International Capsules: Lemaitre powers to 200 title & Euro sprint double
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Christophe Lemaitre overcame another poor start to win the men's 200 meters and secure a sprint double, while Russia dominated the women's events at the European Championships on Friday.
Lemaitre again recovered from an atrocious start and wobbly run around the bend to surge past four runners and snatch victory by a hundredth of a second, clocking 20.37 seconds at Barcelona's Olympic stadium on Friday.
"Coming out of the bend my legs were so heavy. But you have to push to the end to have a chance," Lemaitre said. "I really pushed with everything I had to do it."
The 20-year-old Frenchman had to power through the field over the last 60 meters in a similar finish to Wednesday's win in the 100, when he stumbled out of the blocks but recovered to secure his first major triumph. Christian Malcolm of Britain took silver with a season-best run of 20.38 while Martial Mbanjock won another bronze after finishing third in the 100.
"I didn't see Lemaitre, I didn't even hear him come," Malcolm said.
Tatyana Firova led a Russian sweep of the 400 to begin a flurry of victories that saw Russian women claim five golds. Russia tops the standings with eight golds and 19 total medals.
France has 10 medals overall, while Andy Turner's 110-meter hurdles win gave Britain its third gold. Germany also got its third through Betty Heidler's hammer throw victory.
Svetlana Feofanova won the pole vault with a leap of 4.75 meters — 10 centimeters better than Germans Silke Spiegelburg and Lisa Ryzih, who settled for silver and bronze.
"I just depend on myself, I don't care about my rivals," said Feofanova, who claimed the title left vacant by Russian countrywoman Yelena Isinbayeva, who skipped the championships.
Yuliya Zarudneva of Russia held off world champion Marta Dominguez of Spain in a sprint over the last 50 meters to win the women's 3,000 steeplechase in 9:17.57.
While Dominguez picked up Spain's first medal, Arturo Casado soon after won the host nation's first gold in the men's 1,500, with countryman Manuel Olmedo taking bronze behind Germany's Carsten Schlagen.
"I am the happiest man in the world right now," said Casado, whose previous best result was European indoor bronze.
Natalya Antyukh won the women's 400-meter hurdles and Mariya Savinova capped the Russian blitz by taking the 800 with a late attack that left the Netherlands' Yvonne Hak in silver.
Kevin Borlee surged from sixth around the final bend to take men's 400 gold for Belgium in 45.08 seconds, with British pair Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney both finishing with the same time but divided in that order by a photo finish.
France began the day with gold as Yohann Diniz successfully defended his 50-kilometer walk title on the streets of the Catalan capital. Diniz won the men's event in 3 hours, 40 minutes, 37 seconds after leading from the start while surviving a nasty fall.
"I knew I was going to win the race from the very beginning," Diniz said. "Although I tripped, it was no problem."
Jessica Ennis of Britain led the women's heptathlon with 4,080 points after clocking a championship-record 23.21 seconds in the 200. Nataliya Dobrynska of the Ukraine was second with 3,970 points thanks to her shot put win, while Germany's Jennifer Oeser was third with 3,841 points with three events remaining.
Rudisha continues unbeaten run in African 800
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — David Rudisha won the 800 meters at the African athletics championships Friday, defeating fellow Kenyan and former world champion Alfred Kirwa.
Rudisha defended his African title in 1 minute, 42.84 seconds, receiving a standing ovation as he crossed the finish with Kirwa and Jackson Kivuva in tow for a Kenyan sweep.
Rudisha has won his last six races, but he played down the prospect of breaking Wilson Kipketer's world record of 1:41.11.
"I am very happy to have won the 800 at home," Rudisha said. "Though I am in my best form, I cannot speak of breaking the world record for now."
South Africa's Mbulaeni Muaudzi, the 800 world champion, did not start.
Kenya captured two other golds. Olympic bronze medalist Richard Matelong won the men's 3,000 steeplechase in 8:24.54, followed by countryman and world champion Ezekiel Kemboi, and Olympic champion Nancy Jebet won the women's 1,500.
In the women's 400, Botswana's Amantle Montsho won gold in 50.03 seconds.
The men's 400 was won by Libya's Mohammed Khawaja Mohammed in a personal best of 44.98.
Louis Jacobs van Zyl of South Africa won the men's 400 hurdles in 48.51 seconds with countryman Cornel Fredericks second in 48.79. South Africa won the 4x100 relay in 39.12, beating favorite Nigeria by 0.10 seconds.
