Beijing Olympic Games

Beach Volleyball HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals Dalhausser, Rogers win again

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP)—Olympic gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, the top-seeded duo, won their third straight AVP Crocs Tour Manhattan Beach Open on Sunday.

Dalhausser and Rogers beat third-seeded Nick Lucena and Sean Scott, 21-16, 21-15, in the final match to win the title. The only other teams to win at least three straight Manhattan Beach Opens were the tandems of Mike Dodd and Tim Hovland, and Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes.

“That’s illustrious company,” Rogers said. “If you follow beach volleyball history, Manhattan means a lot.”

Rogers and Dalhausser won $100,000, matching the largest winner’s check in beach volleyball, and captured the Crocs Cup for the AVP season-long championship.

Dalhausser and Rogers won 11 of the 14 AVP Crocs Tour events they played this year and four international events, including the gold medal at the Beijing Games. This was the 17th of 18 events on the tour schedule and the final team event.

“It’s a long season,” a visibly fatigued Rogers said. “Physically, emotionally, we’re tired. We’re ready for an offseason.”

Track & Field HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals Willis outleans Lagat to win Fifth Avenue Mile

NEW YORK (AP)—Olympic bronze medalist Nick Willis of New Zealand outleaned American Olympian Bernard Lagat to win the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile on Sunday.

Willis finished in 3 minutes, 50.5 seconds to edge Lagat by 0.1 seconds.

Great Britain Olympian Lisa Dobrisky beat American Olympian Shannon Rowbury to become the race’s first British champion since Paula Radcliffe in 1997. Dobrisky (4:18.6) and Rowbury (4:19.2) had the race’s second- and third-fastest times ever.

Lagat went out quickly and led the pack at the halfway mark in 1:52. Willis, who was third in the 1,500 meters in Beijing, fought back in the closing meters to win his first race this year.

Canadian Olympian Nate Brennen, Willis’ former teammate at the University of Michigan, was third in 3:51.9.

Dobrisky ran shoulder-to-shoulder with Rowbury and Kenya’s Rose Kosgei before breaking free down the final stretch.

Track & Field HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals Birhanu leads sweep by Ethiopian men in Philly

PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Yirefu Birhanu edged countryman Terefu Zwedie by 1 second to lead a 1-2-3 sweep by Ethiopian men at the Philadelphia Distance Run on Sunday.

Liliya Shobukhova of Russia beat six-time winner Catherine Ndereba of Kenya in the women’s race.

Birhanu broke away from the pack with about a half-mile to go, finishing the half-marathon in 1 hour, 1 minute, 22 seconds. Girma Tola was third in 1:01:26. The sweep by the Ethiopian men broke Kenya’s traditional hold on the top spot. McDonard Ondara was the top Kenyan finisher, placing fourth in 1:01.32.

“I didn’t expect to win,” said Birhanu, who had not raced since dropping out of the Boston Marathon with stomach problems.

Shobukhova finished in 1:10:21 to beat Ndereba by 10 seconds in the 13.1-mile race. The Russian competed in last month’s Olympic Games in Beijing, finishing sixth in the 5,000.

Ndereba finished second in the Olympic marathon.

“My legs were still a little tired from Beijing,” said Ndereba, who got five of her wins in the Philadelphia Distance Run from 1998 to 2002. “I’m still getting over it.”

An estimated 15,800 people ran in the race, which was held with temperatures in the 50s and a light wind.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP)—Kenya’s Julius Maritim won his fourth straight Sydney Marathon on Sunday, finishing five minutes ahead of countryman Benson Mbithi.

Continue reading ‘Kenya’s Maritim wins 4th straight Sydney Marathon’ »

Doping-IOC will rule on Belarus hammer throwers by mid-October

ATHENS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday it would decide by mid-October on the doping cases of two Belarus hammer throw Olympic medallists who tested positive during the Beijing Games.

The IOC also said a Polish athlete who was fourth in the men’s kayak double 1000 metres event in Beijing was being investigated for possible anti-doping rule violations.

The IOC said its disciplinary committee, which met on Sunday, had decided to give the athletes from Belarus more time to present their case.

“The meeting was convened to deal with adverse analytical findings for Vadim Devyatovskiy…Ivan Tsikhan…and Adam Seroczynski who placed fourth in the men’s kayak double (K2) 1000m event,” the IOC said in a statement.

