International Capsules: Schleck wants to avenge loss to Contador at Tour
LES HERBIERS, France (AP) — Two-time runner-up Andy Schleck has extra incentive to stop Alberto Contador winning his third straight Tour de France, having lost last year’s race to the Spaniard.
Contador dropped Schleck on a steep uphill climb in the Pyrenees last summer after the Luxembourg rider’s chain came off as he was preparing to attack Contador, who ignored perceived cycling etiquette by failing to wait for his rival.
Contador gained a 39-second advantage over Schleck, and it would become his exact margin of overall victory a few days later on the Champs Elysees.
Schleck said he forgave Contador for the move, but added he will never "forget it."
"I would not have done this," Schleck told L’Equipe this week. "A great champion doesn’t do things like this. I really was disappointed by his attitude that day."
Before the Tour start on Saturday in the Vendee region of western France, Schleck toned down his stance, saying it’s time to turn the page.
"What happened last year is now over," said Schleck, when asked if he was still holding a grudge. "I’m focusing on this year’s Tour and hopefully things will go in the right direction."
While many fans and riders have questioned Contador’s presence in this year’s race following his positive test for the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol during the 2010 Tour, Schleck is glad to have another chance to beat Contador.
"I’m looking forward to beating him on the road, I want this challenge, I want this head-to-head," said the 26-year-old Schleck.
In his quest for a first Grand Tour title, Schleck is counting on the support of his strong Leopard-Trek team, which notably features his brother Frank He hopes the French crowd’s cheers will help him reach Paris in yellow.
After last year’s chain debacle, French fans clearly turned their back on Contador to support Schleck. Contador, who could be stripped of all of his titles dating to July 2010 if the Court of Arbitration for Sport rules against him in August, was booed and jeered by the public at the team presentation on Thursday.
"It was not really nice to Alberto," said Schleck, who was loudly cheered by fans. "It’s obvious that getting the crowd support is an extra motivation. I think Alberto doesn’t need the fans’ help to get motivated. But I need it, I like it, and it’s maybe going to help me."
This year’s course features only one individual time trial, scheduled in Grenoble on the eve of the race finish, and likely favors Schleck.
"The route is fitting me, because there is not too many time trials," Schleck said. "This is an advantage. But Alberto also showed the previous years and during the Giro that he is at ease in the mountains."
Contador, who prepared for the Tour with a win in the Giro d’Italia in May, is bemoaning the lack of time trial miles.
"I don’t think this course is the best for me. On the contrary, I would like to have more time trials," he said. "I am a good rider in the time trials, so for me there’s a possibility to make a gap with climbers. In 2007, there were about 120 kilometers time trial, for me it was a good thing."
The Tour is likely to be decided during a torrid third week of racing in the Alps, with the daunting Col du Galibier climbed twice before a stage finish at the famed Alpe d’Huez ski resort and its 21 hairpin bends. The course includes a total of 23 mountain passes in the Alps, Pyrenees and Massif Central.
Last year, Schleck was deprived of the help of his brother Frank in the mountains after he dropped out early from the race following a bad crash on cobblestones.
"Frank’s fall last year was a real setback," Schleck said. "The war with Alberto started the day after, while other riders were just thinking about a third-place finish. Should Frank had been able to stay with me until the end, it could have been a different Tour, especially in the mountains."
Although he will ride with a sword of Damocles over his head and despite the fans’ acrimony, three-time champion Contador — who won the first of his three Tours in 2007 — is unfazed.
If the International Cycling Union and World Anti-Doping Agency win their appeal against the Spanish federation’s decision to clear Contador, the former Lance Armstrong teammate will face the prospect of losing his 2010 title.
"If I think they can take the victory from me? I am confident in the decision that will be taken after the Tour. I think it would be completely ridiculous," Contador said. "From the beginning of the season, I am surely the most tested rider and winning almost every race I am taking part in."
The Tour starts with a 118-mile, mainly flat road stage between Passage du Gois and Mont Des Alouettes. The slight uphill finish could favor one-day classics specialists.
Hincapie set to match Tour longevity record
LA-ROCHE-SUR-YON, France (AP) — George Hincapie rode alongside Lance Armstrong on his record run of seven Tour de France victories — and is about to match a mark of his own at cycling’s greatest race.
With the backdrop of a doping investigation in which Hincapie has reportedly implicated both Armstrong and himself, the American is about to equal Dutch rider Joop Zoetemelk’s record of starting and finishing 16 Tours.