Kenya and South Africa are tied atop the medals table with five gold, two silver and three bronze medals each with two days left in the five-day meet.
-- Tom Odula
Cycling
Cyclist Rebellin loses Olympic doping appeal
GENEVA (AP) — Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin lost an appeal Friday of a decision stripping him of his 2008 Olympic silver medal for doping. He could now be suspended by cycling's governing body and stripped of other race results.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the International Olympic Committee was right to disqualify Rebellin after he tested positive for the banned blood-boosting drug CERA.
The IOC said in a statement it was pleased with the decision and can now award the silver medal to Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara, who finished third in Beijing. Fourth-place finisher Alexander Kolobnev of Russia will get the bronze. Samuel Sanchez of Spain won the gold medal.
The CAS panel of three lawyers rejected Rebellin's arguments that mistakes were made in testing his blood sample and the test itself was not valid.
"The procedures of the chain of custody have been complied with and ... there was no departure from the international standards for laboratories which could have reasonably caused an abnormal analysis result," CAS said in a statement. "The presence of CERA has been validly detected in the blood samples of the athlete."
Rebellin was caught in April 2009, eight months after the Beijing Games road race, when the IOC retested the Olympic samples for traces of CERA.
The 39-year-old Italian denied doping, but was immediately suspended by Italy's Olympic committee and his team at the time, Diquigiovanni-Androni. The Italian Olympic body also demanded Rebellin repay his $98,000 silver-medal bonus.
CERA is an advanced version of the hormone EPO, which stimulates the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells. It was first detected in sports by the French anti-doping agency, which developed a test and caught four cyclists more than two months after the 2008 Tour de France.
That success prompted the IOC to retest blood samples from Beijing. Rebellin was one of five Beijing athletes who were later disqualified when their samples came back positive for CERA. Rebellin's blood was analyzed at the Chatenay-Malabry lab near Paris.
CAS said that Rebellin's sample had also been tested in Beijing for traces for human growth hormone. The IOC stores Olympic samples for eight years to allow further analysis when new tests are developed.
The Rebellin case is the last outstanding result from the Beijing Olympics to be amended, almost two years after the games opened on Aug. 8, 2008.
In another doping case Friday, cycling's governing body was studying a Slovenian ruling that rejected biological passport evidence that rider Tadej Valjavec used banned drugs.
The UCI said it must first translate the judgment by Slovenia's anti-doping organization, which on Thursday declined to sanction Valjavec. The UCI could appeal to CAS.
Valjavec was one of three riders identified in a second round of cases brought under the UCI's pioneering anti-doping passport program, along with Jesus Rosendo and Franco Pellizotti.
On Friday, the Italian Olympic committee's anti-doping prosecutor recommended a two-year ban for Pellizotti.
-- Graham Dunbar
Landis rides in Catskills race, gets applause
TANNERSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Floyd Landis was back on the pedals Friday, receiving a warm greeting as he competed in the first stage of the Tour of the Catskills in upstate New York.
Wearing the jersey of Farm Team, a developmental cycling club north of Albany, N.Y., Landis raced in a 2.19-mile time trial uphill against about 100 professional cyclists. He finished ninth in 6 minutes, 59.91 seconds, 24 seconds behind stage winner Aurelien Passeron of France.
"We're excited to have him here," race organizer Dieter Drake said. "He's clearly the biggest name we've had. The reaction has been mostly positive. We've had e-mails from people saying they're glad he's back racing and still active, glad he's not giving up on it."
Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping and admitted this spring to using drugs to gain a competitive edge. He also has made doping claims against seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong.
Landis' admission has sparked a federal investigation into cheating in pro cycling, and prosecutors have subpoenaed documents from a 2004 case in which a company tried to prove Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs.
Armstrong has denied using such drugs and has never tested positive.
Landis wouldn't talk about the case Friday. He received a round of applause when he was introduced, and several spectators shouted "Go, Floyd!" as he prepared to round the first turn of the stage. Another lone spectator halfway up the hill yelled "Go, Floyd!" as he made his way toward the finish line on a sunny day.
"It's cool (that Landis is here)," said Kristin Gohr of Reading, Mass., who was competing in the women's race. "I guess he's starting to get back into it. I don't know why he ratted Lance out, though."
The Tour continues Saturday and Sunday with roughly 80-mile stages each day.
-- John Kekis
Italian cyclist Pellizotti risks 2-year ban
ROME (AP) — The Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor has recommended a two-year suspension for cyclist Franco Pellizotti for violations of the anti-doping code just before the 2009 Tour de France.
