Other Articles in this Category
Most Viewed Stories
Most Commented Stories
Most Recommended Stories
Save & Share this Article
International Capsules: Olympic speedskater Pechstein's 2-year ban upheld
Comments 0 | Recommend 0FRANKFURT — Five-time Olympic speedskating champion Claudia Pechstein lost her appeal against a two-year ban for blood doping Wednesday and will miss the Vancouver Games.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, dismissed the German’s appeal against a ban imposed by the International Skating Union. The verdict was first released by Pechstein’s management group in Berlin and later confirmed by the court.
The ban runs until February 2011.
The 37-year-old Pechstein will miss the Vancouver Olympics in February, where she had hoped to win a gold medal for the fifth straight games. Pechstein is Germany’s most successful Winter Olympian with a total of nine medals. She is also a six-time world champion.
She has never failed a drug test and denied doping. But the ISU said she returned blood samples with abnormal levels at the World Allround Championships last season.
In ruling on Pechstein’s appeal, the three-man CAS panel said abnormalities in Pechstein’s blood profile "could not be reasonably explained by the various justifications submitted by the athlete nor by a congenital medical condition ... and concluded that there were no signs of any detectable blood disease or anomaly."
"The panel finds that they must, therefore, derive from the athlete’s illicit manipulation of her own blood, which remains the only reasonable alternative source of such abnormal values."
Pechstein lawyer Simon Bergmann, who was given the 66-page CAS ruling ahead of its publication, said he would take Pechstein’s case to the Swiss supreme court.
"It’s incredibly hard for me to accept it (the verdict)," Pechstein said in a statement released by her management group. "After weeks of unworthy comings and goings the verdict was predictable. I am not shocked by the outcome but more by how it came about."
Pechstein also blasted both the ISU and CAS.
"It remains unimaginable for me how I could get banned for one single indication that is also very contested scientifically," Pechstein said.
Pechstein won her first Olympic gold medal in the 5,000-meter race in Lillehammer in 1994, and took 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 in her career, including a third-place finish in the 5,000 at the 1992 Albertville Games.
Thomas Bach, Germany’s top Olympic official and a vice president of the International Olympic Committee, said the verdict was a victory in the fight against doping.
"Every doping case is a disappointment but it shows that the control system functions," he said.
Clemens Prokop, president of the German athletics federation, said the "quality of the fight against doping" would be "noticeably improved" by the ruling.
"It will not only be based on controls, but on the sum of facts," he said.
USA Luge’s Benshoof plans to race this weekend
The cortisone shot Tony Benshoof needed for his back pain was only a temporary fix.
"They last up to three months," he said.
Fortunately for Benshoof, the luge competition at the Vancouver Olympics is only 2½ months away.
Benshoof arrived in Igls, Austria, on Wednesday, saying the latest recurrence of his chronic back pain is under control. Barring something unexpected, he will race in a World Cup competition there Sunday, when his quest for a third trip to the Olympics resumes.
"I don't have any pain right now," the 34-year-old U.S. luge veteran said during a conference call. "I'm not going to push it really hard until the race this weekend, but I'm fairly optimistic."
Benshoof had surgery 11 months ago for a herniated disk. Tests last week showed the same disk has herniated again, bringing more pain. He was sixth in the World Cup opener last weekend at Calgary, Alberta, then stayed in western Canada an extra two days to take the cortisone shot.
The flight to Austria led to soreness and discomfort, Benshoof said, but stretching at the gym afterward seemed to solve the problem.
"Some of the back pain I've had, I wouldn't wish it on my enemies," Benshoof said.
Benshoof knew the disk had gone bad again when he tried to pick up his sled after a training run in Calgary. The pain brought him to his knees.
He was able to compete in both a Nation's Cup and the World Cup stop after the flare-up, but after conferring with doctors, the shot was deemed necessary.
"They shoot cortisone on the nerve root," Benshoof said. "It's actually a nerve-blocking procedure where the cortisone is just a real localized anti-inflammatory that kind of calms that nerve root down. It gave me relief."
He will be back on the ice for training Thursday, and said he doesn't intend to hold anything back Sunday or at any time this season.
"I'm definitely going to go for it," Benshoof said. "I've had some successes here in the past and I know I can be a contender. So I'm going to play it by ear, but yeah, every race is important. From here on out, it's as fast as possible."
