International Capsules: Kwan returning to ice for August show

Michelle Kwan will skate before an audience for the first time in three years when she joins world champion Kim Yu-Na in Ice All-Stars 2009 in Seoul, South Korea, in August.

The five-time world champion and nine-time U.S. champ has been practicing and working out for most of this year. Her performance in Seoul could be an indication that competitive skating is still a possibility with the Vancouver Olympics looming.

Kwan's agent announced her plans on Friday.

"Michelle has turned down other invitations, but she and Yu-na have a mutual admiration society going," Shep Goldberg said. "Michelle is feeling healthy and has her abilities up to the standards she sets for herself, which are very high standards."

Kwan, who recently graduated from the University of Denver and has been accepted into the master's program at Tufts, has not been in a competitive environment since a foot injury forced her withdrawal from the Turin Olympics in 2006.

Her last public performance was Aug. 16, 2006, in Las Vegas with Champions on Ice.

When Kim invited Kwan to the Aug. 14-16 show, the two-time Olympic medalist felt the timing was right.

"The timing was a factor," Goldberg said. "She is skating at the standards she demands of herself to perform in front of an audience."

Kwan, who turns 29 on Tuesday, has until September to enter U.S. competitions leading to January's national championships, which also serve as the Olympic trials. She would need to qualify through regional events to get to nationals in Spokane, Wash.

Goldberg said Kwan has not made a decision yet about trying for another Olympics. She won silver in Nagano in 1998 and bronze in 2002 in Salt Lake City. But Kwan told The Associated Press in March, when the world championships were in Los Angeles, that she always will test her limits.

"I don't have a timetable. I do have goals," she said. "Right now, I want to do one thing at a time before I make any decisions. I want to make sure everything is out there and I look at all the options. Eventually, I'll get to a place I am comfortable with."

Powell edges Bailey in 100 meters at Bislett Games

OSLO - Asafa Powell overcame a poor start to win the 100 meters in a photo finish at the Bislett Games on Friday, but fell short of clocking his 50th time under 10 seconds.

The former world record-holder from Jamaica finished strongly to win in 10.07 seconds, with runner-up Daniel Bailey of Antigua given the same time.

"I didn't feel as strong as I normally do," Powell said. "I didn't get a great start. I was way behind. I got to the front somehow, but I didn't finish as strong as normal. But a win is always a win."

It was Powell's second race after returning from an ankle injury.

"It's not 100 percent," he said. "I'm still a bit cautious. I have two more races next week. Hopefully I can do better and better in both."

Powell had hoped to join Maurice Greene of the United States as the only sprinter with 50 sub-10 second races. Greene tops the list with 53.

Powell, who set four world records between 2005-07, has the second fastest time in history (9.72). His countryman Usain Bolt holds the world record at 9.69.

Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, who has set 14 world outdoor records, won the women's pole vault at a disappointing 15 feet, 5½ inches. The competition was stopped for about an hour because of a thunderstorm.

"Three hours ... it was my longest competition," Isinbayeva said. "It was also one of the most difficult competitions of my career and one of the wettest."

Sanya Richards of the United States won the women's 400 meters in 49.23 seconds for the fastest time of the year.

Richards, who has not lost a 400 in the Golden League since Zurich 2004, also tied the Bislett Stadium record that Czech Tatjana Kocembova set in 1983.

"It was a pity that I only equaled the meet record," Richards said. "I didn't expect to have the world's best time of the year after the storm. We were worried during warm-up what would happen when we would be running."

Shericka Williams, the Olympic silver medalist from Jamaica, finished second in 49.98.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Christine Ohuruogu of Britain was sixth in 51.19 in her first major race of the season.

The Bislett meet is the second of six in the Golden League series.

The men compete in the 100 meters, 400, 3,000, 5,000, 110 hurdles and javelin, while the women contest the 100, 400, 100 hurdles, high jump and pole vault.

Any athlete who wins those events at each of the six Golden League meetings will claim at least part of a $1 million jackpot.

If no one wins all six of their events, athletes with five victories will share $500,000.

-- Stephan Nasstrom

Yale beats Clyde/Edinburgh composite at Henley

HENLEY, England - Yale University defeated Clyde/Edinburgh University's composite crew in the quarterfinal of the Remenham Cup for international women's eights at Henley Royal Regatta on Friday.

