Briefs | Track's Tim Montgomery gets 5-year sentence

Track and field

Former superstar dealt heroin to an informant: Tim Montgomery, a former Olympic standout once dubbed "the world's fastest man," was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for dealing heroin to an informant.

"I was blind — I never had a job in my life," Montgomery told U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman in Norfolk, Va. "I did the wrong thing."

Montgomery, 33, won a gold medal in the 400-meter relay in the 2000 Olympics. In 2002, he set a world record of 9.78 seconds in the 100 meters; a doping scandal caused all of Montgomery's performances after March 31, 2001, to be wiped off the books.

Montgomery is to serve the five-year sentence after he completes a 46-month prison term for an unrelated conviction in New York.

Under an agreement with the government, he pleaded guilty in July to possession and distribution of more than 100 grams of heroin. He received the minimum term under federal sentencing guidelines.

"I just want to say I'm very sorry for what I've done," Montgomery told the judge.

Cycling

Thomas avoids prison time: A federal judge in San Francisco sentenced former elite cyclist Tammy Thomas to six months of home confinement for lying to a grand jury about her steroid use.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston rejected a federal prosecutor's request that Thomas be sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison, noting the ringleaders at the center of the BALCO doping investigation received no more than four months in prison.

A jury in April convicted Thomas of three felony counts of perjury and a count of obstruction of justice.

"I am sorry and shamed at the mistakes I made," Thomas told the judge. "I feel that I already have been punished substantially for my conduct."

Thomas was the first person connected to the BALCO case to go to trial. She is appealing her conviction.

College basketball

Big Blue Madness: Kentucky is among the schools getting an early start on Midnight Madness by taking advantage of an NCAA practice rule. The official opening of practice for the 2008-09 season is Oct. 17, but the NCAA has allowed two hours of team workouts per week since mid-September.

Kentucky's Big Blue Madness has attracted at least 23,000 fans to Rupp Arena in Lexington in each of the last four years, including Friday's session.

The Wildcats wore their new uniforms, designed by Nike, that have a subtle checkerboard pattern.

NHL

Canucks' Edler gets extension: The Vancouver Canucks signed defenseman Alex Edler, 22, to a four-year contract extension through the 2012-13 season.

Boxing

Klitschko, Peter fight for title today: After four years away from the ring because of a knee injury, Vitali Klitschko, 37, takes on Samuel Peter, 28, for the WBC heavyweight title today in Berlin.

Tennis

Jankovic to face Dementieva: Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated Flavia Pennetta of Italy 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 to advance to the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Jankovic will take on defending champion Elena Dementieva, who beat Nadia Petrova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) in a quarterfinal matchup of Russians.

Horse racing

Kentucky officials plan challenge: Kentucky racing officials plan to challenge a recommendation there is insufficient evidence to suspend trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. for violating doping rules.

The order by hearing officer James Robke indicated the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission was unable to prove a Dutrow-trained horse, Salute the Count, had an excessive amount of the legal drug Clenbuterol in his blood after finishing second May 2 in a turf race at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

One day later, Dutrow-trained Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby.

Skiing

Gold medalist dies after being struck by car: Alexei Prokurorov, a Russian cross-country skier who won an Olympic gold medal in 1988, died after he was hit by a car while walking across a road in Vladimir, Russia. He was 44.

Seattle Times news services