Olympic Times - Sports Daily

GREECE’S former 400m hurdles Olympic champion Fani Halkia has been handed a two year ban for her positive dope test at the Beijing Games, the Greek athletics federation said.

The federation confirmed a decision by its judicial committee to punish the former star.

A gold medallist at Athens in 2004 Halkia was expelled from the Beijing Olympics after testing positive for the banned steroid Methyltrienolone.

Halkia, her coach and two other athletes who failed tests also face maximum sentences of five years in prison in Greece over their respective cases.

The four suspects deny any wrongdoing and Halkia claims she was the victim of sabotage.

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A Japanese schoolgirl is making headlines across the world today as the first woman to play pro baseball in Japan.

A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

“I never dreamed of getting drafted,” Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

“I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything,” she said. “I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league.“

Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan’s first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.

(c) AFP

There are endorsements that no one welcomes, however enthusiastic: Hamas for Obama, Osama for McCain. But what of the entire globe? Barack Obama goes into today’s vote with the overwhelming backing of the world beyond America’s borders in a presidential race that has gripped audiences like no election before.

Obamamania is at fever pitch across Europe, where his ratings regularly exceed 80 per cent. Germany, the Netherlands and France form the cheer-leading front row. Not since John F. Kennedy has France so fallen for a presidential candidate; if citoyens had the vote, Mr Obama would trounce Mr McCain by 72 points.

Urbane, intellectual and idealistic, Mr Obama “is the kind of American we love”, said Jack Lang, a Socialist and the long-serving Culture Minister of the late President Mitterrand. “His is the America of jazz and Fitzgerald and Falconer and Kerouac and Kennedy.”

In Russia, ordinary people are fascinated by the notion that America may elect its first black president, not least because even Moscow has almost no black population. Such is the expectation that Mr Obama will win that matrioshka “Russian nesting” dolls bearing his face have already been spotted for sale at Russian markets.
At an official level, Russia blames the US for the global economic crisis and the government line is that whoever wins must rein in imperialist ambitions and concentrate on the economy. But fears remain that Mr McCain would more hostile to Russia and more hawkish on Georgia, Nato expansionism and the Eastern European antimissile shield.

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Some new polls present a portrait that isn’t a pretty one for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain one day before the 2008 election: Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama leads in 6 out of 8 battleground states, Obama is widening his lead nationally, and polling finds Obama has deflected McCain’s and the GOP’s recent attacks.

The polling, coming from three separate polls done by Reuters/Zogby and by The Washington Post-ABC News, portray an Obama campaign heading towards victory — meaning that a McCain victory would dwarf Democrat Harry Truman’s surprise 1948 victory over Republican Thomas Dewey and be talked about for years.

One key Zogby finding: McCain is holding onto his Republican base while Obama is winning the independent vote and holding his own base. There is an irony here since, after the conventions, Democrats feared McCain was the only Republican who could expand his party’s base and appeal to independents.

Here’s a summary of the polls.

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Tokyo made its mark in “enemy territory” with its presentation in the Mexican resort of Acapulco bidding to host the 2016 Olympic Games, delighting an audience of Olympic committees from the Americas.
The Japanese delegation generated applause and provoked laughter with its sense of humour, even though the participants of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) were geographically nearer to bidders Chicago and Rio de Janeiro, and historically closer to Madrid.
“It was our first opportunity to make the official presentation to the members of PASO, and also to many members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). I enjoyed it very much,” Ichiro Kono, director of Tokyo 2016, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The Acapulco meeting brought together not only the presidents of 42 Olympic committees of the Americas and international federations, but also various members of the IOC, including its president Jacques Rogge.
For Kono, it was a unique opportunity that he did not consider a battle in hostile terrain. “This is a competition between friends,” he said. “Chicago, Madrid and Rio, they are all my friends.”

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A tournament field of 204 golfers from 24 U.S. Special Olympics programs was joined by family, friends, volunteers, local dignitaries and golf organization executives from across the country to amass nearly 500 participants in Friday night’s Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics Golf National Invitational Tournament. The ninth annual tournament will be conducted at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie through Monday, Oct. 6, 2008.

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The PGA of America is a five-time host of the national tournament at PGA Golf Club and a 20-year sponsor of the Special Olympics golf program.

Tonight’s program began with the “parade of athletes” where team mates from 24 U.S. Special Olympics chapters marched into the opening ceremony in a tradition synonymous with the Olympics Games.

Emcee responsibilities for the event were shared by Special Olympics global messenger and Port St. Lucie golfer Alex Perry who was joined by Jupiter resident Tim Rosaforte, who is a senior writer for Golf Digest, on-air contributor for the Golf Channel and NBC Sports and a New York Times Best-Selling author.

