International Capsules: AP sources: IOC to keep Jones' gold from Thanou
LONDON — Olympic leaders are finally ready to distribute the individual medals stripped from Marion Jones for doping — but withhold the 100-meter gold from another drug-tainted athlete.
Officials with direct knowledge of the plan spoke to The Associated Press on Monday on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn't been announced yet.
Nine years after the 2000 Games, the International Olympic Committee is set to allocate some of the five medals — three gold and two bronze — that Jones won in Sydney with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs.
At a two-day meeting starting Wednesday in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC executive board will decide to hand out Jones' gold in the 200 meters and bronze in the long jump but not give disgraced Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou the 100-meter gold, officials told the AP.
While Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas is to be upgraded from silver to gold in the 200, the IOC will not reward Thanou in the 100 because she was at the center of another drug scandal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Thanou and fellow Greek runner Kostas Kenteris missed drug tests on the eve of the opening ceremony, said they were injured in a motorcycle crash and were hospitalized. They were forced to pull out of the games and were later banned for two years by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Thanou and Kenteris — the men's 200-meter winner in Sydney — are still awaiting trial in Greece on misdemeanor charges of staging the motorcycle crash to avoid the drug tests.
Although Thanou never tested positive and has not been linked to doping in Sydney, the IOC can deny her the gold medal based on her behavior in Athens, the officials said.
The IOC barred Thanou from last year's Beijing Games, saying her drug-testing case in Athens was a "scandalous saga" that brought the Olympics into disrepute.
The prospect of Thanou being promoted to the gold medal has vexed IOC leaders since Jones admitted in 2007 that she used steroids at the time of the Sydney Games. Jones, who had been the first female athlete to win five medals at a single Olympics, served a six-month prison sentence last year for lying about doping and her role in a check-fraud scam.
The IOC stripped Jones of her five medals, which also included gold in the 4x400 relay and bronze in the 4x100 relay, in December 2007. But the committee has held off redistributing the medals pending legal issues and further developments in the BALCO steroid investigation.
While the IAAF is in charge of amending the official results and rankings, the IOC has jurisdiction over the medals.
"I cannot know what the outcome of the discussion will be, but not all cases need necessarily to have the same treatment or the same result," IOC executive board member Denis Oswald said in a telephone interview Monday.
Thanou's lawyers have indicated she could sue or appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to get the medal. To make a lawsuit more difficult, the IOC is not expected to make a formal announcement that it is denying Thanou the gold, but simply say that no decision was made to reallocate the medal.
"On an image issue, I would prefer to err on the side of not giving the medal and let her sue," said Dick Pound, a Canadian IOC member and former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency who is not on the decision-making executive board. "If a CAS panel thinks that she's legally entitled to it, then let them take the heat."
While the gold medal will remain vacant, third-place finisher Tanya Lawrence will move up to the silver and fellow Jamaican Merlene Ottey from fourth to bronze. Thanou would keep her silver, meaning Lawrence would get a duplicate medal.
In the 200, the gold will go to Davis-Thompson, with Sri Lanka's Susanthika Jayasinghe promoted from bronze to silver and Jamaica's Beverly McDonald from fourth to third.
The IAAF urged the IOC in August to speed the process for reassigning Jones' medals.
"The IAAF position is clear — we are waiting for the decision of the IOC on this matter, and hope that it can be concluded as soon as possible," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said in an e-mail Monday.
On the IAAF Web site, Jones is still listed in her Sydney medal placings with an asterisk noting "subject to IOC decision."
"As for the allocation of the medals/results by the IOC, we await their decision and do not want to prejudge that," Davies said.
Still undecided is the fate of the relay medals.
In April 2008, the IOC stripped all the relay medals because of Jones' doping. But the relay runners appealed to CAS, arguing it was wrong to punish them for Jones' violations. CAS is due to release its verdict by Dec. 18, and the IOC will wait until then before deciding on the reallocation of the relay medals.
Jones' teammates on the 4x400 squad were Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson. Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson were on the 4x100 team.
