Olympic

Fiery Track Star Flees Sydney Games in Tears


SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) – France's Olympic track star Marie-Jose Perec was flying back to Paris Friday after fleeing the Sydney Games in tears saying a man had threatened her in her hotel.

In another development that overshadowed the sporting action, Bulgaria's weightlifting team said it may pull out of the Olympics after traces of banned substances were found in dope tests on two more of their medallists.

Perec, one of the world's top athletes, ran into more trouble during a stopover in Singapore, where her American fiance Anthuan Maybank was involved in an airport fracas with a television cameraman trying to film them.

Singapore police launched an investigation but said later they would take no further action following a directive from the attorney-general's office.

``Listen, to me, if you come near me I will hurt you, you understand,'' Maybank is captured on tape as saying. ``I'm going to whip your ass,'' he adds.

Australian Channel 9 television news director Paul Fenn said Maybank had hit the cameraman ``behind the ear and generally whacked him.'' The cameraman was shaken but not hurt, Fenn said.

Perec's bizarre departure robbed the Games of one of its most eagerly awaited clashes, a 400 meters showdown with Australia's top Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman (news – web sites) who lit the Olympic cauldron to start the Games.

The scourge of drugs returned to haunt the Games Friday when Bulgaria's weightlifting team said they may pull out of the Olympics after traces of banned substances were found in dope tests on two more of their medallists.

Women's 48-kilogram gold medalist Izabela Dragneva and men's 62-kilogram bronze medalist Sevdalin Minchev were both found to have traces of diuretics in their A samples, said Beltcho Ivanov, the Bulgarian National Olympic Committee's secretary general.

Ivanov said the B samples would be tested later Friday and, if also found to be positive, the Bulgarian team would consider pulling out of the Games.

Wednesday, Bulgarian men's 56kg silver medallist Ivan Ivanov was stripped of his medal and thrown out of the Games after testing positive for diuretics.

Diuretics help to eliminate fluid from the body and are used by competitors to lose weight quickly in sports with weight categories.

Talks

Beltcho Ivanov and Bulgarian Olympic Committee president Ivan Slavlov attended an International Olympic Committee (news – web sites) (IOC) doping commission meeting in the early hours of Friday.

``(Later on Friday) we will discuss the question,'' Ivanov said. ``Maybe we will decide to cancel the whole Bulgarian weightlifting team.''

At the Olympic Homebush Bay pool, Inge de Bruijn gave her rivals another trouncing to win her second title of the Games while world champion Jenny Thompson (news – web sites) claimed a historic ninth Olympic medal.

In the men's events, Lenny Krayzelburg (news – web sites) completed a backstroke double to match his feat at the 1998 world championships and hoisted the U.S. swimming tally to nine with a commanding victory in the men's 200 meters backstroke.


Reuters Photo


Thompson, who scooped the seventh relay gold in a career spanning three Olympics Wednesday, picked up a bronze when she finished third equal with fellow American Dara Torres (news – web sites), way behind De Bruijn, in the women's 100 freestyle.

Thompson, who took silver in the event at the 1992 Barcelona Games, now has nine Olympic swimming (news – web sites) medals, which in purely numerical terms takes her past the great Australian Dawn Fraser (news – web sites), East German Kornelia Ender and fellow American Shirley Babashoff.

No American woman has won more Olympic medals in any sport, winter or summer.

The United States collected a remarkable eight out of 13 medals awarded in the pool on the sixth day of the eight-day championships but once again it was De Bruijn who stole the spotlight.

De Bruijn's Day

The 27-year-old Dutchwoman led the 100 freestyle final by just 0.04 seconds at the turn from Swedish European champion Therese Alshammar but forged away down the return length to win by the large margin of half a second.

De Bruijn won in 53.83 seconds, with Alshammar taking the silver in 54.33 and Torres and Thompson sharing bronzes in 54.43.

Top tennis seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States went out with an injured foot.

The athletics – for many what the Olympics are all about – is due to begin Friday but Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey (news – web sites) looked doubtful for the 100 meters, after catching flu.

But the big talking point all day was the fiery French athlete Perec.

The Sydney hotel where Perec, a triple gold medallist, was secluded said it had no evidence she was harassed. ``We have no evidence whatsoever of any incident that we can prove via our security analysis,'' said spokesman Peter Holt.

Perec's sponsor Reebok said she had decided to leave after a man forced himself into her hotel room and threatened her.

Perec, 32, won the 400 meters title at the 1992 Barcelona Games and then scored a 200-400 meters double four years later in Atlanta. She has been plagued by illness and injury since Atlanta and raced only twice this year.

Perec, who has always had a difficult relationship with athletics officials and the media, had been under a great deal of pressure ahead of her expected showdown with Freeman.

She lived up to her reputation in Sydney by shunning the French athletics team's official news conference Tuesday. She also irritated French officials by declining to join their team training camp in the Sydney suburb of Narrabeen.

French team officials slammed her decision to flee the Sydney Games. ``The most suitable phrase to use in this tale is that she left like a thief,'' said French athletics federation president Philippe Lamblin.

Politician: Sydney Olympics More Sex Than Sport


KUWAIT (Reuters) – An Islamist politician says Sydney's Olympic games contain more sex than sports and wants some events banned on Kuwait's state television.

»Some events, especially women's contests, have flagrant scenes which are unacceptable,« parliamentarian Waleed al-Tabtabaie said in a complaint addressed to the information ministry and published in Kuwaiti newspapers Wednesday.

