International Capsules: London working to finalize last 2 Olympic venues
LONDON — London Olympic organizers are working to reduce the travel time for athletes in the two sports whose venue for the 2012 Games is being changed to save money.
Paul Deighton, chief executive of London organizing committee LOCOG, said Tuesday he is confident a solution will be finalized by the end of the year for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics.
The committee has proposed moving the two sports to Wembley Arena — adjacent to Wembley Stadium on the northern outskirts of London — rather than build a temporary venue near the main Olympic Park complex in east London.
The two international federations have to sign off on the change.
Deighton says the sport officials are "perfectly happy" with the Wembley venue but are concerned by the extra travel time.
Scrapping the temporary venue in east London would save organizers about$33 million.
"In this economic environment it’s not really acceptable to taxpayers to build a temporary venue when you’ve already got an acceptable one, if the tradeoff is another 20 minutes’ travel time," Deighton told reporters at the Sports Event Management Conference in London.
Deighton said organizers recently took representatives of the two sports to Wembley Arena from the athletes’ village site, and the journey took 42 minutes. He said that travel time is acceptable under the IOC’s technical guidelines.
"They look at one hour as the break even before you need to put the athletes closer to the venue," he said. "So it’s clearly comfortably doable within what’s technically acceptable. Of course, it is further than it would have been initially."
On other issues, Deighton said organizers hope to bring in $670 million in revenue by selling about 9 million tickets for the London Olympics and Paralympics. Tickets will go on sale in 2011.
London has already raised about $920 million in domestic sponsorship out of its target of $1.1 billion, which Deighton described as a "gravity defying" achievement during the economic downturn.
London is still working on plans to ensure full venues in 2012 and avoid the problem of empty seats that occurred in Beijing in 2008. Deighton said plans involve selling tickets to "people who really want to be there."
He also mentioned making sure competition session lengths are "sensible" and using a Wimbledon-style "recycling" system where spectators can give their tickets to fans waiting outside when they leave the venue.
Istanbul to bid for 2020 Olympics
LONDON — After four unsuccessful Olympic bids, Istanbul will enter the race to host the 2020 Games.
Turkish government sports official Mehmet Atalay said Tuesday the country has decided to launch another Olympic bid and believes the city’s chances are much stronger this time.
Istanbul mounted failed attempts for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. It sat out the race for the 2016 Games, which were awarded last month to Rio de Janeiro.
"Istanbul has changed a lot," Atalay said. "We feel much more confident to be in a race with other cities."
Cities in Japan and Italy have expressed interest in the 2020 Games, and Dubai and Qatar are also considering bids. South Africa and other African countries could also enter candidates.
Bid submissions to the International Olympic Committee are due in 2011. The IOC will select the 2020 host city in 2013.
Atalay, the head of Turkey’s Youth and Sports Directorate, said he believed the Olympics will return to Europe in 2020 after going to South America for the first time in 2016.
"We strongly believe that we are going to have the best bid for 2020," he told reporters at the Sports Event Management Conference in London. "Turkey is a big country and it has much potential for hosting such events. We have the history. We have the culture. We are the bridge between Europe and Asia."’
Atalay said the bid had the full backing of President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and that 85 percent of the country’s population support the effort.
Atalay said Turkey has gained valuable sports experience by hosting the 2005 Champions League final and other events. It will stage the 2010 World Basketball Championships, 2011 Winter University Games and 2012 world indoor athletics championships.
"Infrastructure-wise, Istanbul has improved a lot," he said. "Transpiration has improved. Weather pollution is almost finished. It’s one of the most secure cities in Europe. We are getting experience at organizing major events."
Atalay said Istanbul could take an example from Rio, which bid several times before getting the Olympics.
"We will keep on until we win," he said.
Tokyo — which finished third in the 2016 race — is considering trying again for 2020. Hiroshima and Nagasaki have also announced plans for a joint bid from Japan.
Several cities in Italy, including Rome and Venice, have expressed interest in bidding.
Qatar officials confirmed Tuesday they are preparing to submit a bid from Doha for 2020, although they are currently focusing on their campaign for the 2022 World Cup.
Doha tried for the 2016 Games, but failed to make the list of finalists, mainly because it proposed holding the games outside of the usual July-August period due to the severe heat in Qatar in the summer.
