International Capsules: Horton wins another U.S. gymnastics title
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Jonathan Horton wasn't feeling it when he walked into the gym. When he botched a simple handstand on the parallel bars to open the night, he knew it wasn't just his imagination.
From that mistake — one he termed a "disaster" — Horton found his footing and wound up where he expected Friday night: on top of the podium, a national champion for the second straight year.
After his slow start, Horton finished strong on rings and vault to finish with 181.65 points and hold off a surprisingly strong challenge from Danell Leyva to win the U.S. gymnastics championships by 2.3 points.
"I was thinking, 'If this doesn't get better soon, it's going to be rough,'" Horton said. "But I survived. Sometimes survival is the best thing. But I've got to figure out how to not let this happen. There are meets where this is unacceptable."
Horton came into the night with a one-point lead, but quickly fell behind after a wobble during a remarkably easy skill — basically, a handstand — on the parallel bars. "I didn't fall, but in my mind, it was a little bit of a disaster," he said.
Leyva, meanwhile, opened by landing his vault cleanly.
And so, the competition was on.
Horton started cleaning things up by the time he reached his third event, the floor exercise, and took the lead after scoring a 16.2 on a ramrod-straight rings routine. He closed the night with a near-perfect vault landing and, even before his score (a 16.05) came up, he pointed both fingers toward the sky and saluted the crowd.
He knew he had his title and the $10,000 prize that goes with it.
The evening ended up as the semi-runaway many people expected, but this was one where the scoreboard didn't tell the whole story.
"I'm extremely happy for him," Leyva said. "We're both team players. Coming into the meet, he told me to put some pressure on him and afterward, he told me I definitely did that."
Indeed, he did.
The second-place finish continued a steady climb for Leyva, the 18-year-old from Miami whose dad and coach, Yin Alvarez, is every bit as entertaining as his son — twisting, turning, gyrating with every move Leyva does up on the equipment.
Coach and son should be a fixture around this team for a while. On Saturday, Leyva will likely be named to the American team of five heading to world championships in October.
Horton will lead that team, and he figures to find better competition among the Chinese and Japanese than he does at home. For this year, at least. Paul Hamm, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, is preparing a comeback and if he returns in form, the U.S. might have as good a combination at the top as it has since 1984 with Peter Vidmar, Bart Conner and Mitch Gaylord.
That's one reason Horton has been pointing at Olympic gold — not so much for himself but for his team. It's a goal the U.S. men have only dreamed about but never really vocalized over the past few decades.
"There'd be no point in doing gymnastics if you didn't have a goal of winning it," Horton said. "We've got Paul Hamm coming back, Danell looking the way he is ... me feeling good about my gymnastics. I think for the team, an Olympic gold is within our sites. We can see it, visualize it. Now it's time to take action."
These nationals, coming less than two years away from London, showed where a few of the pieces of such a team might come from.
There was third-place finisher Brandon Wynn, the gold medalist on rings, who could combine with specialist Kevin Tan as a formidable pair on one of the sport's highest-scoring events.
There is Steven Legendre, who put up a pair of 17s on vault to win that event going away.
There is three-time junior champion John Orozco, who tore his Achilles' in Wednesday night's preliminaries, but is expected back in time to contend for a spot on the worlds team next year.
And at the top, there is Horton, an Olympic silver medalist on high bar who comes off as unassuming but nonetheless holds himself responsible for his team's success, and the success of the sport overall.
To help the team, he knows he must stay on the pommel horse, long his weak point — but something of a success this week, as he stayed on both times.
To help the sport, he wants to amp up the show on his best event, the high bar — the event with the most potential for excitement, but one that has been watered down of late, with intricate hand positioning replacing circus-like release moves.
Horton wants to change that. He has four releases in his newest high bar routine and he grabbed the bar after all of them this time, erasing the mistake from the first night when he fell, but still scored high enough to take the lead.
Leyva, meanwhile, also has four release moves and his routine is even more complex. But he had a big stall on one of his loops over the bar and only scored a 15.3. It was the first chink in his evening, and from there, his lead kept dwindling until it was gone.
