International Capsules: London Olympic glitch creates oversold tickets
LONDON (AP) — A ticketing mixup by London Olympic organizers will pay off for some buyers: Instead of tickets for synchronized swimming, they'll get to see the 100-meter track final.
Organizers said Wednesday they accidentally oversold 10,000 tickets for synchronized swimming because of human error in processing applications.
As a result, customers have been offered the chance to exchange those tickets for other events they applied for but were unsuccessful — including some of the most glamorous and coveted events.
About 200 more people will be able to watch the men's 100 final in the Olympic Stadium, the highest demand sports event of the games.
Organizers realized a few weeks ago that they had sold twice the number of tickets available for four sessions of synchronized swimming.
"In December we contacted around 3,000 customers who had applied for tickets in the four sessions during the second round sales process," the organizing committee said in a statement Wednesday. "We are exchanging their synchronized swimming tickets for tickets in other sports that they originally applied for."
The alternate tickets will come from the pot of 1 million for all events that are to go on sale in May once the seating configuration has been finalized at all venues.
Some ticket buyers took to Twitter on Wednesday to reveal their delight at the administrative blunder.
"Just exchanged our Olympics synchronized swimming tix for men's & women's medley finals & freestyle finals," London-based author Stella Duffy tweeted. "Sorry synchros, but woo hoo!"
The process for people to resell any unwanted tickets in their possession opens on Friday.
Many people, including some of Britain's top athletes, have been unhappy at the ticketing system because of its complexity and perceived lack of fairness of the ballot.
Two-thirds of ticket seekers failed to earn any in a first round of sales last year, with 22 million requests for the 6.6 million tickets available.
In July, the company managing the ticketing system also accidentally charged about 700 people twice for tickets.
Skiing
Croatia's Kostelic eyes first win on home hill
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Defending overall World Cup champion Ivica Kostelic hopes this January will prove just as good as the last one, starting with a night slalom on his home hill on Thursday.
The Croat won seven races and racked up 999 World Cup points in January last year, earning him an insurmountable lead in the overall standings.
Kostelic gained more points in that month alone than runner-up Didier Cuche did over the entire season, when the Swiss standout finished with 959.
"It will be hard to repeat these successes, but it's definitely not impossible," Kostelic said in a recent interview. "I live from race to race and we'll see the outcome at the end of the month."
The 32-year-old Kostelic has started the season even better than last year's campaign by winning two slaloms in December — in Beaver Creek, Colo., and Flachau, Austria — to take his career total to 20 World Cup victories.
"As a child, I didn't dare to dream about winning 20 races," Kostelic said. "It's a nice number, but hopefully a few wins will be added ... It was a good feeling to finish the year 2011 with a win. I had not expected to be in good form so early in the season."
Kostelic and his sister Janica — who has retired from skiing — share 50 World Cup victories between them, but neither won on the Sljeme hill in Croatia.
Ivica came second three times — in 2008, '09 and '11. Last year, he was beaten by close friend Andre Myhrer of Sweden.
The only World Cup event in Croatia started as a women's slalom seven years ago, when Janica was still one of the dominating forces on the circuit. The men's race was added three years later.
Croatia has been struggling to produce a successor to Janica, and the women's race Tuesday didn't feature a single home competitor.
It didn't affect public interest as 8,000 spectators showed up, and the men's race is expected to attract an even larger crowd.
Kostelic, who recovered from knee surgery in the offseason, is currently seventh in the overall standings with 329 points, trailing leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway by 127 and second-place Marcel Hirscher of Austria by 96.
"It's still a bit early to talk about the overall World Cup," Kostelic said. "The other guys are racing very well, especially Aksel, who is always among the best in the speed events."
Kostelic, who won 12 of his 20 titles in slalom, said he is working on improving his performance in the speed races.
"For me it's important to keep racing on a high level in my strongest disciplines, but I have to get better in super-G and downhill as well," he said.
Kostelic won the super-G race least year in Kitzbuehel, Austria, and took silver in the discipline at the world championships. But he still expects to earn most of his points in the technical races. After Zagreb, four more slaloms are scheduled this month, two in Switzerland and two in Austria.
"In slalom, competition has been very fierce for the last couple of years," Kostelic said. "But I believe it's still possible to win race after race."