Jamaica took silver behind the U.S. in the 4x400 relay and will move up to gold if the standings are adjusted. Russia was third and Nigeria fourth. In the 4x100, France was fourth behind the Americans.
Ohno not sure why Davis is upset with Colbert
Apolo Anton Ohno doesn't think Stephen Colbert is a jerk.
Responding to criticism of the mock pundit by U.S. speedskating star Shani Davis, Ohno said Monday he's amused by Colbert's antics — including a contrived feud with Olympic host Canada — and is glad that he stepped on board as the primary sponsor of the American team.
That effort has raised more than $250,000, nearly making up a shortfall that resulted when the previous sponsor went bust.
Last week, Davis, a 2006 gold medalist on the long track, called Colbert "a jerk," apparently in reference to the comedian making light of actual complaints that Canada has limited training time for foreign athletes at the Vancouver venues in hopes of gaining a home-ice advantage during the Olympics.
The host of "The Colbert Report" recently launched a letter-writing campaign urging the Canadians to quit being "ice-holes."
"I have not talked with Shani about that yet," Ohno said. "I don't know what his reasons were for saying that. I can't speak on his behalf, but it was an interesting comment."
Ohno, a two-time Olympian who has won two golds and five medals overall in short track speedskating, said he's a fan of Colbert.
"I think he's funny," Ohno said. "Our country is kind of in need of some humor right now, and it's all for a good cause."
What about Colbert's shots at Canada, which have included calling the neighbor to the north "syrup suckers?"
"It was a joke," Ohno said. "It was all in good fun. I just enjoy it."
U.S. Speedskating is certainly enjoying its relationship with Colbert, who offered his Web site to raise funds after Dutch bank DSB went bankrupt in October. In return, most American skaters are wearing the "Colbert Nation" logo on their suits and the comedian is getting a chance to have some fun.
In addition to the letter writing, Colbert recently brought out retired Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek to put the Canadians near the top of his "On Notice" board.
Robert Crowley, executive director of U.S. Speedskating, said more than 8,500 individuals have gone on Colbert's Web site to make donations ranging from $1 to $5,000. The organization is just $50,000 from making up the $300,000 deficit caused by DSB's pullout.
"It's bringing great attention to our sport," Crowley said. "The man is brilliant. He sees the humor in all this."
Davis hasn't elaborated on his comments but he has ties to Canada from training out of Calgary in the past. Also, he's had past differences with U.S. Speedskating; though many of those issues have been resolved, he's still not an official member of the national program and doesn't wear Colbert's logo on his suit.
Neither does Ohno, but he said that's because he has his own primary sponsor, Alaska Airlines.
Katherine Reutter, the top American woman in short track, said there was some trepidation that Colbert might use the relationship to make fun of speedskaters. But she has no problem with what she's seen or heard so far.
"We all need to realize that we skate in tiny circles wearing spandex," she quipped. "That can be humorous at times."
-- Paul Newberry
U.S. nearing roster decision on Olympic hockey team
TORONTO — The U.S. Olympic hockey team could be set as soon as next week.
The roster won't be announced until after the Winter Classic outdoor game Jan. 1, but general manager Brian Burke plans to make his final decisions well before then. The team's six-man selection committee will meet in Pebble Beach, Calif., before the NHL's board of governors meetings Dec. 14.
"At that point, we hope to be down to between two and three decisions as far as our roster — if we have any at all," Burke said Monday during a conference call.
Even though the U.S. might not boast as much depth as Canada or some of the top European countries, Burke acknowledged it will be tough to get down to a 23-man roster. The Americans had 34 players at their summer orientation camp in suburban Chicago and were keeping tabs on some who weren't there.
Burke and his management team developed a rating system to scout players for the Vancouver Games. He has five NHL GMs on his staff — David Poile, Don Waddell, Paul Holmgren, Dean Lombardi and Ray Shero.
"Jan. 1 is going to be a bittersweet day for our players," Burke said. "There's going to be 23 ecstatic players and some disappointed players. ... We have, we feel, a deeper and broader pool of players than we've had before."