"Both of us are score watchers. We knew what was going on," Horton said. "We knew how it could end up. But he did a great job. Danny did something to be proud of. He's only (18) and he's out there, pushing to be a national champion."
Pushing harder than Horton expected. Which, he said, made the victory that much more satisfying.
Notebook: Liukin will head back to gym, then decide on 2012
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin has spent time designing clothes, walking red carpets and, this week, sharing her expertise in the TV booth.
In the next few months, she'll decide if she wants to be a full-time gymnast again.
The defending all-around Olympic champion has to return to the gym soon to get ready for the "Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular," set for Oct. 3 in Allen, Texas. Around that time, she'll also decide if she wants to ramp up the training to make a comeback for the London Olympics.
This week, she's doing commentary for Universal Sports at U.S. nationals. It's the first time she can remember being at one of these where she's not competing. Before winning the Olympics, Liukin won two senior and two junior national titles.
"Kind of strange walking around up here wearing a dress instead of being down there in a leotard," Liukin said.
Since her victory in Beijing, she has been juggling, much the way almost every Queen of Gymnastics has juggled newfound fame and opportunities after winning the gold medal. Her pet project has been designing and marketing a line of clothes for girls 8-12 — called Supergirl by Nastia.
She competed on beam at last year's nationals, in part because it was in front of a home crowd in Dallas. But she struggled, realized the performance wasn't up to her standards and decided she would take time off until she decided whether she wanted to fully commit again.
If Liukin is going to make a run at London, she figures she has to start getting serious by late this year, then back into competition early next year. The gymnastics show she's preparing for comes at a great time.
"I have to get back in the gym to get ready for that, so it'll give me a good idea of whether I want to come back full time," Liukin said.
ABOUT THE KIDS: The Youth Olympics, starting in Singapore this weekend, will take place without an American athlete in gymnastics' most popular discipline — women's artistic.
The United States decided not to fill a spot allotted to it so another country could take the spot and use the games to develop a young athlete.
The decision came after months of confusion stemming from the International Olympic Committee's desire to limit the number of credentialed coaches at the Games. The U.S. gymnastics team was originally allotted up to five spots for athletes — including rhythmic and trampoline — but only three credentials for coaching.
Eventually, those problems were solved, but too late to hold a qualifying process for a female athlete. And by then, USA Gymnastics was against sending a girl, anyway.
"The spirit of the Youth Olympic Games is supposed to be about universality and development," USAG president Steve Penny said. "We didn't really see any benefit from sending a 15-year-old over there for women's gymnastics — one of our best athletes in the world."
The Youth Olympics are for athletes ages 14-18. By the time they reach 15, most elite female gymnasts are well along the path for the regular Olympics. All the Americans who fit that category are competing at nationals this week.
The United States sent over male artistic gymnast Jesse Glen, rhythmic gymnast Polina Kozitskiy and trampoliners Savannah Vinsant and Hunter Brewster, who have the same coach. Penny said USAG wouldn't rule out sending a female artistic gymnast in the future, but he thinks athletes from the other disciplines benefit more.
"Developing athletes is what the Youth Olympic Games are really all about," Penny said. "The question is whether you need the top countries in the world competing in an event that's supposed to be developmental."
ROPES AND MATS: Raj Bhavsar officially announced his retirement after a 25-year career that included a spot on the 2008 bronze-medal Olympic team and as an alternate in 2004. Bhavsar, the 2002 NCAA all-around champion, will join Cirque du Soleil in November to work on a show slated to start next year. ... USA Gymnastics was set to distribute $50,000 in prize money after Friday night's men's finals, with $10,000 going to the all-around winner. With sponsorship money at a premium and more athletes seeking training opportunities as the number of NCAA programs dwindles, International Gymnastics Camp in Stroudsburg, Pa., stepped in to help fund the prize pool. Money will go to the top 10 finishers in the all-around and the six event winners.