Yale next faces a British squad crew - racing as Thames - in the semifinal.

In the Ladies' Plate for intermediate eights, Brown University defeated MIT to set up a semifinal encounter with local club Leander.

In the quarterfinal of the Thames Cup for club eights, Four Score and Four of Hartford, Conn., lost to local club Henley after hitting the booms that mark the perimeter of the course.

The National University of Ireland, Galway, beat a composite from New York Athletic Club and Camp Randall, Madison, Wis., by two lengths in the Visitors' Cup for intermediate coxless fours.

In the Prince Albert Cup for student coxed fours, Yale beat Imperial College, London, to set up a semifinal with Reading University of England.

Belmont Hill School, Mass., lost its quarterfinal in the Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights to Abingdon School, England.

In the Temple Cup for student eights, Kent School, Conn., lost by two lengths to Melbourne University. Melbourne will face Brown University in the semifinal.

Dutch government supports possible Olympic bid

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Dutch government is considering a bidding for the Olympics in 2008 - exactly a century after Amsterdam last staged the games.

"It would be fantastic if we could experience the games in our own country again after 100 years," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Friday after his government's weekly Cabinet meeting.

Balkenende said the government would support a possible bid by the country's Olympic Committee, and also backed a plan by the committee to raise the overall standard of sport in the country.

That plan would include improving sports facilities across the country, with the government also giving financial backing to a bid to co-host the soccer World Cup with neighboring Belgium in 2018 or 2022.

"It is a plan with daring, vision and decisiveness and that is exactly what the Netherlands needs in these troubled economic times," Balkenende said.

The 1928 summer games in Amsterdam marked the first time the Olympic flame was lit at the stadium, and featured swimmer and future "Tarzan" star Johnny Weissmuller winning two golds for the United States.

Both the Dutch capital and port city Rotterdam are expected to try to host the games if the Netherlands decides to bid.

The International Olympic Committee will decide in October which city will host the 2016 Olympics. The candidates are Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.

Asia Olympic Council backs Tokyo's 2016 bid

SINGAPORE - The Olympic Council of Asia has endorsed the bid of Tokyo to host the Summer Games in 2016.

"Asia will always support any city from Asia," Kuwait's Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah, the council president, said after a general assembly meeting in Singapore. "They're doing a great job making progress toward a successful bid."

Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Olympics, is competing against Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.

"We're very happy and very grateful for the support," said Tsunekazu Takeda, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee. "We're planning a new stadium and facilities, but we have a lot of legacy from the 1964 Games."

NADA investigates doping charges against Hempel

VIENNA - The Austrian anti-doping agency has started an investigation into doping allegations against triathlete Hannes Hempel.

The disciplinary committee of NADA announced Friday it is examining whether Hempel gave drugs to former cyclist Bernhard Kohl, who was banned for the illegal blood-booster CERA after last year's Tour de France.

Kohl, who retired in May, said Hempel had given him the drugs. The triathlete initially admitted the charge while being questioned by state prosecutors earlier this year, but later withdrew his confession and has since denied any wrongdoing.

The investigation by NADA does not impact Hempel's right to start in Sunday's Ironman Austria Triathlon.

Speedskating's Pechstein gets 2-year doping ban

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - Olympic speedskating great Claudia Pechstein of Germany was banned for two years because of blood doping Friday and will miss the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The International Skating Union said Pechstein's blood profile indicated abnormal changes in a series of tests, in particular after the World Allround Championships in February. The governing body ruled after a two-day hearing.

The 37-year-old skater is a five-time Olympic gold medalist. She is banned until Feb. 9, 2011 and can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Pechstein was stripped of her results in the 500-meter and 3,000-meter races Feb. 7 at the World Allround event, where she finished fifth and fourth, respectively.

Pechstein had hoped to compete in Vancouver for her sixth straight Winter Games. She won her first gold medal in the 5,000 in Lillehammer in 1994, and won at the same distance in Nagano in 1998 and Salt Lake City in 2002. She also won the 3,000 in Salt Lake City and was part of Germany's winning team in the pursuit in Turin in 2006.

She also won two Olympic silvers and two bronze medals, including a third-place finish in the 5,000 at the 1992 Albertville Games, along with six world championship titles.