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Equestrian rider Rodrigo Pessoa has been stripped of his fifth-place finish at the Beijing Olympics and banned from competing for 4 1/2 months after a positive drug test on his horse.

The sport’s governing body Friday also fined the 36-year-old Brazilian $1,766. He is suspended until Jan. 10, 2009.

Pessoa’s horse Rufus tested positive Aug. 23 for nonivamide, a banned pain-relieving medication.

They placed fifth in the individual jumping final. Pessoa lost in a jump-off for the bronze medal won by Beezie Madden of the United States.

Pessoa was defending the individual title he won at Athens in 2004. He also won bronze medals for Brazil in team jumping at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.

from: ap.google.com

Tickets for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler went on sale Friday.

The first batch of tickets aren’t being sold on a first come, first serve basis. Instead, ticket applications will be accepted online until November 7.

Potential ticket-buyers can set up an account on Vancouver2010.com. Paper applications will also be accepted, but Olympic organizers say decisions about who gets to buy which tickets won’t be made until after the deadline.

“A request submitted on October 3 will be considered the same as a request submitted November 7,” according to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) website.

Olympic officials are hoping the application process will cut down on ticket scalping.

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Lawrence (Larry) F. Probst, an internationally respected business leader known for his expertise in interactive media, entertainment and marketing, was elected on Thursday as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC).

Probst was unanimously elected to the position for a four year term during a USOC Board of Directors conference call earlier Thursday, the USOC said.

Probst, 58, will assume duties as Chairman during the 2008 U.S. Olympic Assembly in Orlando, Florida Oct. 8-12.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve an organization and a movement that makes such a significant difference in our world today,” Probst said. “This is a movement built upon the spirit and dedication of athletes, and the selfless commitment of volunteers. By working closely with my fellow Board members, the USOC staff and the greater Olympic family in our country, my goal as Chairman is to preserve and strengthen opportunities for all those who wish to participate in this important endeavor.”

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A Chinese official has issued an unusual apology for sitting on a report of tainted milk during the Olympics, as China’s president said lessons must be learnt after 12 per cent of milk powder was found to be contaminated.

China’s worst-ever food scandal has already claimed the lives of four babies and sickened some 53,000 after they were fed the powder, made by the once-prestigious Sanlu Group. It had been laced with the industrial chemical melamine, used in plastics and glue.

The government has already said that the city authorities in Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, had covered up the extent of the problem for more than a month while China was under the international spotlight during the Beijing Olympic Games.

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The International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) have concluded their five week investigation into the scrutinised ages of the Chinese gold medal-winning gymnastics team at the Beijing Games, however doubts continue to shroud their participation at Sydney in 2000.

Due to concerns about the wellbeing of young gymnasts, whose bodies are under huge stress when they reach the elite level, the FIG introduced a ruling in 1997 stating that athletes had to turn 16 during an Olympic year in order to compete at the Games.

Questions were raised throughout the Games about China’s squad of gymnasts with many critics suggesting some of the girls were as young as 14.

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Greek Tourism Development Ministry has signed a memorandum of cooperation between the ministry and the organizing committee for the Special Olympics World Summer Games in 2011 on Monday.
The Tourism Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos said on Monday that Greece would once again meet the challenge, as it had done for the Olympic Games of 2004, organizing a sports event to the highest standards in 2011.
The 13th World Summer special Olympic Games will be held in Athens from June 25 until July 4 in 2011, which will bring more than 70,000 athletes, coaches, volunteers, family members and reporters to Greece during that time.
Spiliotopoulos stressed that it was the obligation of his ministry and the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), which were sponsors of the event, to assist the efforts of the organizing committee that were chiefly based on volunteer work.
The GNTO has undertaken to promote the Games through an advertising campaign, promotional events and the distribution of printed material.
The first special Olympic Games started from 1968. Among the 170 million intellectually disabled people worldwide, some 2.25 million people have participated in the special Olympic activities. The 12th World Summer Special Olympic Games was held in Shanghai from October 2 to 12 , 2007.

Emma Pooley, the Olympic silver medallist, missed out on a medal in the women’s time-trial at the Road World Championships in Varese, Italy.

The 25-year-old, who finished second in the time-trial in Beijing Olympics and played a key role in Nicole Cooke’s gold medal success in the road race, posted a time of 34min 48.87sec to finish eighth.

Amber Neben, of the United States, claimed the title in a winning time of 33min 51.35sec, a result that put her ahead of her more fancied compatriot Kristin Armstrong, the Olympic champion, who could only finish fifth.