-- Eddie Pells
Track & Field
Gay runs 9.78 to set fastest 100 time in 2010
LONDON (AP) — Tyson Gay ran the fastest time in the world this year to win the 100-meter final at the Diamond League meet on Friday, finishing in 9.78 seconds to blitz a field missing injured Jamaican rivals Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell.
Gay, the 2007 world champion, led from start to finish on a wet track to set a record time at the Crystal Palace event. Yohan Blake of Jamaica was second in 9.89, with Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago third in 10.05.
"I wasn't expecting to go that fast in these conditions but I knew I was in good shape and was going to go fast," Gay said. "I wasn't necessarily sending a message to Asafa and Usain — I was just running my own race.
"There's more to come. It's great to be on top of the world, that's important to me."
Bolt and Powell, who were both out with back injuries, had previously held the world's fastest time in 2010 at 9.82 seconds.
Last Friday in Stockholm, Gay ran 9.84 for his previous fastest time of the year in his first victory over Bolt. It was Bolt's second loss in the 100, and the world-record holder later said he would sit out the rest of the season to be ready for next year's world championships.
Powell pulled out of the meet on Thursday, saying he hadn't recovered from the nagging back problem that forced him out of the Stockholm race.
Gay had qualified in 10.02 for Friday's final, the quickest time from the two heats but giving no indication he was ready to run so fast on a track that was wet after a heavy downpour just before the start of the meet.
In the final race of the night, Gay stormed out of the blocks to comfortably lead by the 70-meter mark. He then pulled clear at the end despite a slight groin injury.
"I was hobbling a bit at the end — my groin is a little sore but I'm sure it's OK," he said. "My coach said that I can run 9.7 in any conditions, and I think I showed that tonight."
In the women's 100 hurdles, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada produced the world's fastest time this year of 12.52. She blew away a strong field to finish well clear of Australia's Sally Pearson, who had been quickest out of the blocks before timing 12.61. Lolo Jones of the United States was third in 12.66.
"I feel that my mental strength gave me the edge. I just felt very good," Lopes-Schliep said. "My warm-up went good, I just knew it was going to be a brilliant day."
Allyson Felix maintained her superb form this season with an easy victory in the 200. The American finished in 22.37 to claim a fifth Diamond League win this year. Three have come in the 200, and she has only lost once in any event all season.
Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie was second in 22.88 and Sherone Simpson was next in 23.04.
"I was really focusing on executing the race and not so much on time because conditions weren't that great," said Felix, a three-time 200 world champion.
Bernard Lagat won the 3,000 after breaking clear in the home straightaway ahead of two-time European champion Mo Farah of Britain. Lagat, a Kenyan-born American, overcame a wet track to win in 7:40.36. Farah, who won the 5,000 and 10,000 at the European Championships, was second in 7:40.75 and the crowd's big favorite.
"I knew he was running strongly and I'm glad I was able to run with him," Lagat said.
Mark Kiptoo of Kenya was third on a day when heavy rain stopped just before the race but conditions made fast times unlikely.
Bershawn Jackson of the U.s. won a tight 400 hurdles in 48.12. He finished just ahead of Javier Culson of Puerto Rico, who was narrowly in front after the final hurdle in 48.17.
In other results, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia claimed her sixth successive Diamond League victory in the women's high jump, leaping 2.01 meters to beat Ruth Beitia of Spain.
Lukasz Michalski of Poland won the men's pole vault after the four favorites all failed to make a successful attempt.
Renaud Lavillenie of France has won four Diamond League events this year but couldn't clear 5.51 after three attempts. Steven Hooker of Australia, Ukraine's Maksym Mazuryk and Italy's Guiseppe Giblisco also failed to land a vault.
Cuba's Yarelis Barrios won the women's discus with a throw of 65.62 meters, and Nadezhda Ostapchuk of Belarus threw 20.27 to finish a comfortable winner in the women's shot put.
