International Capsules: Slam dunk! Dream Team earns spot in Hall of Fame
NORTHBROOK, Ill. - The Dream Team is still dominating.
The star-studded team that featured Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley and won the gold medal in Barcelona headlines this year's inductees for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. The class, which also includes Michael Johnson, Picabo Street and Peter Ueberroth, will be formally announced Wednesday morning and inducted Aug. 12 in Chicago.
The other inductees are: Teresa Edwards (basketball); Mary T. Meagher (swimming); and Willye White (athletics); skier Sarah Will (Paralympian); Abie Grossfeld (coach, gymnastics); and Andrea Mead-Lawrence (veteran).
The inductees "have inspired many generations in this country with their courage and thrilling Olympic performances," said Stephanie Streeter, the U.S. Olympic Committee's acting CEO.
The 1992 Games were the first in which NBA players were allowed, and the Dream Team didn't disappoint. Jordan, Johnson, Bird, Barkley, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Christian Laettner, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson and John Stockton bulldozed their way through Barcelona, winning their eight games by an average of 44 points.
They got rock star treatment along the way, with even opposing players asking for autographs and pictures before games.
Wearing bright gold shoes, Michael Johnson left his mark at the Atlanta Games, becoming the first - and so far, only - man to win the 200 and 400 meters at the same Olympics. The world record he set in the 200 meters in 1996 stood until Jamaica's Usain Bolt broke it in Beijing. His world record in the 400 meters still stands.
Johnson won two more Olympic gold medals and eight world titles.
Street, a three-time Olympian, won the 1998 gold medal in the super-G by a mere hundredth of a second. She also won a silver in the downhill in 1994. In 1995, she won the World Cup downhill title, the first in a speed event by an American woman.
Ueberroth, inducted as a special contributor, helped bring the games to Los Angeles in 1984, sparking the turnaround of what was once a very troubled Olympic brand. He later served as chairman of the USOC, giving it much-needed stability and paving the way for success in Beijing, where the United States won a record 110 medals.
Ueberroth continues to serve as the USOC as "President in an honorary capacity."
Officially, it's the US Olympic Hall of Fame presented by Allstate.
Swimming
Speedo weighs swimmers' interest in other suits
Speedo is discussing whether to allow swimmers it sponsors to wear rival manufacturers' new high-tech suits.
"The brand is continuing to evaluate the situation internally," Speedo vice president for marketing Craig Brommers said in a statement Tuesday.
The introduction of Speedo's NASA-designed LZR Racer suit 16 months ago sparked a flood of world records. Now, other companies are making suits that swimmers believe might be even faster.
Last Monday, swimming's governing body approved modified versions of suits worn by Frenchmen Frederick Bousquet and Alain Bernard in unofficial record-breaking races. That means the previously banned Jaked 01 and Arena X-Glide suits can be worn when the U.S. national championships begin next Tuesday.
Agent Evan Morgenstein represents many of the world's top swimmers, including Dara Torres and Aaron Peirsol. He said the perception in the swimming community seems to be that the new suits are better than the LZR.
Should their sponsors allow it, he said, swimmers will wear the brand they believe gives them the best shot at winning.
"If coaches truly believe the other suits are faster, it will be 100 percent," Morgenstein said.
Just one year ago, it was Speedo causing swimmers to rethink which brand they wore.
Nike let its swimmers wear the LZR last year, then later bowed out of the elite competitive swimsuit business. Japan's national team also allowed its swimmers to wear the LZR at the Beijing Olympics, breaking its agreements with domestic swimsuit makers.
Drew Johnson, the agent for Speedo's most famous endorser, said he expected Michael Phelps would continue to use the LZR.
Even if Speedo does not give its long roster of elite swimmers the go-ahead to use other companies' suits, swimmers still could switch suits and risk the consequences. A fraction of a second might make all the difference at U.S. nationals, which will determine the American team for the world championships. Other manufacturers - and the swimmers they sponsor - will face the same tough decisions heading into nationals.
USA Swimming requires that for suits to be approved for use at nationals, manufacturers must guarantee the suits will be available to all competitors to prevent shortages. Both Jaked and Arena have made those assurances.
-- Rachel Cohen
Hockey
Healthy Johnson among 34 invited to U.S. Hockey camp
St. Louis Blues defenseman Erik Johnson, who missed all of last season because of a knee injury, was among 34 players invited to the U.S. Olympic hockey camp Tuesday for next year's Vancouver Games.
Johnson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft, tore two ligaments in his right knee last September during a team golf outing. He is expected to be ready for training camp and make a full recovery.
