecutor Costas Simitzoglou gave her until Friday to prepare her testimony, and she maintained she had not deliberately cheated.

“That is the one thing that is for sure,” Halkia said. “I know that better than anyone.”

The 29-year-old Halkia was the 15th Greek athlete to be caught this year taking the banned steroid.

Simitzoglou is heading an investigation into whether Halkia, her coach George Panagiotopoulos and sprinter Tassos Gousis—another of the 15—broke Greek law by obtaining and using the steroid. All three have denied any wrongdoing.

Greece’s national Olympic committee head, Minos Kyriakou, testified before Simitzoglou this month.

Last month, the International Olympic Committee filed a lawsuit against Panagiotopoulos, requesting his prosecution in Greece.

The 15 athletes who tested positive for methyltrienolone include 11 members of the Greek weightlifting team, who have been charged with illegal use of toxic substances—a misdemeanor.