Hincapie, who turned 38 on Wednesday and now has a tiny hint of gray in his closely cropped dark hair, is a selfless workhorse who gained his greatest individual Tour glory with a dazzling mountain stage win up to Pla d’Adet in the Pyrenees six years ago.
Modest and soft-spoken, Hincapie was a bit reluctant to reflect on the record he’s set to equal.
"With all this talk of the record, you guys are actually making me kind of nervous at the Tour — which I haven’t been in a long time," Hincapie said Friday at a BMC team news conference. "I guess I haven’t really dwelled on it that much."
For a rider who has spent most of his career in the background, it is a rare chance to take some of the limelight.
"It’s an honor. When I first turned professional, I had hoped that I could do 10 years as a professional, and a couple of Tour de Frances," Hincapie said. "Being here 18 years later, and 16 Tour de Frances later, is something I never would have imagined."
Hincapie has been in the news for different reasons recently, after CBS’ "60 Minutes" reported in May that he told federal authorities he and Armstrong supplied each other with performance-enhancing drugs and discussed them.
Armstrong has always denied doping during his seven consecutive Tour victories from 1999-2005. Hincapie has said he never spoke to "60 Minutes," but has otherwise declined to discuss the report.
He is looking forward to slipping into the background again at this year’s race, where he will take on a lieutenant role again to help BMC leader Cadel Evans of Australia, a two-time runner-up at the Tour.
"My priorities here at the Tour are help Cadel try to win the Tour de France — he’s been a phenomenal racer his whole career, and in the last two years, in my opinion, he’s really stepped it up higher than he’s ever been."
That doesn’t mean Hincapie would pass up an opportunity for a breakaway if it suits him.
"I’d love to be in there, and to try to win a stage would be incredible," he said.
His peers and managers marvel at his longevity, and say he has evolved greatly over the years — now an elder statesman and voice of authority in the peloton.
"George has changed roles somewhere along the way here in his career and continues to be what I consider a still young George Hincapie," BMC president Jim Ochowicz said.
Asked if he felt young, Hincapie quickly answered, "No," with a smile.
While Hincapie has seen team leaders come and go and Tour routes change from year to year, there has always been one thing that remained a constant at the race.
"It’s always been incredibly hard. The first Tour de France I did, I was kind of praying that I’d crash — it was that hard — and I did crash," Hincapie said. "Unfortunately, I had the eight stitches in my head and all that.
"Now, I’m a lot more experienced, I’m a lot fitter, and I know how to gauge my efforts more," he added. "You know, in these three weeks, every little bit counts."
When he finally does retire from the sport, his fondest memory of the Tour will have nothing to do with being on the bike.
"I’ve got to say, not cycling-related: meeting my wife in Paris," he said. "I know that’s hard to believe, but we met in Paris in 2003 and we’ve got two beautiful children, so I owe a lot to the Tour de France."
-- Jamey Keaten
Cavendish eyeing green Tour jersey, not stage wins
LES HERBIERS, France (AP) — Mark Cavendish will be more than happy to give up a few stage victories at the Tour de France if it means he will finally win his first sprint jersey.
Cavendish has won a formidable 15 Tour stages over the last three years, but the sprint champion’s coveted green jersey has eluded the 26-year-old British rider. That, rather than living up to the expectations of collecting more stage wins, is his main goal this time around.
"I always set my own standards and goals, that’s how I work. I don’t let outside expectation dictate how I ride," Cavendish said Friday on the eve of the race. "That’s how I’ve always been. We’ve set targets for this Tour de France and we’ll try and get them, despite what people say we should — or what they reckon we should — do."
Cavendish was second last year behind Italian Alessandro Petacchi by 11 points, and second by 10 points to two-time Tour sprint champion Thor Hushovd of Norway in 2009. Cavendish pulled out before the Alpine stages in 2008 to conserve energy for the Olympic Games.
Despite having never won the green jersey, Cavendish is considered the fastest sprinter with a brute force that sets him apart from Petacchi, Hushovd and other challengers such as American Tyler Farrar.
Cavendish won a remarkable four stages on his first Tour in 2008, six in 2009 and five last year — a prodigious feat other sprinters spend a whole career struggling to match. Cavendish still has several more years to keep piling them up.
"I can tell you now, the ignorance of some people is going to mean that if I don’t win four of five stages (this Tour) it’s going to be a failure," Cavendish said. "If you win four or five stages that’s not a normal thing, that’s an incredible thing to do."
Changes to the rules means sprint points will be allocated differently at this year’s Tour.