Benshoof was fourth at the 2006 Turin Games, missing a medal by less than one-fifth of a second. A 21-year member of the USA Luge program and a winner of 37 international medals, the most by any U.S. men's luge slider, Benshoof has hinted that this season could be his last.
That's why he's not taking time to rest his back.
"It's an Olympic year and it could quite possibly be my last hurrah," Benshoof said. "That in and of itself makes it worth it."
-- Tim Reynolds
Mahres hope U.S. slalom drought ends at Vancouver
Before he was an Olympian, much less a gold medalist, Ted Ligety was making precision turns and effortless cutbacks in front of an admiring audience.
Phil Mahre was watching and marveled at the kid's grace on skis. And maybe it didn't matter that Ligety was behind a boat, skimming across the surface on water skis.
Mahre, a 1984 Olympic champion, was hosting younger members of the U.S. ski team a few years back at his place in Yakima, Wash. Nothing fancy, just a chance to get to know the up-and-comers, perhaps even serve as a mentor.
And Ligety was carving up Mahre's private lake. If Ligety could do that on water, Mahre wondered, just how good could he become on snow?
Could Ligety become an Olympic slalom champion?
Mahre certainly wouldn't mind a little company. He and his twin brother, Steve, who took silver that year in Sarajevo, are the last Americans to win a medal in the Olympic slalom, a distinction they're reminded of every four years.
Phil Mahre thinks the Vancouver Olympics provide the perfect backdrop to end that drought.
"It would be great to see someone come along and better what I did," Mahre said. "That would be exciting."
Ligety and Bode Miller have a legitimate shot to capture gold in the slalom, just as Mahre did a quarter-century ago.
"Half my lifetime ago," Mahre said. "But that's something you'll always cherish."
It was made all the more memorable by the fact he shared the moment with his brother. Not only that, but Phil Mahre's son, Alex, was born that very day.
Talk about hitting the lottery.
"Only race I know the date of," Mahre said, laughing.
The brothers were destined to be ski racers. Either that or fruit farmers.
They picked apples on their family's orchard in Ellensburg, Wash., until their father sold the struggling business in favor of a position at a ski resort. It wasn't long before they set up makeshift slalom courses on the slopes, racing each other well into the night with dim street lights off in the distance illuminating the way.
They pushed each other, motivated each other all the way to the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. There, the Mahres had their majestic moment on the mountain.
They still get asked about the race, always willing to relive the experience. When the brothers host skiers at their ski camp each winter in Deer Valley, Utah, they show footage from their medal-winning runs.
That day in Sarajevo, Phil Mahre turned in a solid final run, gliding down the slopes as if he were back at White Pass Resort as a kid.
Still, he was resigned to winning silver, especially with Steve Mahre in the lead and yet to go. His brother was skiing so efficiently. Steve, however, had a few snags in his run and Phil moved into the lead.
"That moment is still with me," said Phil Mahre, who's older than Steve by four minutes. "Olympic gold medalist? That's a tag you'll have throughout your life."
As the Winter Olympics near, the calls begin to trickle in. Phil Mahre is asked about the state of U.S. skiing, and his opinions still carry a lot of weight.
And he repeats what's he's said for years — the Americans have loads of talent. He's become quite impressed with this squadron of skiers.
There was a time when Mahre divorced himself from skiing, preferring to focus on family. For more than a decade, he kept a low profile.
But he was drawn back in by an invitation to work with some rising skiers at a camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. They were teens with talent but in need of tutoring. So he offered some pointers, even if hardly any of the skiers knew him.
"Their heroes were the Tommy Moes and the Alberto Tombas," Mahre recalled. "If 20 percent knew me, that was pushing it."
That would soon change.
Some of those kids he worked with turned out to be Ligety, Steven Nyman and T.J. Lanning, all members of the U.S. team. Mahre captivated them with stories about how he and his brother made homemade slalom runs, and never wanted to come off the snow.
"They'd hike up and set up their own courses — ski a million runs a day," Lanning said in awe. "Phil and Steve are both mentors for me."
Later, Phil Mahre invited a group of them to camp at his house and water ski on a private lake he helped build.
"It's cool to have a legend in our sport like that, who's into watching the new generation coming up," Ligety said. "Knowing him growing up was definitely cool."
From relative obscurity, Ligety won a gold medal at the Turin Games in the combined, an event that blends times from slalom and downhill runs. His triumph inspired the then 50-year-old Mahre to come out of retirement and give competitive skiing another shot.