The first step in his return will take place from Aug. 17-19 when USA Hockey holds its orientation camp in Woodridge, Ill. The gathering is part of the preparation for the Winter Olympics in February.
Those invited to the camp represent 22 NHL teams, although no player is assured a place on the Olympic roster. Also, a player can still make the team even if he hadn't been invited to the camp.
There will be an additional 50 or so players added to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency program, making them eligible to be on the final Olympic roster when it is announced at the end of the year.
"The entire team will come out of this camp if we've done our job of identifying players properly," Team USA general manager Brian Burke said on a conference call. "My suspicion is that, knowing how competitive our athletes are, that's not going to be the case. Some of these guys who were not invited are going to try to jam it right down my throat. I welcome that.
"My prediction is that a couple of guys are going to make this real hard for us."
Five players who will be in attendance in August have Olympic experience, including three-time Olympian Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars. He is joined by two-time Olympians Chris Drury of the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski. Rangers forward Scott Gomez and Jamie Langenbrunner of the New Jersey Devils have both made one Olympic appearance.
"We're going to be an underdog in Vancouver, we know that," Burke said. "There is not going to be a penny bet on us in Las Vegas. We're probably going to be the youngest team in the tournament ... but we are going there to win and we've tried to identify a group that will give us our best chance to do that."
Notably absent are Olympic stalwarts such as forwards Bill Guerin, Keith Tkachuk, Jason Blake, and 47-year-old defenseman Chris Chelios, who will not be on the team.
Guerin, who had a strong playoff performance in helping the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup, is still on the USA Hockey radar as is Tkachuk, who scored 25 goals with St. Louis last season.
Burke said he reached out to several Olympic veterans he repeatedly referred to as "warriors" to explain the committee's decision to leave them off the invite list. Burke said Guerin told him he understood the desire to move on to younger players who haven't yet had a chance to shine on the international stage.
"We've turned to the same group for the last 15 years, and they've always shown up and played with heart and desire," Burke said. "We owe these guys. (Modano's) production has fallen off, but his usefulness as a player has not. It's just that his role has changed, and he's accepted that cheerfully."
Also missing from the list is goalie Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders, who played the majority of the games at the 2006 Turin Olympics. DiPietro has had numerous injuries, including one to his knee that forced him to miss most of last season.
"It's my understanding he will not be available for this camp at any rate based on his injury," Burke said.
Boston's Tim Thomas, the winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie this past season, headlines a trio of netminders invited to the camp and is likely the favorite for Vancouver.
He will be joined in the nets by Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres, and 22-year-old Jonathan Quick, who was 21-18-2 with a 2.48 goals-against average in 44 games as a rookie last season with the Los Angeles Kings.
Zach Parise of the Devils, who had 45 goals and 94 points last season, is among 19 invited forwards. Chicago Blackhawks young star Patrick Kane, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, will also take part in the camp. Twelve defenseman were among those invited.
The Olympic team will be led by Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson, who was also behind the American bench at this year's world championships. Eight players invited to the orientation camp were on that squad.
Wilson's assistants behind the bench will be New York Rangers coach John Tortorella and the New York Islanders' Scott Gordon.
Burke, the Maple Leafs general manager, was joined by fellow NHL GMs David Poile (Nashville), Paul Holmgren (Philadelphia), Don Waddell (Atlanta), Dean Lombardi (Los Angeles), Ray Shero (Pittsburgh), along with Jim Johannson, the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey in choosing which players to invite.
-- Ira Podell
Track & Field
Rodgers leads young U.S. track crew
EUGENE, Ore. - This story might make a great commercial some day: A kid stuck selling shoes in a parking lot turns around his career and comes out with a gold medal around his neck.
That tale has already been written by America's newest track star, Mike Rodgers.
This time, he won the medal at the U.S. championships. In a few more years, it might come from the London Olympics.
"He doesn't know enough to be scared," said Tyson Gay, who sees similarities between his climb to the top and where Rodgers is right now.
USA Track and Field only wishes it had 10 of these stories to tell, and maybe, in fact, a few more will pan out.
But after the national championships that wrapped up Sunday, Rodgers stands out as the best prospect of the bunch.
"Mike Rodgers has worked his butt off to get to where he is," said Doug Logan, the CEO of USATF. "Mike has been on our radar screen ... We've got this incredible pipeline at the youth level and at the collegiate level that is there as far as the eye can see."
The pipeline also helped produce Charles Clark (200), Galen Rupp (10,000), Jessica Beard (400) and Johnny Dutch (400 hurdles), among others who earned spots on their first U.S. worlds team. Dutch stood in awe after his race, watching Angelo Taylor do interviews right next to him. Taylor won an Olympic gold in 2008 and 2000.