If the committee isn't able to decide next week, all six men have left time in their schedules for last-minute scouting.
The U.S. team is coached by Ron Wilson and promises to be one of the youngest in the Olympic tournament, led by such players as Patrick Kane, Zach Parise and Phil Kessel. That probably won't leave much room for stalwarts of past teams like Mike Modano, Bill Guerin, Doug Weight and others.
"We've got to figure out what the balance is (between old and young players)," Burke said.
The GM doesn't plan on quietly tipping off any players once the roster is set. He's happy to have most find out by watching television and will instead focus on calling the players who weren't selected.
"My primary goal on Jan. 1 is to make sure I reach the group that's not going to be included," Burke said. "If the other guys learn about it watching on TV, I can live with that result more than if a guy learns he's excluded from watching on TV."
Burke and Wilson have been living in Toronto and sense the Olympic hype. Wilson has been struck by the comments of those who hope to play for Canada.
"Most of the players this year are talking about an Olympic gold medal way above thinking about their team making the Stanley Cup playoffs," Wilson said.
The U.S. will be in a group with Canada, Norway and Switzerland. Burke acknowledged that his team will enter as an underdog but expects it to challenge for a gold medal.
He's starting to think about Feb. 16, when the U.S. opens the tournament against Switzerland at GM Place, which will be known as Canada Hockey Place during the Olympics.
"You can feel it in the air up here in Canada now," Burke said. "The Team USA guys are excited to get to Vancouver and get this going."
Added Wilson: "The excitement's just phenomenal."
Note: The international federation released its list of on-ice officials for the games. Bill McCreary (Canada), Dennis LaRue (U.S.) and Danny Kurmann (Switzerland) will be making a third appearance.
Olympic pressure already building on Sidney Crosby
PITTSBURGH — No one needs to tell Sidney Crosby about the enormous expectations building in his homeland for Canada's Olympic hockey team. The Vancouver Games don't begin for another two months, yet it's almost as if they start tomorrow.
Canada's TV listings offer a clue: Nine networks and cable channels, including CTV, Rogers Sportsnet and TSN, the country's version of ESPN, recently aired Part 1 of a special titled "Sid the Kid V. Alexander The Great," exploring the rivalry between Crosby and Russia's Alexander Ovechkin. Part 2 airs closer to the games.
Canada realistically expects Crosby and Ovechkin, arguably the sport's two biggest stars, to meet on the ice in Vancouver. Canada expects it might be for the gold medal. Canada also expects to win. There can be no silver medal, not in these games, not on home ice.
Not with Sidney Crosby wearing the maple leaf in the Olympics for the first time.
"Oh, yes," Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Marc-Andre Fleury, himself a possible Canadian goalie, said Monday when asked if the burden on Team Canada is huge. "My parents told me people have been talking about it for a year. Hockey in Canada is like football in the U.S. Everybody expects Canada to do well and to win — and nothing else."
Especially now that Crosby, who led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup at age 21 in June, is likely to be centering Canada's top line for the first time.
Crosby, then 18 and an NHL rookie, was passed over in 2006 as executive director Wayne Gretzky stayed loyal to many of the players who helped win Canada's first gold in 50 years at Salt Lake City in 2002. Publicly, Crosby downplayed the snub, but he was disappointed and motivated by it.
Four years later, he is as close to a lock as it gets, although Canada's team — to make certain the key players are healthy, productive and ready to go — won't be chosen until Dec. 31.
Once the team is selected, the message will be clear: There can be no repeat of Turin in 2006. Then, an entire country gathered around TV sets to watch these games in near disbelief: Switzerland 2, Canada 0. Finland 2, Canada 0. Russia 2, Canada 0.
Crosby's young, fresh legs and impossible-to-quantify desire might have helped prevent such an embarrassment, despite his youth and relative inexperience on the international stage. He couldn't do anything about the lack of a medal then, but Canada is asking him to rectify it now.