-- Steve Douglas
Powell pulls out of Crystal Palace meet
LONDON (AP) — Asafa Powell has pulled out of this week's Diamond League meeting at Crystal Palace because of ongoing back trouble, organizers said Thursday.
The Jamaican sprinter made the decision to withdraw from Friday's competition after seeing a doctor in London on Wednesday.
"He has advised me not to run in order to help the recovery of my injury," Powell said in a statement. "I had hoped it would be better but unfortunately this is not so."
The 27-year-old Powell has been struggling for the past month with a series of injuries linked to an initial groin problem. He said Wednesday that he was monitoring his fitness day by day.
Powell, the Diamond Race leader in the 100 meters, missed last week's meet in Stockholm because of the back problems, but had hoped to return to the track in London.
"I am disappointed that I will not be able to run at the London Grand Prix as I love running in front of Jamaican fans here," Powell said.
Usain Bolt, the world and Olympic 100 champion, will also miss the meet, leaving Tyson Gay of the United States as the principal sprint star competing at Crystal Palace.
Cycling
Armstrong not back to defend Leadville 100 title
LEADVILLE, Colo. (AP) — Co-founder Ken Chlouber is holding out hope that Lance Armstrong will change his mind and ride in the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race that he won in record time last year.
"I've got a place for him right on the front row. He's No. 1," Chlouber said. "I want him to come back and defend his title. I think he'll be here. If you just want my upfront bet, I'd bet you that he's going to be here."
Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins said Tuesday that the cyclist was skipping this year's "Race Across the Sky" because he's still feeling lingering effects of a hip injury suffered in a crash early in the Tour de France. He said Armstrong also wants to spend time with his family before his children begin school.
With or without Armstrong, the lineup of more than 1,500 riders features more pro riders than ever. And even if Armstrong does show up for Saturday's race, Chlouber won't pick him to win it again.
"I'm picking Dave Wiens," Chlouber said. "Dave has been in the office a couple of times. He left the bike that he beat Floyd Landis with in '07 and that he beat Lance Armstrong with in '08. I'm telling you, Dave looks good."
Wiens, who briefly considered retirement after finishing second in last year's race, won the nation's highest altitude endurance test six straight times from 2003-08 before Armstrong dethroned him.
The race starts at 10,500 feet and climbs 2,000 more feet. Armstrong won last year in a record time of 6 hours, 28 minutes, 50 seconds. Wiens finished almost a half-hour later — a year after holding off the seven-time Tour de France champ by about two minutes.
Armstrong also has been dealing with renewed questions about drug use during his career since ex-teammate Landis made allegations against him and other riders this spring. Federal investigators have been looking at lawsuits containing old accusations against Armstrong and have reached out to question his sponsors.
Chlouber said it would be good for Armstrong to race in Leadville after his disappointing farewell at the Tour de France, where he quickly fell out of contention after a series of crashes.
"This race isn't about Lance," Chlouber said. "But we'd love to have him here. I think at this point it would be damn good for Lance to show up because he's special. He's a tough guy and he just needs to get back on the horse. I don't think (the federal probe) bothers Lance one bit. He's just down a little bit from not being right at the top of the Tour."
Chlouber's holding out hope of an Armstrong entry because he said Armstrong looked fit last weekend when he rode the course with fellow pro cyclist Jeremy "JHK" Horgan-Kobelski of Boulder.
Chlouber said Armstrong's RadioShack teammate, Levi Leipheimer, will compete in the race, his first ever on a mountain bike.
Other pros among the field include: Horgan-Kobelski's 2008 Olympic mountain bike teammate Todd Wells of Durango; mountain bike World Cup rider Burry Stander from South Africa, European mountain bike champion Alban Lakata from Austria and American distance specialist Jeremiah Bishop of Virginia, Chlouber said.
Armstrong's entry two years ago boosted the popularity of the race that began in 1994 as a complement to the 100-mile foot race founded by Chlouber in 1983.
The course includes wide dirt stretches that accommodate road-racing tactics and also single-tracks climbing 14,000 vertical feet at elevations ranging from 9,000 to 12,500 feet at the Columbine Mine turnaround.