The main change means there will be only one intermediate sprint on each stage, with 20 points available to the rider who wins — as opposed to six points in previous years when there were more intermediate sprints.
"Obviously it’s a tougher Tour this year," Cavendish said. "The intermediate stages are tougher than they have been."
The course layout also has uphill finishes on the first and fourth stages — an additional chore for sprinters.
"It’s just about adapting, and professional cyclists have to do that. I’ve been working hard and I’m confident in my preparations," Cavendish said. "It will change depending on the style of the running and who’s up for that day ... I’m going good, this is the big race of the year."
Should Cavendish have a bad day, the HTC-Highroad team have plenty in reserve, with Matt Goss, Bernhard Eisel and Mark Renshaw accomplished sprinters in their own right.
"We’ve got guys who love to race together, love to win," Cavendish said. "A very diverse team, guys who can compete on most of the 21 stages."
-- Jerome Pugmire
Quick Step bus searched by police at Tour
LA-ROCHE-SUR-YON, France (AP) — Police seized the Quick Step cycling team’s bus for checks on the eve of the Tour de France for several hours before letting it leave.
The bus was seized at the team hotel in the afternoon and was taken to a police station in La Roche-sur-Yon, about 30 miles away, before being allowed to leave in the evening.
"It was a routine control," said Quick Step spokesman Alessandro Tegner. "Maybe next week it’s another team. Everything is all right."
A police officer told The Associated Press the operation was coordinated by local authorities.
"We are supervising the operation, we are checking things," said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly to the press.
He refused to say whether they were looking for banned substances.
Judicial officials at the Les Sables d’Olonne court were not immediately available for comments.
A police unit specialized in the fight against doping took part in the operation. The agency has been involved in a French investigation of syringes and transfusion equipment found in a trash container after the 2009 Tour. The material belonged to the Astana cycling team.
The Quick Step team includes French champion Sylvain Chavanel and sprinting ace Tom Boonen of Belgium.
The Tour starts on Saturday in the Vendee western region of France.
-- Jamey Keaten
Omega team leader shrugs off suspected doping case
LA ROCHE SUR YON, France (AP) — The leader for Omega Pharma-Lotto is brushing off a doping allegation that led the Belgian team to cut ties with a driver days before the Tour de France.
At a news conference Friday on the eve of the start of the three-week cycling showcase, cyclist Jurgen Van den Broeck said: "We do a job. We’re here for the Tour — and all the rest, we don’t care."
The team severed ties with Wim Vansevenant, a former rider turned team driver, this week after police questioned him for alleged wrongdoing for ordering a hormonal product, a state prosecutor has said. Vansevenant has since been released, and an investigation is ongoing.
Team rider Philippe Gilbert of Belgium said he was "disgusted" by unspecified media reports about the case featuring his image — saying they had unfairly suggested he was linked to it.
Doctors say Soler healing but still unsconscious
GENEVA (AP) — Doctors treating Colombian cyclist Juan Mauricio Soler say he is recovering but remains unconscious two weeks after his crash during the Tour of Switzerland.
The 28-year-old rider was put in an induced coma at St. Gallen hospital in Switzerland following the June 16 accident. He sustained a fractured skull as well as ankle and lung injuries. Doctors began waking him from the coma last week but said it could take several days before he regains consciousness.
A hospital spokesman told The Associated Press on Friday that doctors are still unable to communicate with Soler, a sign of the severity of his brain injuries.
Philipp Lutz says the Movistar rider’s lung and ankle injuries are healing well, and he is breathing without a ventilator.
U.S. cyclist Quintero suspended two years for doping
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — American cyclist Lisban Quintero has been suspended for two years after testing positive for a banned substance.
The 29-year-old New Yorker tested positive for two anabolic agents at the Wilmington Grand Prix in Delaware on May 22. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Friday he accepted a ban beginning June 23. Quintero finished ninth overall at last year’s USA CRITS Speed Week criterium races.
Olympics
Durban hosting IOC puts South Africa back in spotlight
DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — One year after South Africa basked in the glow of staging the World Cup, the country will be back in the international sports spotlight when Durban hosts the biggest Olympic gathering in Africa in more than 70 years.
The International Olympic Committee’s 123rd session, or annual general assembly, will start next week in this balmy coastal city on the Indian Ocean.
The meeting will attract royalty, world leaders and sport’s highest decision-makers to a country once banned by the IOC and cast into a 30-year isolation for its apartheid regime.
