Olympic notes

Jones's relay mates get a bad handoff

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By John Powers

Globe Staff / April 26, 2008

Stripping Marion Jones of her five Sydney medals (three gold, two bronze) was one thing. But when the International Olympic Committee this month also decided to take them away from her relay mates, it created a tangle that may take months to straighten out.

Jones aside, more than three dozen other athletes are affected, 30 on the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. Since the United States won gold in the 4 x 400, it's a particular mess because the second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers all figure to get upgrades, which means 17 athletes, including alternates. The problem for the IOC is that it has no way of knowing whether other runners also were doped and could be awarding medals to cheaters who, like Jones, didn't test positive at the Games but may subsequently be identified through court documents.

As complicated as it is, it could have been worse. If the Americans hadn't botched a handoff in the preliminaries in Athens four years ago, they likely would have won a medal and LaTasha Colander-Clark would have been victimized twice.

In all, Typhoid Marion affected athletes in five events, including eight teammates, all but one of whom (Nanceen Perry, who supposedly can't be located) are appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming they never received a fair hearing from the IOC.

World beaters
Huge victory for the US women's ice hockey team, which knocked off Canada twice to win the world title in China. After losing to their northern nemesis in the first eight finals, the Yanks have won two of the last three. The men get their chance next week in Canada, where they'll meet Latvia, Slovenia, and the hosts in the prelims. Directing the squad is Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Tortorella, assisted by former Bruins coach Mike Sullivan and Kurt Kleinendorst . . . Cammi Granato and Art Berglund are the newest American members of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. Granato, who captained the US women to Olympic gold and silver, is their all-time leading scorer. Berglund was general manager of the 1976 and 1988 men's teams and player personnel director in 1992, 1994, and 2002.

Not curling's iron
Dispiriting showing by the US men, who finished seventh in the world curling championships on their home ice in Grand Forks, N.D., after winning the bronze medal last year. Taken with a similar placement by the American women in Canada last month, it was a lost winter for the rocks-in-their-hands people. The Canadian men won their fifth title in seven years ahead of the Scots, with Norway beating rookie China (which upset Canada in the round-robin) for the bronze . . . After missing the podium at the world championships for the first time in four years, ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto have split with coach Igor Shpilband and choreographer Marina Zoueva after a decade together. The Olympic silver medalists and five-time US champions will move from Michigan to Pennsylvania to train with former Olympic champions Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov.

Lucky of the draws
Auspicious Olympic draws for the US men's and women's soccer teams. The men, who didn't qualify last time, avoided all of the Athens medalists, facing Japan, the Netherlands, and Nigeria in the prelims. The women ducked the Group of Death, which includes World Cup champion Germany, runner-up Brazil, and North Korea. The Americans, who'll be defending their crown, are grouped with Norway (which they pounded in the Cup bronze-medal match), Japan, and New Zealand . . . The Cubans, who had seven soccer players bolt in Tampa during the Olympic qualifying tournament, will face the same problem again this summer if, as expected, they meet the US in the semifinal round of the World Cup qualifying tournament. Defections have been common whenever Cuba competes overseas, particularly in the States, where most of its athletes have relatives or close friends. If the Cubans win their home-and-home series with Antigua and Barbuda in June and the Americans do the same with Barbados, they'll play each other twice. It'd be the first time they've met in a Cup qualifier since 1949 and the first time the Yanks ever have played in Cuba.

Family fight
Texas taekwondo fighters Steven, Mark, and Diana Lopez made history recently when they became the first three siblings in 104 years to make the same US Olympic team. "It felt like a dream, surreal," said big brother Jean, who'll coach the squad in Beijing. "Everything is just perfect." The fourth member is Charlotte Craig, a Californian who jokingly calls herself "The Blonde Lopez." The last family threesome to compete in the Games were gymnasts Edward, Richard, and William Tritschler in 1904 . . . Michelle Guerette, who's favored to earn a sculling medal in Beijing, easily won the selection regatta and now only needs to finish in the top six at next month's World Cup event in Munich to make the US team for the Games. The pairs and doubles take to the water in West Windsor, N.J., this weekend . . . With eight US boxers (including Providence welterweight Demetrius Andrade) already guaranteed Olympic spots, the remaining three members of the team get their final chance in Guatemala this week. If middleweight Shawn Estrada and super heavy Michael Hunter make the finals, they're in, with light heavy Christopher Downs needing only to be in the top three . . . The US women's field hockey team, which hasn't played at Olympus since 1996, is unbeaten after three matches in the last-chance qualifier in Russia, whacking both the hosts and the French by 7-0 counts. The Americans, top seeded in the six-team field, need to win the tournament to make it to Beijing. On the squad are Walpole's Dina Rizzo and Greenfield's Kelly Doton.

Count Roddick out
While tennis player Andy Roddick will skip the Olympics to get ready for the US Open, most of the top names appear committed to doing the Beijing/Flushing double. Open champ Roger Federer will compete, as will runner-up Novak Djokovic. "You get to play Grand Slams every year," reasoned Djokovic. "The Olympics you get to play one time in four years." Though Justine Henin has reservations about the city's pollution (she pulled out of last September's China Open because it worsened her asthma), she wants to defend her title, which was Belgium's only gold medal in Athens. No doubt, though, playing both the Games and the Open will be a challenge. "Switching time zones for two weeks, then come back and have four days and then you're starting the US Open," mused Roddick, who played in Athens, then was knocked out by 28th-seeded Joachim Johansson in the Open quarters after coming in as defending champion . . . Missing the Olympic baseball tournament will be the Australians, the surprise silver medalists behind Cuba in Athens, after finishing fifth in the last-chance qualifying tournament. The Beijing field includes Cuba, Japan, South Korea, China, Chinese Taipei (i.e. Taiwan), Canada, the Netherlands, and the US, which didn't make it in 2004 after winning the gold medal in Sydney . . . Single-session tickets are on sale for the US women's gymnastics championships at Boston University's Agganis Arena June 5-7. The national meet features the global gold-medal team, which includes all-around champion Shawn Johnson and Winchester's Alicia Sacramone, and serves as the qualifier for that month's Olympic trials in Philadelphia. Tickets, priced between $25-$120, may be purchased at the box office, at all Ticketmaster outlets (or online at ticketmaster.com), by phone at 617-931-2000, or at participating area gymnastics clubs) . . . University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is the first football player to win the Sullivan Award as the country's top amateur athlete since Tennessee's Peyton Manning in 1997 and only the fifth ever, joining Florida State's Charlie Ward (1993) and Army's Arnold Tucker (1946) and Doc Blanchard (1945). Gymnast Jonathan Horton, Michigan State hockey goalie Jeff Lerg, Virginia Tech softball pitcher Angela Tincher, and 61-year-old masters runner Philippa Raschker were the other finalists.