There is no prize money, just silver belt buckles for finishing under the 12-hour time limit — about a third of the field falls short every year — and silver and gold belt buckles for completing the course in nine hours or less.
In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Armstrong said he hoped to be in shape to participate in the race.
"The allure of it is it's really freakishly hard because of distance, the course, the amount of climbing and almost the whole race is above 10,000 feet," Armstrong said. "It makes for a really long, hard day. It's a cool event because you literally see every single person in the race.
"I go by the guy (on the way down) that is in last place. And you see him and he says, 'Hey, man. Good luck.' And he's cheering for you, you're cheering for him. It's a very cool setup."
-- Arnie Stapleton
German court rules against Ullrich in doping case
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — A German court ruled against Jan Ullrich on Friday in a dispute with an anti-doping campaigner who accused him of paying a Spanish doctor for doping.
The Hamburg state court dismissed a suit by Ullrich seeking to prevent Werner Franke from asserting that the cyclist paid $45,000 to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes for doping in one year.
The court ruled that the statement, which Franke made in a television interview four years ago, had "to be viewed as true."
Fuentes was the doctor at the heart of the Operation Puerto case, in which over 50 cyclists were implicated following raids in May 2006 that netted steroids, blood bags and blood doping equipment.
Ullrich argued that Franke's statement was untrue and that his choice of words implied specifically he paid money for illegal substances, the court said in a statement. It rejected the arguments.
Ullrich won the 1997 Tour de France but was kicked out on the eve of the 2006 Tour, along with Italian rider Ivan Basso, because of their suspected implication in Operation Puerto.
Ullrich was fired by the T-Mobile team after being thrown out of the Tour. He retired in February 2007, and has denied ever doping.
There was no immediate word whether Ullrich would appeal Friday's ruling, which is allowed, the court said.
On Thursday, he announced on his website that he had been diagnosed with burnout syndrome and that it likely would require lengthy treatment.
He added that he would withdraw from public activities completely over the coming months.
Alberto Contador beaten in street race in Denmark
HERNING, Denmark (AP) — Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has come up short, beaten comfortably by future teammate Michael Morkov in a 40-mile street race.
Contador finished in a pack 80 seconds behind Morkov and three other cyclists Friday in the flat loop race in Herning, the hometown of Team Saxo Bank manager Bjarne Riis.
Contador signed a deal this month to compete for Team Saxo Bank next season after deciding to leave Astana.
Michael Rasmussen was second. The Dane was kicked off the 2007 Tour — and his Rabobank Team — while leading the cycling's showcase race. He lied about his whereabouts when he missed pre-race doping tests.
Ricco says he's moving to Quick-Step
MILAN (AP) — Italian cyclist Riccardo Ricco says he has signed a deal with the Quick-Step team that will allow him to race in major tours following a doping ban.
Ricco told the Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday that he has signed through the end of 2011, but the Belgian team hasn't announced the deal.
Ricco began racing with Ceramica Flaminia in March following a 20-month ban for doping at the 2008 Tour de France. But the small Italian team was not invited to major races and announced Thursday it had terminated Ricco's contract.
Ricco says he would like to race the Spanish Vuelta with Quick-Step in two weeks.
Ricco tested positive for the advanced blood booster CERA after winning two mountain stages of the 2008 Tour.
Caisse d'Epargne team attracts new sponsor for '11
MADRID (AP) — Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica will take over sponsorship of the Caisse d'Epargne cycling team from 2011.
The decision was announced on Thursday by Abarca Sports, the company in charge of managing Caisse d'Epargne, without elaborating on the cost and length of the new deal. It will be renamed Team Movistar, and will ensure the presence of at least one Spanish outfit on the circuit.
Its riders include Ivan Gutierrez, David Lopez and David Arroyo.
Tour de France winner Alberto Contador, who has joined the Saxo Bank team, issued a congratulatory message on Twitter on Friday, saying the team is backed by "a great Spanish brand."