The only previous time the IOC held its assembly in Africa was in Cairo in 1938. The event may edge Durban closer to hosting the first African Olympics in the future.
The IOC executive board meets Monday, with the entire 110-member body in session Wednesday through Sunday.
The centerpiece of the meeting is the vote Wednesday on the host city for the 2018 Winter Games. The three candidates are Annecy, France; Munich; and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Local organizers say the gathering represents a "spiritual" return to the Olympic family for South Africa and is the latest sign that it sees sport as a vehicle to carry its reformed image to the rest of the world.
Now an IOC executive board member and the former head of South Africa’s nonracial Olympic body, Sam Ramsamy led an emotional return to the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 alongside Nelson Mandela.
The Durban-born Ramsamy said this session is probably the most significant Olympic moment for his country.
"Having waited for 117 years to host this event in our country and knowing how cities and countries vie to host the IOC session, Durban is certainly fortunate," Ramsamy said. "This gives me an opportunity to personally welcome my colleagues to the city where I was born."
South Africa has enjoyed memorable highlights in rugby, cricket and soccer. It’s now eager to make its mark in the Olympic world.
"In a sense, it’s bringing the Olympic movement to South Africa," Durban city manager Mike Sutcliffe told The Associated Press. "This is closing that circle where they’re coming back and hopefully helping us as we develop a spirit of Olympism. We have all the right ingredients and are fully ready for this. I have no doubt about that."
Boosted by its widely praised World Cup, South Africa immediately targeted a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Durban, with its mild midyear temperatures and burgeoning tourist setup, was the overwhelming favorite to be the candidate after Cape Town failed in a bid for the 2004 Games.
A possible bid was welcomed by IOC President Jacques Rogge.
But in May, the government said it was not the right time, unwilling to commit to another major financial investment for a sports event with poverty still affecting many of South Africa’s 50 million people.
Still, a resounding success for Durban could revive a 2020 bid before the IOC’s Sept. 1 deadline.
So far only Rome has confirmed it will go for 2020, while Tokyo and Madrid are possible contenders.
"South Africa might never enjoy the same position in 20 years to come, to host such events," South Africa’s sports minister Fikile Mbalula said last month, adding a 2020 bid was not ruled out. "I think we have to do everything in our power, if there’s an opportunity or an avenue to host a mega event, let’s do that."
Despite the dampened Olympic hopes, the IOC gathering in South Africa’s sunny city is an ideal opportunity to impress. An ambitious South Africa is also targeting the 2022 Commonwealth Games, a track world championships and a Diamond League meet.
"We as a country must realize that such major events are few and far between and many countries would give their eye teeth to have such a session in their own cities," South African Olympic Committee President Gideon Sam said. "It cannot be more opportune as we set our sights on continuing to bring bigger and better events to the continent of Africa."
The 2018 bid race is almost a side issue for Durban — a city of just under 5 million people characterized by a mix of inhabitants descended from Indian immigrants, South Africa’s Zulu kingdom and British colonials.
It’s where Mahatma Gandhi developed some of his philosophies of peaceful resistance and where visitors were wowed last year by the Moses Mabhida World Cup stadium and its giant roof arch.
Next week’s delegates will include the presidents of South Korea, Hungary and Germany and royalty like Prince Albert of Monaco — with new South African bride and former Durban resident Charlene Wittstock.
The city — with a World Cup and a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting under its belt — will have no problem with the high-profile visitors, officials said.
"There have been times when we had more heads of states in the city than this, so we know what we will be dealing with," national police spokesman Col. Vishnu Naidoo told AP.
-- Thahir Asmal
Director suspended by Olympic organizers
LONDON (AP) — Olympic organizers say a director has been suspended regarding a possible conflict of interest in the bidding process for the right to take over the Olympic Stadium after London 2012.
The woman worked for the Olympic Park Legacy Company while also being employed as a paid consultant for West Ham, which was selected over Tottenham by the OPLC as the preferred tenant of the $777 million venue in east London. The director was not identified.
The OPLC, which has launched an investigation, says it "had no knowledge of this work" and that "this individual had no involvement whatsoever in our stadium process."
West Ham released a statement Friday, saying the club was "of the firm view that the integrity of the bidding process has not been compromised."
E. Guinea women's soccer team disqualified from Olympics
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria says it has been told by FIFA that its women's football team will play Cameroon and not Equatorial Guinea in Olympic qualifying after the Equatorial Guineans were disqualified for an ineligible player.