The comeback didn't last long. He blew out his knee in a race when he made a fast cut on grippy snow. It was back to motivating young skiers instead of racing them.
Years later, Nyman still remembers the encouragement he once received from Mahre. Not a highly touted skier, Nyman was pointed out as an example at a clinic.
"He's like, 'This guy is charging through the ruts, while other guys are backing off. That's the way,'" Nyman recalled. "Pretty cool to hear that come out of his mouth. You can tell he has an (older) body, but still has the mentality of a competitor."
That's why Mahre is contemplating another comeback. A craving for velocity is creeping back into the skier's system. Even at 52, Mahre still believes he has the skill and spunk to outrace those half his age.
Only this time, Mahre's competitive grit will be fulfilled on the auto race track, not on the slopes.
Sponsorship money willing, Mahre is hoping to return to professional road racing after a two-year hiatus. Just like swooshing down a mountain course, his tactics for a trip around the track remain the same — find the right line, kick it into high gear and see what happens at the finish line.
That approach has always been a solid strategy for Mahre, who won a silver medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in the slalom. He also captured three overall Wold Cup titles as well as 27 World Cup races in the slalom, giant slalom and combined over his career.
His biggest push always came from his brother. Steve Mahre wound up with nine World Cup wins, not to mention gold in the giant slalom at the 1982 world championships.
"We had a saying, 'Let's keep it in the family,'" said Steve Mahre, who has spent the past two summers constructing a new house just outside Yakima. "If he wasn't winning, I'd better be. When we did win, those were the fun days."
Try as he might, Ligety can't place a finger on why the Americans haven't won an Olympic medal in the slalom since the Mahre brothers.
"We've had a lot of good slalom skiers," Ligety said. "But it's a tough event, a hard event on your body. As you get older, you lose that quick-twitch muscle. It's hard to dominate the slalom event for a couple of years."
Can he possibly end the Olympic dry spell in Vancouver?
"I think I definitely have a good chance," Ligety said. "This season, I feel like it's going really well so far. I think I have a good chance for sure."
Phil Mahre certainly hopes so. He wouldn't mind the company.
-- Pat Graham
Sailing
Swiss press for America’s Cup in Persian Gulf port
America's Cup champion Alinghi of Switzerland told a New York court Wednesday that it has the right to face American challenger BMW Oracle Racing in the Persian Gulf port of Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
The Swiss asked the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division to overturn a lower-court ruling that RAK is ineligible to host the best-of-three showdown beginning Feb. 8 because the 19th century Deed of Gift prohibits racing in the Northern Hemisphere between Nov. 1 and May 1.
Alinghi also asked that if the court doesn't reinstate RAK in February, that the match be delayed until May. That would allow its choice of RAK to comply with the Deed of Gift.
Alinghi spokesman Lucien Masmejan said that if the Swiss are rebuffed, they'll face the Americans in Valencia, Spain, in February.
Although Valencia also is in the Northern Hemisphere, neither side objected earlier in the long, twisting court fight to holding the series in the Mediterranean port, although they disagreed on the dates. Valencia hosted the 2007 America's Cup and both powerhouse teams still have bases there.
The bitter rivals hope for a quick decision from the panel because time is running out before the showdown in the fastest, most extreme boats built in the 158-year history of the America's Cup.
There was no explanation why the panel included only four judges instead of the expected five. If the panel splits 2-2, it's believed the case would be reheard by a five-judge panel.
The Swiss have had their 90-foot catamaran, Alinghi 5, in the Persian Gulf port since late September.
BMW Oracle Racing's trimaran, known as BOR 90 and soon to be renamed USA, has been in San Diego since last fall. The Americans will finish their sea trials on Friday, then prepare their 90-by-90-foot boat to be shipped overseas.
"We are in RAK and would prefer to stay in RAK," Masmejan told The Associated Press after each side gave oral arguments. "We selected the venue in good faith and now we have to move. If we cannot do it in February, we would like to do it in May in RAK. If not, let's go to Valencia in February.
"We're not going to delay the match for the pleasure of delay," he added. "We'll race in February. This isn't to save time, it's to save RAK."
Even as they pressed on with their appeal, the Swiss announced two weeks ago that they were preparing to race in Valencia. They also floated Australia as a possible compromise location.
The Swiss say RAK officials have committed $120 million for infrastructure to host the mammoth boats and their shore crews. When the choice of RAK was announced in August, Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi was quoted as saying it was "a great moment for us" to host the competition for the oldest trophy in international sports.