Guess what? If Crosby weren't a player but merely a spectator watching in his hometown of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, he'd have huge expectations for a team that is expected to include Martin Brodeur, Rick Nash, Dany Heatley, Jonathan Toews, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger.
"You know what?" he said Monday. "That's something as Canadians that we've grown up around. We've all watched it, and we've probably been the fan expecting good results. I think that's typical and that's to be expected. There's nothing wrong with that. It's always been that way."
Canada's would-be Olympians won't say so, but most are watching NHL boxscores, speculating about who they might play alongside — if only because there won't be much time to prepare once the Olympics arrive. Crosby is among those who will play NHL games on Sunday, Feb. 14, leave for Vancouver immediately afterward, practice on Feb. 15 and play Norway on Feb. 16.
It's taken Canada four years to get over Turin, yet its next hockey team won't have 48 hours together to bond, become comfortable, become a team.
"I think Hockey Canada's done a great job. They had the orientation camp (in August), they've let everyone know what's to be expected of the guys who make the team," Crosby said. "I think they've covered everything and it's up to the decision-making process to decide what's going to happen."
As the Olympics draw closer, Crosby is certain it won't become a distraction as the Penguins try to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. To him, playing well for your NHL team is the best possible way to prepare for Vancouver.
"Use it as your motivation and make sure your game is as good as it can be," he said. "The closer it comes, the more motivation you should have to be at your best."
After all, maybe the next Sidney Crosby will be eagerly watching, waiting and anticipating an Olympic gold medal, just as Crosby did as a 10-year-old during the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.
"There's a lot of people following it, and with good reason," he said. "(In Canada), we think about hockey."
-- Alan Robinson
Bode mixes conditioning, racing in rush to fitness
NEW YORK — Bode Miller moved fluidly across a tennis court Monday, trading crisp groundstrokes with a Grand Slam doubles champion.
This was a charity event, not an unorthodox conditioning session — though it's true his training regimen is different during the current World Cup season than in past years. He didn't decide until September to return to competition, a date when he'd normally be almost done with his preparations away from the slopes.
Typically the two-time World Cup overall champion wouldn't lift weights the week of a race. But that's exactly what he was doing last Tuesday. On Thursday he played squash and basketball, then from Friday to Sunday he skied the World Cup event in Beaver Creek, Colo.
"That stuff definitely doesn't help your performance on the weekend," Miller said. "But it's what needs to be done right now because of my time frame."
And he expects it will need to be done all the way up to February's Vancouver Olympics.
The 32-year-old Miller was fourth in the downhill Saturday but did not finish Friday's super combined or Sunday's giant slalom.
"I feel great when I'm skiing," he said. "Everything feels good. But it's definitely different. I can notice small differences. I notice differences in my movement, too, just because the way different muscles are conditioned now than in the past."
Fatigue means he's not quite as sharp by the end of a three-day event. His fitness level probably hurt him when he made a mistake at the bottom of Saturday's downhill, although Miller said it didn't cost him enough time to make a difference in the standings.
"Had I been a little bit more strong, a little bit more conditioned, I probably could've made the recovery without losing any time," he said.
On Monday, Miller was on the other side of the country, hosting an event at an indoor tennis center in Manhattan. Hublot unveiled its new "Bode Bang" limited edition watch; a portion of the sales will go to his Turtle Ridge Foundation.
Miller took the court with two-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champ Justin Gimelstob, Olympic fencing silver medalist Tim Morehouse and "Gossip Girl" actor Sebastian Stan. He then held a clinic for children from the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program, a beneficiary of his foundation.
Miller looked comfortable in the spotlight — a glare that won't shine as brightly heading into Vancouver as it did four years ago, when he was supposed to be one of the Americans' biggest stars.
"For me personally, I don't feel very much different at all," Miller said. "A lot of it is perception. Expectations are different. People aren't putting words in my mouth now.
"Everyone's saying, 'OK, why are you doing this?' I can say honestly, it's because I love the sport. I love working with kids. I like to be a role model. I'm trying to help the team; the team is trying to help me. It's all positive now."