-- Eric Willemsen
Bjoergen wins third straight Tour de Ski stage
DOBBIACO, Italy (AP) — Norway's Marit Bjoergen won her third consecutive stage in the Tour de Ski on Wednesday and moved within 4.8 seconds of overall leader Justyna Kowalczyk.
Bjoergen edged Kikkan Randall of the United States and the Polish two-time defending champion Kowalczyk in the 1.3-kilometer freestyle sprint.
In the men's sprint, Nikolay Morilov of Russia lunged his foot ahead to narrowly beat Norway's Petter Northug, with overall leader Dario Cologna of Switzerland crossing third.
Cologna's overall lead over Northug was cut to 13.5 seconds with three stages remaining.
Stage 7 on Thursday will feature a men's 35-kilometer and women's 15-kilometer pursuit. The final leg Sunday features a climb up Mount Cermis, which is otherwise used as a downhill skiing slope.
Russia edges Germany in women's relay biathlon
OBERHOF, Germany (AP) — Germany's lead collapsed during the final shoot, allowing Russia to win the women's relay at the biathlon World Cup on Wednesday.
Magdalena Neuner had a commanding 20-second lead heading into the final shoot, but hit the target only once and forced four penalty laps.
Olga Vilukhina took full advantage to anchor the Russia team of Anna Bogaliy-Titovets, Svetlana Sleptsova and Olga Zaitseva to victory in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 32 seconds.
Norway finished second in the 4x6-kilometer race, ahead of France, with Germany fourth.
Sailing
Avoiding pirates, Groupama wins ocean race leg
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — French team Groupama earned its first stage victory in the Volvo Ocean Race on Wednesday, defeating overall leader Telefonica in a sprint to Abu Dhabi to complete the second leg.
The five-boat fleet set off on a 98-nautical-mile sprint from nearby Sharjah to finish a leg that began last month in Cape Town, South Africa. The boats initially sailed to a secret "safe haven" port in the Indian Ocean to avoid pirates before being shipped to the United Arab Emirates.
Groupama overtook Telefonica shortly before the finishing line to clinch the victory.
"We had one last opportunity downwind but we didn't really believe in it," said Groupama skipper Franck Cammas. "Then, with a gust, we managed to overtake them."
Groupama's crew had to patch up the $10-million boat with plastic tape to repair hull damage shortly before the sprint because normal repairs aren't allowed during the race.
"This morning we were a little worried about the repair," Cammas said. "Now, I think we were so fast we will leave it the way it is."
Telefonica extended its overall lead over Camper, which finished third in the stage. American team Puma was fourth, ahead of Abu Dhabi in fifth.
Telefonica has 66 points in the overall standings, with Camper second on 58 and Groupama third on 42.
The next event will be an in-port race in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 13. Then its seven offshore legs and seven more in-port races before the round-the-world race finishes in July in Galway, Ireland.
Cycling
Valverde starts 'new era' after two-year doping ban
MADRID (AP) — Spanish cyclist Alejandro Valverde is looking forward to "starting a new era" with his team Movistar after completing a two-year doping ban.
"I am ready to start again from scratch," Valverde said at his introduction on Wednesday. "We are beginning a new era with Movistar, which has given me the chance to compete with the best in cycling."
The 31-year-old Valverde was stripped of his No. 1 world ranking and banned for two years from January 2010 after being implicated in Operation Puerto, a blood-doping ring in Spain involving more than 50 riders.
While he never tested positive for a banned drug, Valverde was reportedly linked to the doping ring by DNA evidence seized in police raids in 2006.
Valverde said he is not worried about the reception awaiting him from the public and peloton.
"It isn't something that concerns me. I was under scrutiny for a long time, but now I am calm because I have complied with everything they wanted," he said. "Before, I raced in France and in many other places and I was always loved by fans and my fellow riders."
Valverde's first race back will be Australia's Tour Down Under from Jan. 22-25, the opening event of cycling's 2012 ProTour.
"I am a little afraid to see how I will respond by the end of race," said Valverde, the 2009 Spanish Vuelta winner. "If my stamina is lacking, I will recover it little by little, but at least I will arrive well rested."
Valverde will lead a Movistar team that recently signed 2011 Vuelta winner Juan Jose Cobo.