Olympics
FIBA launches 3-on-3 hoops game at Youth Olympics
GENEVA (AP) — Basketball's governing body will launch its new 3-on-3 game Sunday at the Youth Olympics in Singapore.
Taking beach volleyball's success as a model, FIBA hopes the smaller, quick-shooting version of hoops will join the Summer Olympics as soon as 2020.
"That is a fair dream," FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann told The Associated Press.
The format must first succeed at the inaugural youth games.
Called FIBA 33, it is played on a half-court with both teams scoring in one hoop over two, five-minute periods. Play is kept fast-paced with a 10-second shot clock and no time-outs, while teams can win before regulation by reaching 33 points.
"The IOC (is) excited that we have tried to use the Youth Olympics to do something new," Baumann said. "It gives us the opportunity to have a fresh look at the game and to learn a little bit from the more extreme sports on the streets."
Singapore has become the central testing ground for FIBA 33, also hosting a medal event during the 2009 Asian Youth Games.
The gold was won by China, where enthusiasm for the format is "beyond any imagination," according to Baumann.
"There is a lot of excitement in southeast Asia about 3-on-3. They love it and have tournaments almost every week," he said.
However, the format was created on inner-city asphalt courts in the United States.
"In the U.S. it was an easy way for kids in less developed areas to play the game," Baumann said. "At some point in the late-80s, early-90s it has been used by big apparel companies to attract kids to basketball and sell shoes."
FIBA hopes the U.S. will be well-matched in Singapore by lesser-ranked basketball nations attracted by a game that is cheaper and easier to organize and coach.
"I really hope it is a small country that wins. I am sure there will be some surprises," Baumann said.
Only the host and the U.S. are represented in both 20-team tournaments. The boys' lineup includes Iran, the Philippines, Spain and the Virgin Islands. Girls' teams from Angola, China, Thailand and Vanuatu will take part in their 10-day event.
On-court rules have been devised to ensure the talent load is spread across the four-player roster and avoid having one player dominate a match.
Players cannot score on a defensive rebound, and must pass outside the three-point line to begin a new play. Teams must pass at least once before shooting and dunking is not allowed.
Baumann said the rules eventually will be modified without compromising the free spirit of street 3-on-3. The game also will be better structured to halt teenagers drifting away from organized basketball, and provide more career opportunities.
To create a world ranking system, FIBA is working with technology companies and statistics professors from a Swiss university.
The federation also is talking with counterparts in volleyball to understand how its beach version developed after debuting at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Baumann believes the FIBA 33 product already is "telegenic, good for sponsors, good for spectators," and can keep casual fans involved in the sport.
FIBA thinks that a half billion people play basketball, but fewer than one-quarter participate in structured competitions.
"There is a whole population of basketball players out there that we don't interact with," Baumann said. "The challenge for FIBA is what happens the day after the Youth Olympics finish."
-- Graham Dunbar
Wimbledon waives all-white dress rule for Olympics
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Wimbledon is brightening its wardrobe for the 2012 Olympics.
Organizers of the venerable tournament said Friday the traditional all-white dress rule will be waived for the tennis competition at the London Games.
Players must wear predominantly white clothing during the Grand Slam event. But that will change for Olympics, and All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie said Wimbledon had no hesitation in loosening its rules.
"We have been very supportive to the Olympic organizers throughout the process," he said. "We hope to some extent there will be a different type of audience. It is not a repeat of the Championships. It will be its own competition, have its own style and it will play out in its own way."
Among other changes, the Royal Box on Centre Court will be filled with the International Olympic Committee "family," instead of the assorted royalty and dignitaries who congregate there during Wimbledon.
Only 12 of the available 17 courts will be required, meaning crowd capacity will be 26,000, down from 40,000 during the championships.
One tradition, however, will remain: no scheduled night sessions. Play will begin at 11 a.m. local time, and is expected to continue until about 8 p.m. As is the case during Wimbledon, play could carry on under the roof on Centre Court if circumstances demand.