The announcement on Friday came after the International Cycling Union said in May that it detected abnormal values in Pellizotti's blood passport. The 32-year-old was provisionally suspended by his Liquigas-Doimo team.
The irregularities date to a sample taken after he placed third in the 2009 Giro d'Italia and before the 2009 Tour, where Pellizotti won the mountains classification.
Pellizotti has insisted that he has not doped, and his lawyers claim there were only two irregular values out of 22 samples, one in November 2008 and a second on July 2, 2009.
The case now goes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
UCI weighs appeal after Valjavec doping decision
AIGLE, Switzerland (AP) — The International Cycling Union is studying a Slovenian ruling which rejected biological passport evidence that rider Tadej Valjavec was doping before deciding whether to appeal to sport's highest court.
The UCI said Friday it must translate the detailed judgment by Slovenia's anti-doping organization which declined to sanction the 33-year-old Valjavec.
Cycling's governing body can challenge the Slovenian decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The UCI asked Slovenian authorities in May to investigate Valjavec based on suspicious blood profile results in samples provided for his biological passport.
Valjavec was named in a second round of cases brought under the UCI's pioneering anti-doping program.
Appeals tribunal upholds ban on Pakistan sprinters
ISLAMABAD (AP) — An appeals tribunal has upheld two-year bans on Pakistan sprinters Sadaf Siddique and Javeria Hassan.
The sprinters tested positive while training last month for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games.
Sports ministry spokesman Faik Ali said on Friday that a three-member appellate committee found both sprinters guilty again of using banned steroids and upheld the two-year bans.
Siddique represented Pakistan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was supposed to compete with Hassan in the 100 and 200-meter events at the Commonwealth Games in October.
British cyclist Staite suspended for doping
LONDON (AP) — British Cycling has announced that Dan Staite has received a two-year ban from all competitions after testing positive for the blood-boosting agent EPO.
The urine sample collected at the Roy Thame Cup road race in March also showed the presence of an aromatase inhibitor, which is used in cancer treatment.
EPO is a naturally occurring hormone which promotes the formation of red blood cells in the body and helps to increase endurance.
Bob Howden, the chairman of British Cycling's anti-doping commission, says Staite's case shows "that the comprehensive testing program which operates at all levels of the sport is delivering results."
Olympics
WADA head says Russia must do more against doping
MOSCOW (AP) — The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency says Russia must step up efforts against the use of banned drugs by athletes.
WADA president John Fahey said at an international sports forum Friday that while Russia has made progress against doping more must be done especially with the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
"It has a duty ... as the world is watching Russia prepare for that major event," he said.
Several Russian biathletes and cross-country skiers were banned for doping in the months before the Vancouver Games, and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge has said the country should get tougher on cheaters.
"Russia needs to expand its domestic doping control program in order to ensure its athletes are tested out of competition and in a smart and targeted way," Fahey said. "Testing needs to be conducted all around the country in an effective way.
He also appeared to suggest that Russians have been allowed to tolerate drug use by athletes.
"Educational efforts need to be intensified in order to create a strong, stable, educated culture in which doping is forbidden altogether," Fahey said.
The comments were an unusual note of criticism in the forum, called "Russia — A Sports Power." The forum focused on Russia's efforts to improve its standing in international sports, which declined in the early years after the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of state funding for sports.
The gathering commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Olympics, with the mascot Misha the bear featured prominently.
The forum, at the sprawling Luzhniki sports complex in central Moscow, inadvertently underlined a weakness in much of Russia's sports infrastructure — a lack of adequate air conditioning. Moscow is suffering through its hottest summer on record and forum participants fanned and mopped their faces with handkerchiefs as they sat in stifling and humid halls.
Russia President Dmitry Medvedev noted the conditions with chagrin when he met with international sports federation heads at the forum.
"Life unfortunately has brought us some surprise," he said. "There's never been this kind of temperatures, absolutely the maximum, and I periodically feel like I'm in Italy or in Egypt but certainly not like I'm in Moscow.
"I hope you are not exhausted from being in our hot climate ... and not very dissuaded from believing we can carry out the Winter Olympics. I suggest that we'll simply have to make adjustments for the climate and spend additional money, including for the Winter Olympics."
He did not specify what sort of spending might be necessary.
The ice sports venues for the 2014 Games will be in a seaside part of Sochi that has a humid, subtropical climate.
-- Jim Heintz