»Women's beach volleyball games, diving and synchronized swimming contests are not acceptable...they reflect Western norms that do not give a woman's body any of the respect, honor or protection which Islam and Sharia (Islamic law) have granted her,« added Tabtabaie.

The controversial MP has in the past protested against the staging of music concerts in the conservative state as well as celebrating St. Valentine's Day

2 Olympic Athletes Fail Drug Tests

By STEPHEN WILSON, AP Sports Writer

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) – A Bulgarian weightlifter was stripped of his silver medal and a hammer thrower from Belarus was kicked out of the Sydney Olympics in the first positive doping cases of the games.

The International Olympic Committee said Wednesday (Tuesday night EDT) that it had taken away the silver in the 56-kilogram (123-pound) weightlifting class from Ivan Ivanov, who tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic.

Ivanov, a gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and former four-time world champion, kissed his barbell after he had clinched the medal Saturday, the first full day of competition.

The other banned athlete was Vadim Devyatovsky, a hammer thrower from Belarus, who tested positive for components of the banned steroid nandrolone in an out-of-competition sample on Sept. 12 in the athletes' village, the IOC said.

Diuretics are used to flush fluid from an athlete's body to reduce weight, but also can be used to mask the presence of other performance-enhancing drugs. Nandrolone builds muscle and helps athletes recover faster in training.

These were the first athletes banned as a result of tests conducted during the games. Several others had been banned as a result of pre-games tests.

IOC medical commission chairman Prince Alexandre de Merode said the expulsions were ordered on the basis of positive results of the »A« samples. In the past, no sanctions were taken until after the backup »B« sample was tested.

The Bulgarian and Belarussian teams have both asked for the »B« samples to be analyzed.

IOC director general Francois Carrard said Ivanov had already left the Olympic village. Devyatosvsky had been scheduled to start competing Saturday.

With Ivanov stripped of the weightlifting silver, the standings were revised. The original third-place finisher, Wu Wenxiong of China, moved up to take the silver, while China's Zhang Xiangxiang was elevated from fourth place to the bronze.

Carrard said officials were considering arranging a new medal ceremony.

Ivanov, 29, was the Olympic champion at 1141/2 pounds in 1992 in Barcelona. He won gold at the world championships in 1989, '90, '91 and '93.

Devyatovsky, 23, finished second in the hammer at the junior world championships in 1996. This season, he has improved his performance from 251 feet-101/2 inches to 266-11.

The IOC tests were the first drug positives from the games themselves but only the latest in a slew of doping cases announced in Sydney, where more drug tests will be conducted than ever before.

De Merode said 13 athletes have been suspended for failing tests prior and during the games so far.

On Tuesday night, Alexander Bagach of Ukraine, the 1999 world indoor shot put champion and 1996 Olympic bronze medalist, was suspended by international track officials for testing positive for steroids for a third time.

Simon Kemboi, a member of the Kenyan 1,600-meter relay team, also was suspended for testing positive for steroids.

Neither will be allowed to compete in Sydney.

The ruling council of the International Amateur Athletic Federation announced those suspensions after an eight-hour meeting.

The World Anti-Doping Agency, a new international arm of Olympic sports designed to conduct uniform out-of-competition testing, also reported a positive steroid test to Nigerian 800-meter runner Dupe Osime.

She was among 45 Nigerian athletes initially chosen for the country's provisional Olympic team but was not among the 30 brought to Sydney.

Weightlifting has been filled with pre-games cases. The International Weightlifting Federation kicked out the seven-member Romanian team Sunday because three lifters – including two on the Olympic team – had failed drug tests this year.

But the federation lifted the ban on the five »clean« lifters the next day after the Romanian Olympic Committee agreed to pay a $50,000 fine. Such a waiver is included in the IWF's rules.

The decision led to widespread confusion, with the IOC medical director declaring at one point that Romania couldn't buy its way back. Later, after a frantic round of phone calls and meetings, the reinstatement was accepted.

WADA tests have found at least nine suspected positives out of 20 »elevated« results since last April.

Canadian Hammer Thrower To Stay Out


EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) – A Canadian hammer-thrower suspended from Canada's Olympic team after testing positive for an anabolic steroid will remain out of the Sydney Games.

In a written decision released Wednesday by an arbitrator, national champion and national record-holder Robin Lyons admitted to a doping infraction. But Lyons' lawyer, Thomas Cooke, stressed that the admission does not mean she intentionally took a banned substance.

``Robin still vehemently denies taking a banned substance knowingly,'' Cooke said in an interview.

``Right from the very, very first press conference, we acknowledged that there was a possibility that there was a contaminated supplement (in her bloodstream).''

Arbitrator Mark Asbell was to arbitrate the case after the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport suspended Lyons and upheld that decision on appeal. Asbell dismissed the appeal after Lyons and the center agreed on a settlement.

Lyons initially said she was a victim of a faulty testing system but in the Asbell decision agreed the testing was fair. The settlement means she is banned from participating in sports for four years. It notes that she plans to seek a Class 2 reinstatement before an independent adjudicator in the next six months.

Under a Class 2 reinstatement, the athlete will try to prove there were exceptional circumstances surrounding the infraction, said Rachel Corbett, managing director of the Center for Sport and Law at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Lyons tested positive for norandrosterone, a metabolite of nandrolone, at the Canadian Olympic trials in August. Norandrosterone can be found in nutritional supplements.