Christiane Soeder, of Austria, took second place with Germany’s Judith Arndt in third.

from: timesonline.co.uk

Returning to the Baltimore pool where he honed his swimming skills, Michael Phelps accepted a $250,000 donation Thursday from Kellogg’s for his charitable foundation.
Phelps was home after a whirlwind journey that began with his record-setting performance winning eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics.
Kellogg Co. will feature Phelps’ photo on Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes, Club Crackers and Rice Krispies treats.
The Michael Phelps Foundation promotes water safety and youth swimming. It got started with a $1 million bonus Phelps earned from another sponsor, Speedo, for his gold-medal haul.
Phelps appeared for a news conference at Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, which he’s negotiating to buy. He began training there when he was 7 years old.
“This is my home pool, so I’m happy to be back,” Phelps said before accepting the grant. “I’m trying to get settled in a new house, and I kind of get lost from time to time because I have no idea what the roads are anymore.”
Phelps had not seen his image on the Kellogg’s products before they were unveiled in a ceremony at the pool. Seeing them for the first time, he smiled broadly and exclaimed, “Awesome!”

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from: ap.google.com

China’s gold medal gymnasts aren’t the only ones whose ages are getting a closer look.
The investigation into the eligibility of the Chinese women’s team in Beijing has been expanded to include members of the 2000 squad, which won the bronze medal in Sydney, The Associated Press has learned.
International gymnastics officials are examining whether Yang Yun and Dong Fangxiao, in particular, were old enough to compete.
“If we had a look at all the articles that came before, during and after the games, there were always rumors about the ages of China’s athletes in Sydney,” Andre Gueisbuhler, secretary general of the International Gymnastics Federation, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
“We did not have another choice,” he said. “If we want to remain credible, then we have to look into things.”
No other Chinese teams are being looked at, Gueisbuhler said.
“At this moment in time, we just have concerns about 2000 and 2008,” he said.
The investigation is ongoing, a month after the Beijing Games ended, and there is no timetable for when it will be finished.
“It’s a work in progress,” said Emmanuelle Moreau, spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee. “Until the work has been completed, there is nothing we can say.”
Yang’s age has long been an issue for debate.
In a June 2007 interview that aired on state broadcaster China Central Television, Yang said she was 14 at the Sydney Games.
Gymnastics rules require athletes to be 16 during an Olympic year in order to compete.
“At the time I was only 14,” she said in the interview, done in Chinese. “I thought that if I failed this time, I’ll do it again next time. There’s still hope.”
That interview, which has been widely reported, contradicts her official birthdate, which is listed as Dec. 2, 1984 and made her eligible for Sydney.
Dong’s birthdate is listed as Jan. 20, 1983, making her 17 at the time of the Sydney Games. Her blog, however, includes a reference to being born in 1985.
Yang is now engaged to Olympic all-around champion Yang Wei. Dong was a national technical official at the Beijing Olympics, serving as the secretary on vault. She was not part of any judging panel.
Kui Yuanyuan, Ling Jie, Liu Xuan and Huang Mandan were the other members of China’s 2000 squad.
Age falsification has been a problem in gymnastics since the 1980s, after the minimum age was raised from 14 to 15 in an effort to protect young athletes, whose bodies are still developing, from serious injuries. Younger gymnasts are also thought to have an advantage because they are more flexible and are likely to have an easier time doing the tough skills the sport requires. They also aren’t as likely to have a fear of failure.
The minimum age was raised to its current 16 in 1997.
There were questions about the ages of China’s Beijing squad months before the games, with media reports and online records suggesting several of the gymnasts on the six-woman squad might be as young as 14.
In August, The Associated Press found registration lists previously posted on the Web site of the General Administration of Sport of China that showed He Kexin and Yang Yilin were too young to compete. A Nov. 3 story by the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, suggested He was only 14.
But Chinese officials insisted — repeatedly and heatedly — that all of its gymnasts were old enough, and they had not cheated their way to their first Olympic team gold. The FIG and IOC hoped the matter had been put to rest before the games, when the IOC said it had checked all of the girls’ passports and found them to be valid.
The controversy never went away, though, and the IOC announced three days before the games ended that it had asked the FIG to investigate one more time.
China turned over birth certificates, passports, ID cards and family residence permits for He, Yang, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan.
“The international federation has required the delivery of birth certificates and all the documents like family books, entries in schools and things like that,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said on the final day of the games. “They have received the documents, and at first sight it seems to be OK.”
If evidence of cheating is found, it could affect as many as four of the six medals the Chinese women won in Beijing. In addition to the team gold, He won gold on uneven bars and Yang got bronze medals on bars and in the all-around.
“We are waiting to hear the outcome of the IOC investigation just like everyone else,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics.

from: ap.google.com