With South Africa hosting next year’s World Cup, organizing committee chief Danny Jordaan says a successful tournament could foreshadow an African Olympics in 2020. South African cities Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban are potential candidates. Egypt and Nigeria could also consider bidding.
-- Stephen Wilson
Anti-Doping
USADA chief: rogue medicos the biggest threat
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Rogue doctors and laboratories have taken the place of institutionalized doping as the most serious threat to drug-free sports, United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis T. Tygart said Wednesday.
Tygart said the efforts of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which just marked its 10th anniversary, and of independent national organizations such as USADA had helped eradicate institutionalized doping within countries, sports or teams.
"I think you no longer see that," Tygart, who is here to attend a sports law conference hosted by WADA, told Radio New Zealand. "Unfortunately, what you now see are rogue laboratories, rogue doctors that athletes are able to find and then pay to obtain things that they think will be undetectable."
Tygart said USADA had already made substantial advances in eliminating doping in sports, or leveling the playing field for clean athletes. He likened track and field in the United States during the 1990s to bodybuilding, for the prevalence of doping, but said the sport had since been transformed.
"We’re a relatively young entity, we’ve not yet had our 10-year anniversary like WADA but we’ve come in and we’ve changed the culture within track and field," he said. "That’s not to say there may not be cheats out there or that the temptation to cheat is not there but what it means is that we’ve given those clean athletes, who want to do it the right way, hope that they can get on the starting line and be successful without having to cheat."
Tygart said some sports had been tainted by their past history of doping but "all athletes are entitled the presumption of innocence, absolutely." He also said the independence of organizations such as WADA and USADA was critical in the battle against doping.
"The reality is sport has a hard time exposing its underbelly," he said. "That’s not good for sponsorships, not good for the growth of the sport and that’s why I think it’s absolutely critical that our advancements of the past nine and 10 years have happened.
"What I’m worried about doing and what we’re spending our $13 million (budget) on is protecting the clean athletes’ rights. If they’re second-best that’s fine, as long as they’re playing by the rules. And so I think you have to absolutely take away the sports’ interest in running its own program."
Tygart said shame remained a powerful force in motivating athletes to reject drugs.
"Most importantly, you’ve yet to see a cheat — and include Marion Jones, include Floyd Landis, include the other Balco athletes — who were proud of the fact that they cheated," he said.
Olympic athletics champion Jones was among those caught following an investigation, started in 2003 and led by federal agent Jeff Novitzky, into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. Novitzky’s investigation included sorting through trash at the BALCO offices to uncover evidence of athletes and coaches using or distributing performance-enhancing drugs which were undetectable in conventional testing.
"I think without question, given WADA’s success, given our success, given the success of other entities," Tygart said, "those that don’t want to cheat today don’t have to cheat in order to be successful and that’s an important milestone that we all feel confident that we’ve reached."
-- Steve McMorran
Fahey: WADA makes difference in doping fight
MONTREAL — The World Anti-Doping Agency has made a "significant difference" in combatting doping since its founding 10 years ago.
That’s according to WADA president John Fahey, who will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the agency’s founding on Wednesday.
"As the independent international organization responsible for promoting, coordinating and monitoring the global fight, WADA has made a significant difference in the protection of athletic integrity and offered athletes good reasons to believe in the future of sport," Fahey said Tuesday in a statement.
IOC member Dick Pound was the first president of the body, which was founded on Nov. 10, 1999. Fahey took over from Pound in 2008.
"All over the world, awareness is much higher today than it was 10 years ago," WADA director general David Howman said.
To celebrate WADA’s 10-year anniversary, the Swedish capital of Stockholm will host the agency’s end-of-the-year executive committee meetings on Dec. 1-2.
Swimming
Phelps is 3rd in 100 medley, misses 2 finals
STOCKHOLM — Sporting a beard and an old-style swimsuit, Michael Phelps finished third in the 100-meter medley at a World Cup short-course meet after missing out on two other finals Tuesday.
Phelps, who won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, swam the medley final in 52.14 seconds. South Africa’s Gerhard Zandberg won in 51.77.
Earlier Tuesday, Phelps failed to qualify for the finals of the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke, in which he was disqualified for swimming too long under water.