Devyatovskiy took silver in the hammer at August’s Games with a best throw of 81.61 and his compatriot, world champion Tsikhan, won bronze with a throw of 81.51. Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia won the gold medal.

“The IOC disciplinary commission gave the two Belarussian hammer throwers the opportunity to provide further information until 17 October 2008. The decision by the commission will be taken once this information has been analysed,” the statement said.

“The decision concerning the Polish canoeist will be issued by the IOC disciplinary commission on 8 October 2008,” it said. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, Editing by Clare Fallon)

Hammer medalists get time to fight doping cases

By GRAHAM DUNBAR

Associated Press Writer

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP)—The IOC has given two Belarusian hammer throwers more time to fight allegations of doping at the Beijing Olympics.

Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan, who won silver and bronze in Beijing, have until Oct. 17 to provide more information explaining why they tested positive for abnormal traces of testosterone after the Aug. 17 hammer final.

The athletes emerged after spending 3 1/2 hours Sunday with the International Olympic Committee’s Disciplinary Commission.

“We are waiting and we hope,” silver medalist Devyatovskiy said through an interpreter. “We know that we are clean but we are waiting for information.”

The Belarus pair could be disqualified and stripped of their medals if found guilty of doping.

If disqualified, Devyatovskiy’s medal would go to Krisztian Pars of Hungary, and Tsikhan’s bronze would go to Koji Murofushi of Japan. Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus won the gold medal.

The 31-year-old Devyatovskiy faces a lifetime ban if found guilty of a second doping offense. He served a two-year drug suspension from 2000-02.

It would be a first offense for the 32-year-old Tsikhan, a three-time world champion and silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The commission heard a third case Sunday involving Polish canoeist Adam Seroczynski, who tested positive for clenbuterol, a prohibited anabolic agent.

The 34-year-old Seroczynski was a bronze medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games in the K4 class, but competed in the flatwater K2 class at Beijing. His 21-year-old teammate Mariusz Kujawski is not under suspicion. The pair finished fourth.

Seroczynski’s legal adviser Ludwik Zukowski said before the hearing he would argue that the athlete did not know how the substance entered his body.

“We don’t know how it could happen,” Zukowski said. “The amount was so unbelievably small. Human beings don’t use clenbuterol.”

The disciplinary commission will rule on the Seroczynski case on Oct. 8.

The IOC disqualified six athletes for doping during the Beijing Games— Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska, Ukrainian weightlifter Igor Razoronov, Greek hurdler Fani Halkia, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Spanish cyclist Isabel Moreno and Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do.

Blonska was stripped of her silver medal, while Kim had his silver and bronze medals revoked.

The IOC carried out more than 5,000 doping tests at the Beijing Olympics.

Swimming HomeAthletesScheduleResultsMedals Olympian Cullen Jones urges minorities to swim

IRVINGTON, N.J. (AP)—When he was 5 years old, Olympic swimmer Cullen Jones nearly drowned at a water park. Now he wants to help children swim and encourage minorities to take up his sport.

Jones, who won a gold medal with the U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team in Beijing, was honored in his return to his hometown where he launched a nationwide “diversity tour” for swimming.

“There are so many African-Americans and Latin Americans that are afraid of the water, but love to be in the water,” Jones said. “And that’s the problem. That’s what this diversity tour is about.”

Jones drew an enthusiastic response Saturday from a crowd that included friends, residents, local officials and even Gov. Jon Corzine, who admitted being a little star-struck.

“He has used his life and success to give back to others,” Corzine said, adding that it was “pretty neat to have a gold-medal winner here.”

Shortly after nearly drowning as a child, Jones began taking swimming lessons with the Newark Swim Team and soon fell in love with the sport. As he grew, he and his parents became strong supporters of efforts to encourage swimming among minorities.

Those involved in the diversity tour say nearly 60 percent of black and Hispanic/Latino children cannot swim. Several parents who attended Saturday’s event said Jones provides a strong role model.

“A lot of children today feel like they can’t do it, but they look at (Cullen) and know they can,” Cora Wylie said. “It’s just so nice that he came back home and reached out to the students here in Irvington.”

Jones, who has three more tour stops planned this year, believes this is a program that can grow.

“It’s not going to be something that happens and changes over night,” he said. “This is something that can keep on going as long as I can get on a plane and open my mouth. This could be something that starts and ends way beyond me.”