The Nigeria Football Federation says in a statement Friday that FIFA has "ejected Equatorial Guinea from the race" for the 2012 London Olympics. NFF says it was informed of the decision — and its new opponent in final qualifiers — in a letter from FIFA.
The world football body suspended Equatorial Guinea striker Jade Boho Sayo for two months Tuesday over apparent nationality issues, removing her from the ongoing Women's World Cup. The decision does not affect the team's participation in that tournament.
Sarkozy not lobbying for Annecy 2018 bid
PARIS (AP) — The French president’s office says that Nicolas Sarkozy will not go to South Africa to press his country’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in Annecy. Annecy has faced a range of problems in its quest to host the games, from lack of funds to poor local support, and Sarkozy’s absence is the latest sign that France has little hope in the bid.
Sarkozy’s office said Friday that he won’t go, and Prime Minister Francois Fillon will represent France at the International Olympic Committee’s meetings in Durban, South Africa.
Annecy, a lakeside town in the heart of the French Alps, is the underdog ahead of the IOC’s July 6 vote. Annecy faces competition from Munich and Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Sailing
Surf's Up ... and way, way out for Hamilton
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Surfing guru Laird Hamilton has spent much of his life searching for the biggest waves. Two-time America's Cup skipper Ken Read does his best to avoid them.
But when Read sets sail from Spain in the around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race in October, he'll be spotting for Hamilton in his quest for towering waves and new ways to surf them.
"They're going to be all over the place, all over the ocean. They're going to be looking at stuff that I want to try to ride," Hamilton said this week as he gathered in Newport to see Read and his crew off on a trans-Atlantic training race. "Who knows? Maybe there's a new sport we don't even know about. We don't know what the children from this relationship are going to look like."
An eight-month, 40,000-nautical mile trek through 10 ports on six continents, the Volvo Ocean Race goes from Alicante, Spain, to Galway, Ireland, the long way. Seven boats are expected to compete, including a new version of the Puma team that Read skippered to a second-place finish in the last race two years ago.
Speaking to reporters in this former America's Cup host city this week, Read said he had no intention of signing up for another circumnavigation after spending most of a year on the water. But even as the team was celebrating the first night back on land after the 2009 finish, his boss at Puma invited him to breakfast the next morning and talked him into another go.
"The worst position ever to come in is second, because you're so close you can taste it," Read said. "I'd hate to wake up when I'm 90 years old and say I had another shot at this and didn't take it.
"So, here we are."
With 2009 winning syndicate Ericsson sitting out this time, Puma hired away Juan Kouyoumdjian, who designed the winning boats in the previous two Volvo races. Everything they liked from the old boat was brought back, and the things that could be improved were improved. (With no specifics coming from the super-secretive sailors, naturally.)
The result is a 70-foot, black blade called "mar mostro," or sea monster, with octopus tentacles hand-painted on the hull and the Puma logo stretching onto the main sail.
"We're not doing this to come in second again," Read said. "So, we're not messing around."
That's where Hamilton comes in.
Using the high-tech navigation equipment on the boat, the Puma crew will look for the conditions that lead to the massive waves that Hamilton wouldn't have a chance to see from the shore.
"We're going to be sending him weather from the boat as to where to go," Read said. "There's going to be times of the year when he's on call to jump on a plane and an hour later, fly to the northeast coast of the Philippines or wherever we are, and like, 'Yo, Dude. Surf's up.' He's looking literally for the world's biggest waves to surf, even if it means getting out 50 to 100 miles offshore to find these waves."
In exchange, Hamilton has been providing the Puma crew with nutritional tips — a crucial factor for a crew of a dozen that will spend weeks at a time under strenuous conditions with limited ability to cook or store fresh food.
"If I had my way, we'd be loading fresh vegetables on the boat," Hamilton said. "But they wouldn't win the race."
Hamilton has also preached the value of staying in shape, and the effects are already showing: Read said the entire crew was working out at 7 a.m. that day.
"One of the things we took out of the last race was fitness and nutrition," Read said. "I know that's where Laird is really going to help us out."
Hamilton has even pitched in with design ideas for the boat, including one that was apparently revolutionary in sailing but commonplace in surfing (and so secret no one would say what it was). "You never know when a little piece that you take for granted can make a difference," Hamilton said.
A 47-year-old son of a surfing legend who was born in a bathysphere, the blond and tanned Hamilton served as the surfing double for Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film "Die Another Day" and otherwise seems straight out of sufer-dude central casting. His latest cause is Stand Up Paddle Surfing, known as SUP, and he demonstrated the sport for reporters at a Newport beach on a board designed to match the Puma boat.