The 24-year-old American, who was competing for the first time since the world championships in August, wore the type of suit that will become the standard next year. Most other swimmers used faster high-tech suits.
After the race, he told reporters he was excited to be back racing.
"I know I’m not in the best shape and I should be in better shape," Phelps said. "I didn’t hit my first wall right, so it’s kind of disappointing but I’m happy overall."
He finished 16th in qualifying for the 100 freestyle in 47.77 seconds. Eight swimmers advanced to the final, with Stefan Nystrand of Sweden recording the fastest qualifying time of 45.93.
Phelps did not compete in either of those two events in a full-length pool in Beijing, when he broke Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals won at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
His coach, Bob Bowman, said Monday he wants Phelps to use the old-style suit in the lead-up to the U.S. national championships next year.
Phelps said before the meet he wanted to use the competition in Stockholm to test his form and the old-style swimsuit.
On Wednesday, Phelps will swim in the 100 butterfly and 200 medley heats.
Tuesday was marked by world records. Jing Zhao of China beat her own world mark in the women’s 50-meter backstroke. She timed 25.82 seconds to top her record of 26.08 set earlier in the day during qualifying.
She beat the previous world mark of 26.17, set by Marieke Guehrer of Australia four days ago in Moscow.
Felicity Galvez of Australia set a world record in the 100-meter butterfly, clocking 55.46 seconds to beat the previous mark of 55.68 set by Jessicah Schipper of Australia on Aug. 12.
-- Malin Rising
Galvez breaks world record in 100-meter butterfly
STOCKHOLM — Felicity Galvez of Australia has set a world record in the women’s 100-meter butterfly at a short-course World Cup meet.
Galvez clocked 55.46 seconds in Tuesday’s final, beating the previous mark of 55.68 set by Jessicah Schipper of Australia on Aug. 12.
It was the second world record at the Stockholm meet. Earlier Tuesday, Jing Zhao of China set a world mark in a qualifying heat for the women’s 50-meter backstroke.
She finished in 26.08 seconds to eclipse the time of 26.17 set by Marieke Guehrer of Australia four days ago in Moscow.
Jing beats own world record in 50-meter backstroke
STOCKHOLM — Jing Zhao of China has beaten her own world record in the women’s 50-meter backstroke at a short-course World Cup meet.
Jing timed 25.82 seconds in Tuesday’s final at the Stockholm meet to beat her mark of 26.08 set earlier that day in qualifying.
The previous record before that was set by Marieke Guehrer of Australia, four days ago at the World Cup in Moscow.
Jing’s record was the first at the event. Felicity Galvez of Australia also set a world record in the women’s 100-meter butterfly.
Winter Sports
Iraqi athlete on a headfirst try to reach Olympics
For Faisal Faisal, the 2006 Turin Olympics were both unforgettable and unbearable.
Pinned inside his family’s Baghdad home while the opening ceremony from Turin was happening, Faisal couldn’t venture outside, couldn’t see friends, had no idea when the next explosion was coming. He watched the Olympics with a war outside his window. Adding to his anguish was this: He was almost part of the show, narrowly missing qualifying for the Olympic skeleton competition.
"It crushed my life," Faisal said.
Fast forward nearly four years. Things in Baghdad remain difficult, though improving on many fronts. He still isn’t over the disappointment of falling short in 2006. But his personal "mission," he calls it, remains: Faisal Faisal, a 29-year-old Iraqi, is trying yet again to carry his country’s flag into the Winter Olympics, his eyes set squarely on reaching the Vancouver Games this February.
His odds are not good.
Of course, making it this far wasn’t guaranteed, either.
"When I look back at it, it’s so painful, and a part of me does fear missing the Olympics again," Faisal said, his English perfect from years of study abroad. "But that’s the risk you take as an athlete. Either your dream comes true or it all gets destroyed and shattered. So I’m going for it again, because of what it will mean."
This all started for Faisal in 1998, when he watched the Nagano Games on television and immediately got the idea to become a Winter Olympian. His family was deeply entrenched in Iraqi athletics, with his father a champion sprinter and an uncle who was an Asian Games champion hurdler. So, Faisal’s around-the-world odyssey started. He obtained a student visa to study in Australia, began experimenting with other winter sports — alpine skiing, snowboarding, even speed skating — before settling on skeleton.