The Olympic tennis event is set to begin July 28, 2012 — 20 days after the end of the Grand Slam tournament.
The All England Club last week made assurances that the grass courts would be resurfaced in time following a successful test this year.
Debbie Jevans, London 2012 director of sport and venues, said Friday that organizers were confident there would still be an appetite for tennis at Wimbledon such a short time later.
"There will be a lot of people who do not get tickets for the Championships," she said. "It gives them the chance to see the best players in the world."
The 2012 tennis event will be the first to include mixed doubles, meaning there will be five gold medals up for grabs at Wimbledon.
The singles events will be played over three sets, except for the men's final, which will be best-of-five.
Spain's Rafael Nadal won the gold medal in men's singles in Beijing four years ago. Roger Federer teamed with Stanislas Wawrinka to win the men's doubles for Switzerland.
Among the women, Elena Dementieva of Russia won the singles and American sisters Venus and Serena Williams captured the doubles.
Tickets for the 2012 Olympic tournament go on sale next year.
-- Caroline Cheese
Rogge says Youth Olympics ready to go
SINGAPORE (AP) — Comparing himself to an expectant father, IOC president Jacques Rogge says he is optimistic the inaugural Youth Olympics will be a success but wants to see them get under way.
Rogge says he is "thrilled" with the way Singapore has organized the games in just 2½ years. He dismissed concerns from critics that the event is unnecessary, insisting it will become an integral part of the Olympic movement.
Along with the competition, Rogge says the aim of the games is to educate the athletes about such things as doping and a healthy lifestyle.
The Youth Olympics, which kicks off Saturday and runs through Aug. 26, features 3,600 competitors aged 14 to 18 from 204 countries competing in the same 26 sports on the Summer Olympics program.
-- Michael Casey
Swimming
Rouault adds 800m freestyle title at Europeans
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Sebastien Rouault of France won the men's 800-meter freestyle at the European swimming championships on Friday, his second gold medal of the event.
Rouault led during the middle of the race but then fell behind Germany's Christian Kubusch until the last of the 16 laps, when he was able to overtake his rival to finish the race in 7 minutes, 48.28 seconds, a new meet record.
Kubusch was 0.84 back in second, but still set a new German record with his effort. Samuel Pizzetti of Italy was third.
Rouault admitted later he had felt a "bit tired" after winning the 1,500 freestyle on Wednesday and finishing fifth in the 400 free on Monday.
France's Alain Bernard won the 100 freestyle, the closest race of the meet so far. Bernard touched in 48.49 seconds, just 0.03 seconds faster than Russia's Evgeny Lagunov and 0.07 seconds ahead of France's William Meynard.
"I was very strained during the heats and the semifinals and surprisingly not at all before this final," said Bernard, who holds the European record of 47.12 seconds and finished behind Lagunov in the last qualifier. "To win the race you also need a certain luck."
Anastasia Chaun of Russia set a new meet record in the women's 200 breaststroke, finishing in 2:23.50. Sara Nordenstam of Norway trailed by 0.92 seconds and Rikke Moeller-Pedersen of Denmark was third, 1.49 seconds slower than Chaun.
In the women's 100 butterfly, world record holder Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden swam the fastest second lap of the race and rallied to win in 57.32 seconds, 0.08 seconds in front of Francesca Halsall of Britain. Another Swede, Therese Alshammar, was third 0.48 seconds behind the winner.
The 30th edition of the European championships is the first major international event where competitors can no longer wear the bodysuits that helped set dozens of world records in recent years.
The women's 10-meter platform synchronized diving event was won by Germany, with Christin Steuer and Nora Subschinski scoring 319.68 points. Iulia Prokopchuk and Alina Chaplenko of Ukraine were second.
In the men's 3-meter springboard event, gold went to Patrick Hausding of Germany with 463.20 points. Ilya Zakharov of Russia was second.
-- Pablo Gorondi
Volleyball
Spiked! AVP cancels rest of beach v'ball season
The AVP has spiked the rest of this year's professional beach volleyball tour because of "financial hardship" that left it digging for investors to fund the second half of the season.