When a reporter suggested that his relatively low-tech sport had little in common with the logistical effort needed to win an around-the-world sailing race, Hamilton pointed a thumb at "mar mostro" floating behind him.
"They're all surfers," he said. "That's the biggest surfboard in the world. Didn't you see it?"
Like Hamilton, Read loves being on the water, and they share a concern for keeping the oceans filled with marine life instead of man-made trash.
Still, though the sailors are no strangers to rough water, it's another thing entirely to go so far out of your way to find it, like Hamilton does.
"If I had a nickel for every time I was called 'crazy,' I'd be a wealthy man," Read said. "Having Laird around is great, because he's way crazier than I am."
-- Jimmy Golen
Rowing
U.S. women's eight outclasses Princeton at Henley
HENLEY, England (AP) — The reigning world champion United States national women's eight squad, racing as Princeton Training Center, easily beat Princeton University at the Henley Royal Regatta on Friday.
The quarterfinal win in the Remenham Cup advance the U.S. crew to the semifinals Saturday, when it takes on the British national squad.
Harvard came from behind to beat Yale by three-quarters of a length to set up a student eights Temple Cup semifinal with California.
California made a fast start and held it in beating London's Imperial College by 2½ lengths in their quarterfinal.
Also, Virginia crossed three-quarters of a length ahead of University of London to move into a semifinal against Dutch students from Nereus, Amsterdam.
In the quarterfinals of the Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights, St. Andrew's from Middletown, Del., came from behind to beat locals Hampton by a canvas, and will face defending champion Eton on Saturday.
In the Thames Cup for club eights, Kent School Alumni, Conn., went down by 2¾ lengths to Australia's Upper Yarra, while the University Barge Club from Philadelphia lost in the quarterfinals to the Star Club of England, losing by two lengths.
William Miller and Glenn Ochal from Chula Vista Training Center, Calif., strolled to an easy win against England's Chester-le-Street in the double sculls, while Sam Frucke-Cunningham and Mike Nucci from Philadelphia's Malta Boat Club lost to the Australian Institute of Sport.
In their opening race in the Princess Grace Cup for international women's quads, Princeton Training Center B beat England's Nottingham Boat Club to reach the semifinals.
The Fawley Cup round of 16 for schoolboy quads saw Malvern Prep, Pa., gradually leave behind Scotland's Clydesdale to grab a quarterfinals place.
Later, Maritime Club from Norwalk, Conn. lost out in its quarterfinal, going down by 4½ lengths to Radford College of Australia.
Thomas Graves' run in the Diamond Sculls ended in the quarterfinals when the Vermont rower lost by nearly two lengths to James Chapman of the Australian Institute of Sport.
Justin Stangel and Tom Peszek of the Chula Vista Training Center also went out in the quarterfinals of the Silver Goblets for international pairs, losing by a length and a quarter to a pair of Italy internationals.
In the quarterfinals of the Ladies' Plate for elite eights, Harvard University beat Penn Athletic Club by three-quarters of a length to set up a Saturday semifinal with local club Leander.
Swimming
Brazilian swimmer Cielo fails doping test
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s swimming federation says Olympic champion Cesar Cielo tested positive for a banned substance in May and will not be banned.
In a statement Friday, the federation says Cielo and three other swimmers tested positive for the diuretic furosemide at the Maria Lenk Trophy meet in Rio de Janeiro. Furosemide is used to help lose weight and also can mask the presence of other banned drugs.
Cielo won the 50 meter freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The statement says the federation chose to give the four men a warning. The other swimmers are Nicholas Santos, Henrique Barbosa and Vinicius Waked.
Cielo also was stripped of the five gold medals and a silver he won at the Rio event. The other three swimmers lost a total of 12 medals.
Gymnastics
Armstrong wins shot at Harry Jerome at 69-7
BURNABY, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian star Dylan Armstrong won the shot put Friday night in the Harry Jerome Track Classic with a mark of 69 feet, 7 inches, well short of his Canadian-record effort of 72-10½ last week in the national championships.
The 30-year-old Armstrong, from Kamloops, is preparing for the world championships in South Korea. American Noah Bryant was second at 68-11¼, followed by countryman Russ Winger at 66-2½.
Canada's Perdita Felicien won the women's 100-meter hurdles in 12.79 seconds, and American Rae Monzavous Edwards took the men's 100 in 10.30 seconds.