Around 2005, he called the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation seeking help. Within two weeks, he was on the ice in Lake Placid, N.Y.
"I’ve always been taught that the Olympics are about bringing the world together," 2002 Olympic skeleton gold medalist Jim Shea Jr., a Lake Placid native and third-generation Winter Olympian, said at the time. "I think this story is amazing."
So Shea helped Faisal out, as did Tristan Gale, the 2002 women’s gold medalist from the United States, and other members of the American team. It almost was enough; Faisal barely missed earning an Olympic invite.
It won’t be so easy this time. Qualifying for the Olympics is a much-tougher proposition now.
"If he can make it, great," said U.S. assistant skeleton coach Greg Sand. "Faisal, to me, might be the equivalent of the Jamaican bobsled team. If he makes it to the games, he’ll get some good, strong crowd support, and he’ll be a solid story. But he has to get there first. If he has a solid season, he can get it done. And I think he does help the sport."
Faisal was 73rd in the FIBT rankings last season. He did not qualify for the World Cup circuit, which opens Thursday in Park City, so he’ll race the Intercontinental Cup and America’s Cup schedules. When it’s time for Olympic invites to go out, 10 nations will have two or three athletes qualified for Vancouver, and he’ll be chasing one of the remaining seven individual spots.
"Every season, you get guys getting knocked out of the World Cup," Faisal said. "It’s just got to happen again this season."
Everything for Faisal is a challenge.
He’s already been handed one setback this season: There was an issue with his international racing license for the season, which led to him being barred from the Olympic track in Whistler, British Columbia during the recent two-week training period there. (Both sides say it was a bit of a misunderstanding.) His funding is running short, too: He gets $2,500 a month from the International Olympic Committee, which doesn’t go far enough. He might even have to sell his pride and joy, a 1989 Ferrari sitting in an Australian storage unit.
All that is nothing, though, when considering the plight of his homeland, where he hasn’t been in more than three years.
"My mom once told me that she wasn’t afraid of death, but was afraid of the torture and kidnapping and things like that," Faisal said. "Isn’t it kind of bizarre that that’s the thing you worry about for the day over there? Imagine that’s what’s bothering you for a day. Some really crazy stuff has been going on there. It’s beyond comprehension. So we hope and hold that positive hope."
His hope is this: Carry the Iraqi flag this February. Have some Iraqi kids see what he’s done, and let that serve as their motivation to take on something that might seem impossible.
Sliding headfirst down an icy track at 80 mph is one small way to make it happen.
"My family knows, this is for my country," Faisal said. "They’re very proud of that."
-- Tim Reynolds
Sailing
Alinghi preparing for Cup in Valencia, Spain
SAN DIEGO — The most radical, contentious America’s Cup in 158 years is almost certainly going to be sailed in Valencia, Spain.
At about the same time that two cranes were carefully raising an enormous wing sail onto the American challenger’s monster trimaran in San Diego, two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland confirmed to a New York judge that it is preparing to hold the best-of-three showdown against BMW Oracle Racing in Valencia starting Feb. 8.
There are still issues to resolve before bickering billionaires Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. and Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi can ship their multihulls to Valencia for the nautical grudge match in the fastest, most extreme boats ever built for sailing’s marquee regatta.
The biggest is Alinghi’s appeal of the judge’s rejection of its original choice of a Persian Gulf port. Also, the judge needs to approve an expert panel’s report, including whether it’s safe to sail the carbon-fiber giants in Valencia in February.
If those matters are resolved, then a twisting two-year court case will have steered the America’s Cup right back to where it left off in July 2007 — in Valencia.
In the most dramatic development of the day, BMW Oracle Racing raised its 190-foot wing sail and, about 2 1/2 hours later, headed out for a shakedown cruise on a perfect afternoon.
Nothing of the wing sail’s scope has been seen in the America’s Cup before. In a process that began at 2 a.m. and took nine hours, the wing was wheeled out of its shoreside assembly tent and lifted by two cranes onto the 90-by-90-foot trimaran.
Described as the world’s biggest wing, it will be tested as a replacement for a traditional soft-sail rig.
Complete with flaps, the wing sail is about 47 feet longer than the wing of an Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airliner. It weighs 7,700 pounds and is 6,725 square feet.
The wing is built of carbon fiber and kevlar, and covered with a skin of light, shrinkable aeronautical film.