"As of now, the AVP will be closing the doors," the tour said in an e-mail to its players from CEO Jason Hodell and commissioner Mike Dodd. "It is with a heavy heart that we must tell you that despite a valiant effort by all and a flurry of investor interest, we have been unable to secure the necessary financing to continue the season."
The decision was made during a conference call among AVP staff and the members of the board of directors on Friday after months of scrambling for cash that would help the tour overcome the loss of sponsors in a rough economy. "Words cannot express our profound disappointment," Hodell said in the release announcing the shutdown.
The AVP rode the publicity of the American gold medal sweep in Beijing into new directions, with added TV coverage and stops — some of them in the winter — in landlocked areas not associated with the beach or the beach lifestyle. But sponsors fled, including the title sponsor Crocs, and the tour struggled to make ends meet.
Players had been warned of money woes last month, and the San Francisco event scheduled for this weekend was pushed back a month to allow more time for fundraising. Todd Rogers, who with Phil Dalhausser won the men's gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, said they had signed up for extra events on the international tour "to hedge our bets."
"In truth, it doesn't come as a huge surprise," Rogers told the AP in an e-mail from Norway, where he is competing in the FIVB Otera Open Kristiansand. "The things AVP management has said over the past four months or so have led me to believe that there could be possible financial difficulties later down the road. Now we are down that road, and sure enough the AVP has run out of money."
With a hope but no certainty that it can be revived in 2011, the AVP's collapse also throws into flux the qualification process for the 2012 Olympics in London. While in the past players qualified for the Games by earning points on the world tour, control over the 2012 qualifying had been turned over to the domestic governing bodies.
USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal said a plan was being discussed in which athletes would use the international and domestic tours to qualify for an Olympic trials tournament that would pick the team for London. He said he is optimistic that there will be some form of U.S. tour in 2011, whether or not it's the AVP.
"I hope the AVP survives, and if it doesn't I hope there's something to replace it. We fully expect that that will be the case," Beal said. "We very much want to see the AVP ... survive and prosper. They are unquestionably important for the development of the sport in this country, as well as our success internationally.
"It has certainly been an iconic portion of our sport and helped it garner incredible visibility and attention and exposure for the game of volleyball."
Created in 1983 as a players' association, the AVP first ran the United States' domestic tour in 1988. "For the past 23 years," the AVP said in its release, "the AVP tour has featured arguably the best beach volleyball in the world, with AVP athletes winning at least one gold medal in every Olympics since beach volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996."
U.S. Olympian Jake Gibb said in a blog posted on the AVP website that the tour helped him improve from "dead average" to the world's elite. "It has been the direct reason why the USA has won 4 gold medals in the Olympics," he wrote. "Damn, I don't know what to say. Just writing this makes me bummed."
In Beijing, Rogers and Dalhausser won the men's gold while Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won the women's tournament.
Two years later, they are without a home tour.
"Sometimes you need to take a step back in order to take two steps forward. I think that's what this is," said Ryan Morgan an agent who represents Rogers, Dalhausser and Walsh. "From the players' side, we'll take a step back."
In its e-mail to the players, the AVP said decisions about the tour's future rest with its majority owner, RJSM. The firm's managing partner, Nick Lewin, declined to comment.
"Through the course of this investor search we have encountered individuals and groups with intelligence, common sense and a passion for the game of beach volleyball," Dodd said. "Who knows, maybe someday in the future one or even a combination of these groups could get together and eventually lead professional beach volleyball back to a business that can be sustained through even the most difficult financial environments."
The shutdown affects the last five events on the tour's schedule, starting with the Aug. 19-22 Manhattan Beach Open — considered the sport's crown jewel. The AVP said the event, which was scheduled to celebrate its 50th anniversary, might continue under different management.
The other events were in Chicago, Cincinnati, San Francisco and Hermosa Beach, Calif.
-- Jimmy Golen