-- Rachel Cohen
Thousands honor Austrian ski star Maier
FLACHAU, Austria — Thousands attended a party in honor of recently retired Austrian ski great Hermann Maier.
The festivities in Maier's hometown of Flachau, Austria, took place Monday on his 37th birthday, nearly two months after the "Herminator" announced his retirement on Oct. 13.
In a nearly 14-year career, Maier won two Olympic gold medals, three world titles, four overall World Cup crowns and 54 World Cup victories.
Cycling
Phinney getting some last-minute help with IOC
Taylor Phinney is getting some last-minute help in the quest to keep his specialty event on the Olympic cycling program.
Hard copies of an online petition with 4,408 signatures were sent to the International Olympic Committee on Monday, just two days before the group's executive board is to convene in Switzerland for a meeting.
The IOC meeting is Wednesday and Thursday. Changing the Olympic cycling program, with moves that would eliminate endurance track events such as the individual pursuit, from the 2012 London Games is expected to be among the items on the agenda.
Phinney, the 19-year-old American cycling phenom from Boulder, Colo., is the reigning world champion in the individual pursuit.
"This decision (would) forever change track cycling," said Phinney's father, former Tour de France stage winner Davis Phinney. "And at a huge loss in my view."
Some of the names on the petition include Phinney's father and mother, 1984 Olympic gold medalist Connie Carpenter-Phinney; American cyclists including Alexi Grewal, Connie Paraskevin, Sheila Young, and Roger Young; 1980 Olympic cycling gold medalist Victor V. Manakov; and racer Eddy Merckx.
"I wouldn't have started the petition if I didn't have some hope," said Kirk Port, a cycling enthusiast who started the online petition and has been in contact with the Phinney family. "I'm hoping that the totality of all of the various voices that have raised their objections to the UCI proposal for the 2012 Olympic track cycling program will affect the final decision."
The International Cycling Union, or UCI, has asked the IOC to add other events to the 2012 program, part of a gender parity plan. To allow for those, individual pursuit and points races — two track endurance events — were targeted for removal, news that Phinney said he found "devastating."
So he went on the offensive, with some help.
Phinney launched a Twitter campaign, his mentor Lance Armstrong appealed personally to the UCI to keep pursuit in the Olympic program, and dozens of other cyclists have spoken out in support.
"It fits with the most basic Olympic ideals, 'the highest, the fastest, the strongest, the furthest,'" said 1992 Olympic pursuit gold medalist Chris Boardman of Britain. "The general public get it. It's a straight race, man against man or woman against woman and the first across the line wins. It is easy to relate to an individual."
Individual pursuit is an iconic event in track cycling. Races last four kilometers for men, three kilometers for women, with only two competitors on the track, starting opposite one another. Racers pedal as fast as they can, chasing the other, for around four minutes without stopping.
"It doesn't take a strong nation to compete, just an individual, so it lends itself to countries with small budgets, unlike the team events," Boardman said.
The UCI's proposed Olympic program is believed to include the same five gold medal events for men and women: individual sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and the five-race omnium event. Under that plan, five endurance races — in men's and women's individual pursuit and points races, plus the men's madison — would be dropped.
-- Tim Reynolds
Swimming
Zhang swims without high-tech suit in Hong Kong
HONG KONG — With new rules taking effect Jan. 1 that ban full-body high-performance suits, many swimmers are deploying them for one last time at the East Asian Games.
Except 800-meter freestyle world champion Zhang Lin.
Competing in the 200-meter freestyle, the 22-year-old Chinese swimmer wore a suit that only extended from his waist to his knees. He was the only competitor in his race to wear the suit.
Zhang finished third, losing to two Japanese swimmers who wore high-tech suits, but said after the race he wanted to start adjusting to his new suit.
Zhang finished in 1 minute, 49.59 seconds, more than three seconds behind the winner, Japan's Yoshihiro Okumura, who posted a time of 1 minute, 46.37 seconds.
-- Min Lee