"I think I was 11 and watching that" Olympics in 2000, said Dutch, who's going to be a junior at South Carolina.
The big question, though, is whether runners like Dutch are starting something special, or if they made it simply because the year after the Olympics almost always brings with it watered-down fields at nationals.
Outside of Rodgers' win in the men's 100, and a handful of second- and third-place finishes by newcomers, familiar names dominated wherever they competed. Among them were Allyson Felix (200), Shawn Crawford (200), Sanya Richards (400), LaShawn Merritt (400), Dawn Harper (100 hurdles) and Stephanie Brown Trafton (discus).
National shot put champion Christian Cantwell is sure there will come a day when the veteran throwing combination of himself, Reese Hoffa, Dan Taylor and Adam Nelson don't dominate every meet they enter.
"It's only a matter of time before they're really pushing us," Cantwell said of up and comers like Ryan Whiting and Zack Lloyd, who finished ninth and 13th, respectively. "They're going to be making teams soon. Hopefully, Reese and Adam will call it a day sometime this century."
Pick almost any event and the story's the same.
Crawford, at 31, saw a lineup full of young, spry sprinters lining up against him in the 200 and figured he'd be in trouble.
Not quite. He routed the field for his fourth national championship.
"After this, maybe I got a little bit more in me than I thought," Crawford said.
Of course, a lot of this still has to play out and the next big American star might still be running in relative obscurity in college or on a high school track somewhere. Remember, Usain Bolt wasn't exactly a household name in 2005.
USA Track, meanwhile, is determined to build a better pipeline. That is an integral part of Logan's "Project 30" endeavor, which is designed to revamp track while leading toward winning 30 medals at the London Olympics in 2012.
"We know where the competition is at, we respect it," Logan said. "But we are going to concede nothing."
Logan is thinking big for this organization, and he's got some people believing along with him. Last week, Nike signed a $10 million-plus a year contract, which represented about a 30 percent increase over the last deal. That's a significant vote of confidence from a company that bankrolls a hefty portion of the sport's athletes.
They include Rodgers, who sprinted down the track in the 100 finals wearing a neon orange headband that is becoming his trademark.
With Gay out of the field, it was Rodgers' stage and he had a compelling story to go with it.
The 24-year-old said he was living the good life when he was buying shoes at a discounted rate thanks to his job at a sporting goods store, then taking them to his car, where he would sell them for a profit out of his trunk.
"I'd buy like 20 pairs of shoes, and double my money," Rodgers said, smiling at a memory that wasn't all that long ago.
Eventually he decided there was more for him at the track.
"He's working with lot of talent, a lot of heart and some really good coaching, as well," Gay said.
When he travels to Berlin for worlds, Rodgers - and the rest of America's young faces - will get to see if that's enough.
-- Pat Graham
Doucoure wins 110 hurdles at Lille Metropole
LILLE, France - Former world champion Ladji Doucoure of France won the 110-meter hurdles at the Lille Metropole track meet on Tuesday, narrowly edging out Damien Broothaerts of Belgium at the line.
Doucoure, the 2005 world champ and this year's European indoor champ, won in 13.62, with Broothaerts finishing in 13.67 and Samuel Coco-Viloin of France taking third in 13.71.
The Lille Metropole is a warmup for Friday's Golden League meet in Oslo.
Also, Brendan Christian of Antigua and Barbuda won the men's 200 in 20.33, edging Stephane Buckland of Mauritius in a photo finish. Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe was third in 20.65.
In the 400, Gary Kikaya of Congo won in 45:30, French runner Leslie Djhone finished second in 45.47, and Australian Sean Wroe was third in 45.76.
In other men's track events, there were wins for French athletes Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad in the 1,500 meters and Yohann Diniz in the 5,000 walk.
Salim Sdiri of France won the long jump; Ainars Kovals of Latvia won the javelin; and Yves Niare of France sealed victory in the shot put.
In women's events, Vida Anim of Ghana won the 100 in 11.32, Britain's Emily Freeman was second in 11.42, and Natalya Murinovich of Russia third in 11.47.
Cindy Billaud of France won the 100 hurdles in 12.97, with Fabiana Dos Santos of Brazil second in 13.26.
Freeman finished on the podium again when she won the 200 in confident style, clocking 22.79, comfortably ahead of French runner Muriel Hurtis-Houairi in 23.37. Joice Maduaka of Britain was third in 23.43.