"We have good relations with them," Masmejan said. "They have been shocked by the decision. We are not under pressure but we feel that we have to be consistent. We've said we will do whatever possible to save RAK. If we cannot save it we will not and we will go to Valencia and RAK will accept that."
The convoluted court fight between American software tycoon Larry Ellison and Swiss biotech mogul Ernesto Bertarelli has been made even more confusing by the convergence of the Deed of Gift and the court's interpretation of the document, written in 1887.
Although the Deed of Gift stipulates that racing between Nov. 1 and May 1 must take place in the Southern Hemisphere, Justice Herman Cahn — who is now retired — ruled in May 2008 that "the location of the match shall be in Valencia, Spain, or any other location selected by SNG."
That led Alinghi's backing yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve, to select RAK.
BMW Oracle, backed by San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, fought back based on the Deed of Gift. The Americans also said they were concerned about safety because of RAK's proximity to Iran.
If Cahn's order is taken literally, Masmejan said, the Swiss are entitled to pick a Northern Hemisphere venue, "and that is RAK."
But if Cahn's order is made to comply with the Deed of Gift and the Swiss pick a Northern Hemisphere venue, "then it has to be May," Masmejan said.
The Swiss also asked the court to overturn a lower court's ruling that rudders will not be included in the crucial load waterline calculation. The Americans say the Swiss want that provision in order to disqualify Ellison's trimaran.
-- Bernie Wilson
Cycling
Astana team licensed to race in 2010 ProTour
AIGLE, Switzerland — Alberto Contador’s Astana team was registered Wednesday to race the 2010 International Cycling Union’s ProTour calendar of events.
The UCI approved the Kazakh-backed team’s entry but still wants assurances that Astana can meet its budget.
"The UCI awaits this bank guarantee and is confident it will be provided soon," the governing body said in a statement.
Contador, the 2009 Tour de France champion, was expected to leave the team if Astana was excluded.
The oil-rich Kazakhstan government has said it will back Astana’s total budget for next year, a pledge worth $22 million.
Astana riders went without some paychecks last season when Contador and Lance Armstrong were teammates. Armstrong rode without a salary and has since started his own U.S.-based team, RadioShack.
"The UCI requested (Astana) to provide an additional bank guarantee so that the regrettable situation in 2009 would not be repeated," it said.
Failure to provide that financial security would "reactivate" a request to the UCI’s ProTour Council for the withdrawal of Astana’s racing license, the UCI said.
Astana’s registration brings the total to 17 teams — including RadioShack and the new Sky team from Britain — that have been accepted for next season.
The ProTour’s council decided Wednesday to refuse the registration of Italian team Lampre Farnese Vini featuring rider Damiano Cunego. The reason for the refusal was not disclosed. The UCI’s License Commission will consider Lampre’s future.
ProTour teams commit to ride in 16 stage races and one-day events next season. These top-tier teams can expect invitations to signature races like the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia.
Swimming
Adlington, Pellegrini team up for Duel in the Pool
MANCHESTER, England — Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and world champion Federica Pellegrini will compete for Europe against the United States at next month’s Duel in the Pool.
The American team for the Dec. 18-19 meet at Manchester Aquatics Centre includes 14-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps.
Adlington is among 14 British swimmers in the 36-member European team. There are 14 Italians, including Pellegrini, and eight Germans.
Adlington beat Pellegrini to win the 400-meter freestyle gold at the 2008 Beijing Games before the Italian became the first woman to swim the same event in under 4 minutes at this year’s worlds.
The 2003, 2005 and 2007 events featured teams from the United States and Australia. The Americans won each time.
Track & Field
Police: Doping materials in race walker’s home
VALENCIA, Spain — Spanish police say they uncovered doping materials in the home of Olympic race walker Francisco Fernandez during raids that led to 11 people being detained.
Spain’s Guardia Civil discovered EPO and growth hormones while raiding clinics, pharmacies and homes linked to former Kelme cycling team doctor Walter Viru, who was among the nine men and two women detained.
A Guardia Civil spokesman says that "medications of these types" were discovered in the home of Fernandez, who won the silver medal for Spain at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Police say Fernandez was not detained because he appeared to be a consumer.
See archived 'Sports' stories »
We want our site to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We built this for you. Please take care of it. Tolerate broad thinking, but take action against obscene or hateful material. Make it a credible and safe place worth preserving and sharing.