Because the powerhouse sailing teams couldn’t agree to terms for a traditional regatta with multiple challengers, Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing are headed for a rare one-on-one showdown.
They’ve fought over every aspect of the racing, including rules, dates and a port.
Alinghi spokesman Paco Latorre said the Swiss are making a concession in their fight with San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, which backs BMW Oracle Racing.
"Until now, both the court and GGYC had accepted and agreed February and Valencia, and we hadn’t," Latorre told The Associated Press by phone. "And now because we want to have this race on the water, we accept this decision of Valencia in February. We are making the concession. We had said it’s not the most suitable venue in February.
"We want to have this sorted out on the water," Latorre added. "Let’s go to Valencia in February and get it done. They wanted February, they got February. They wanted Valencia, let’s go and sail. It’s going to be cold, it’s going to be unstable, it’s not going to be very pleasant for sailors and spectators, but let’s get it done."
New York State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich recently sided with the Americans and tossed out Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, as Alinghi’s choice for the venue. Kornreich based her decision on the 19th-century Deed of Gift, which prohibits racing in the Northern Hemisphere between Nov. 1 and May 1.
The landlocked Swiss appealed that decision, and Latorre said they will keep that option open for the time being. Their catamaran, Alinghi 5, has been in RAK for several weeks, along with approximately 100 support personnel.
"We’re very pleased to see that SNG/Alinghi have finally agreed with us that Valencia in February is the correct venue to hold the 33rd America’s Cup," GGYC spokesman Tom Ehman said in a statement. "Presumably SNG will now drop their appeal of the court’s decision that RAK is an illegal venue."
Valencia is in the Northern Hemisphere, but neither side objected earlier in the court fight to holding the series in the Spanish port, although they disagreed on the dates.
Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing still have bases in Valencia, where Alinghi beat Team New Zealand two years ago.
In a letter to Kornreich on Tuesday, Alinghi’s yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve, said talks to resolve the legal fight with the Americans had broken down.
The Swiss also said a compromise Australian venue remains possible until Friday, but only if GGYC withdraws "all legal actions." Among them is a pending complaint of breach of fiduciary duty seeking to remove SNG as the America’s Cup trustee.
The legal bickering aside, the competition for the oldest trophy in international sports is expected to be, for the course of the best-of-three series, the most extreme of extreme sports.
BMW Oracle Racing’s trimaran and Alinghi’s equally immense catamaran are capable of sailing at 2 to 2 1/2 times the speed of the wind.
There are also inherent dangers, such as when BMW Oracle Racing’s 200-foot carbon-fiber mast came crashing down last week, smashing apart on the aft beam, while sailing on the Pacific Ocean. No one was injured.
If the wing works, the Americans won’t need a traditional rig.
BMW Oracle Racing said the wing sail is expected to be much more efficient than a regular rig, and more easily trimmed.
-- Bernie Wilson
Track & Field
Bolt, Isinbayeva up for athlete of the year award
MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva are the leading contenders for the IAAF athlete of the year awards.
Bolt set three world records last year at the Beijing Olympics and broke two of those marks — in the 100 and 200 meters — in August at the world championships in Berlin.
Isinbayeva broke her own world record by clearing 5.06 meters at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich in August. Her performance beat the mark of 5.05 she cleared at the Beijing Games a year earlier.
Kenenisa Bekele, Tyson Gay, Steven Hooker and Andreas Thorkildsen are also in the running, as are Sanya Richards, Valerie Vili, Blanka Vlasic and Anita Wlodarczyk.
The winners will be announced on Nov. 22.
Cycling
Spanish cyclist Agustin Sagasti dies at 39
MADRID — Agustin Sagasti, a Spanish cyclist who successfully sued organizers of a 1994 race following a career-ending accident, has been found dead in his home. He was 39.
His death was confirmed Monday by the Basque cycling federation. No other details were disclosed.
Sagasti’s career was cut short after he collided with a car during the Tour of Valles Mineros, leaving him in a coma. He never raced again but won a payment of more than $500,000 after organizers were judged to have failed to control traffic.
Before his accident, Sagasti helped the Euskadi team to its first stage victory at the Tour of Basque Country. Sagasti was a Basque federation coach from 1996 to 2000.