Ethiopian runner Meskerem Assefa won the 3,000 in 8 minutes, 46.37 seconds, barely ahead of countrywoman Sule Utura, who crossed the line in 8:46.52. Ines Chenonge of Kenya was third in 8:48.09.
Meanwhile, Viktoriya Klyugina-Slivka of Russia won the women's high jump; Russia's Aleksandra Kiryashova won the pole vault; and Nicoleta Grasu of Romania won the discus.
Coach: Liu Xiang's return from foot injury on hold
BEIJING - Liu Xiang's return to competition is on hold because of lingering problems with the Chinese high hurdler's injured foot, his coach said Tuesday.
The 2004 Olympic gold medalist has already been ruled out of defending his world championship title in August, although he has resumed light training after surgery on his right foot in December in Houston.
"We feel satisfied about Liu's recovery and the medical check revealed that his tendon is getting better but it's not enough yet. He still needs time before coming back to competition," Liu's longtime coach Sun Haiping was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.
The world championships are in August in Berlin followed by the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix event in September.
Liu's injury kept him from defending his 110-meter hurdles title at last summer's Beijing Games.
"There's really no need to rush. It is immature for him to run in competitions at this moment. We can count Liu in when he is fully ready. If he injures his leg again, it will certainly end his career once and for all," Sun told a news conference in Shanghai.
Liu set a world record of 12.88 seconds for the event in 2005, but Cuba's Dayron Robles lowered the mark to 12.87 last year and also won gold at the Beijing Olympics.
Olympics
London mayor: Olympic stadium could stay at 80,000
LONDON - The main stadium for the 2012 London Olympics might not be downsized after the games because of England's bid for the football and rugby World Cups, the city mayor said before a new warning about its long-term financial viability.
Mayor Boris Johnson previously said it would be too expensive to keep the stadium at its maximum capacity of 80,000, instead backing plans for a 25,000-seat venue.
"I'd be very foolish to rule it out now," Johnson told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
But he spoke before London legislators issued a report highlighting how the stadium could become a "white elephant" due to a lack of regular sports events after 2012. It points out that while the Bird's Nest was the centerpiece of the Beijing Games, it was now largely dependent on tourism as a source of revenue.
With London Olympic organizers unable to find a permanent football club tenant for the stadium after 2012 - due in part to the running track - it is estimated that the $907 million development could cost $16.5 million annually to maintain.
But with England bidding for the World Cup in 2018 or 2022, Johnson hopes the Stratford site could become one of the 16 venues. Wembley will take center stage.
Likewise, Twickenham is the English home of rugby union, but the Olympic stadium could also stage matches if the IRB selects England as host of the 2015 Rugby World Cup on July 28. The tournament's rights-holder recommended England's bid on Tuesday.
"It's a very difficult technical subject, but anyone with any common sense looking at this wonderful venue we are constructing in Stratford, will say, ‘Why not?"' Johnson said as he launched London's campaign to become a key host venue in 2018.
"It adds hugely to the attractions of London. London already boasts fantastic, incomparable sporting facilities. We are already a leading contender to have the 2018 World Cup, and I think the stadium in the Olympic Park is well worth considering as an additional venue."
Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and Tottenham's planned new venue alongside White Hart Lane are also in contention to stage World Cup matches in London. FIFA's executive committee will decide the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments in December 2010.
Retaining the Stratford site as an 80,000-seat venue received key backing last week from Margaret Ford, who will head the Olympic legacy board in September. Lawmakers in the London Assembly plan to press the mayor on how much it would cost to keep the stadium at 50,000 capacity, if not 80,000.
"Margaret Ford ... has been absolutely right to look at the possibility of keeping the stadium going beyond 2012, 2013," Johnson said. "It's certainly something that people with common sense are going to look at."
But the London Development Agency has said the stadium cannot make money or break even after the Olympics and would be subsidized by the rest of east London's Olympic Park.
After the Olympics, the stadium will house a secondary school for about 500 students, the National Skills Academy for sports and leisure industries and the English Institute of Sport.
That is not enough to sustain the stadium and the Olympic Park site, according to a report published on Wednesday by the London Assembly's sports committee.
"Without a credible anchor tenant to bring regular footfall into the park there will be serious doubts as to the future financial viability of the venue," the "Toward a Lasting Legacy" report said.
It questioned the wisdom of organizers demanding the athletics track must remain in place after the Olympics.
"It is far from clear that such a sporting venue will be able to host events that regularly attract the hundreds and thousands of spectators required in order for it to be financially viable," the report said. "Without decisive action the stadium is in danger of becoming a white elephant."
-- Rob Harris
