Sports Briefing
Gymnast Hamm fights to keep all-around gold medal

Paul Hamm

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Olympics

Hamm testifies at hearing: U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm fought to keep his gold medal yesterday during an 11-1/2-hour hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland, before the sports world's highest court. The three-person Court of Arbitration for Sport panel adjourned without making a decision.

CAS arbitrators convened to hear the appeal from a South Korean who lost the gold medal in the all-around at the Athens Games after a scoring error by the judges.

CAS general secretary Matthieu Reeb said the arbitrators — from Germany, Kenya and Britain — hoped to make a decision within the next two weeks.

Yang Tae-young wants the court to order international gymnastics officials to change the rankings and give him the gold and Hamm the silver. Hamm and the U.S. Olympic Committee spent the hearing fighting Yang's appeal.

"I thought everything went very smoothly," Hamm said in a teleconference after the hearing. "It was a very fair hearing and everyone got the chance to say what they thought."

Yang, who finished with a bronze medal, was mistakenly docked 0.10 points on the start value of his next-to-last routine, the parallel bars. He finished third, 0.049 points behind Hamm.

Hockey

Svoboda, Visnovsky to play in Europe: Jaroslav Svoboda of the Dallas Stars will play for a Czech team and Lubomir Visnovsky of the Los Angeles Kings will join a Slovakian club, raising to 173 the number of NHL players who have agreed to compete in Europe during the lockout.

Golf
 
Singh withdraws: Vijay Singh withdrew from this week's American Express Championship in Ireland, wanting to stay home with his family in Florida and cope with the damage left by Hurricane Jeanne.

Singh won the 84 Lumber Classic in Pennsylvania on Sunday. He planned to fly home Sunday night to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., before leaving for Ireland.

Singh reportedly was not able to return home until yesterday. He found that his home was without power, and water was starting to enter the beachfront property.

Tennis

Clijsters to return: Kim Clijsters, once ranked No. 1 in the world, will make her comeback this week from a five-month layoff caused by a wrist injury that required surgery.

Clijsters has a first-round bye and is to play tomorrow in the Gaz de France Stars indoor tournament in Hasselt, near her Belgian hometown. She is seeded second behind U.S. Open finalist Elena Dementieva of Russia.

Soccer

Rooney to play for Man U: Striker Wayne Rooney, 18, is poised to make his Manchester United debut against Fenerbahce in the UEFA Champions League today, Man U manager Alex Ferguson said. Rooney, previously with Everton, fractured his foot playing for England in Euro 2004 in June.

College basketball

Knight offers opinions: Texas Tech coach Bob Knight was the guest speaker at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., offering his opinions on several basketball topics and downplaying any ambitions to make the jump to politics from sports.

"This is sports — as placed against the background of the world," said Knight, holding a small white saucer in his right hand. "That's all sports is."

Knight brought a copy of the NCAA rules manual and belittled its thickness as compared with other documents.

"Here's a copy of the United States Constitution," Knight said. "It's got 15 pages, and it's served us for a long time. ... Moses wrote 10 things on a rock that have lasted millenniums."

Knight said the rules are so complicated that he couldn't find seven answers to a 40-question, open-book compliance test administered by the NCAA.

Auto racing

Protests possible: An organization calling itself the National Association for Minority Race Fans has set up a Web site and is apparently planning protests at some NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races this season.

Cycling

U.S. junior rider earns silver: Rebecca Much of Chicago won the silver medal in the junior time trial at the road world championships in Bardolino, Italy. Tereza Hurikova of the Czech Republic was the winner.

Horse racing

Sale sets record: Keeneland's September Yearling Sale in Lexington, Ky., ended with a gross sales record for a Thoroughbred auction. Keeneland sold 3,370 horses for $324,904,300, topping the previous record of $317,666,000 paid for 3,461 horses during its 1999 November Breeding Stock Sale.

Meanwhile, at its fall meeting, Keeneland will be the first track in North America to use the TurfTrax Speed System.

The system, designed to improve the accuracy of data in racing charts, uses 4-ounce radio transmitters that are attached to the saddlecloths of the horses.

Seattle Times news services