In brief

Iditarod winner starts treatment for cancer

By wire services
Published December 9, 2005

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Susan Butcher, four-time winner of the Iditarod dog sled race, has started treatment for cancer.

She was diagnosed last week with acute myelogenous leukemia, a form of bone marrow cancer, her husband, David Monson, said. Remission occurs in about 80 percent of cases. Monson also said the family is seeking a bone marrow donor.

In 1986, Butcher, 50, became the second woman to win the 1,100-mile race then won in 1987, 1988 and 1990 and finished in the top four through 1993.

Jockey Stewart Elliott asked acting New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Codey for a pardon. The Toronto native, 40, who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness aboard Smarty Jones, served a year's probation and paid $13,000 restitution for a fight in 2000. He wants to become a U.S. citizen, and a 1996 law allows the government to seek to deport legal aliens convicted of serious felonies.

The suspension of a quarterback for kicking an opponent was upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Late in the state quarterfinals Nov.19, Shawnee's Tucker Brown kicked a Tulsa Washington defender who had jumped over the line of scrimmage, grabbed Brown's helmet and threw him to the ground. A lower court issued an injunction blocking the ensuing two-game suspension, and the playoffs had been on hold pending the higher court's decision.

Franz Klammer, the 1976 Olympic downhill champ, believes skiing has become too fast and the shape of skis should be changed. "There has to be a limit," the Austrian said. "Speeds on the straights are way too fast. People are injuring themselves without even falling."

FIGURE SKATING: Evan Lysacek, the top American and bronze medalist at the 2005 World Championships, withdrew from next week's Grand Prix finals because of bursitis and tendinitis in his right hip.

SKELETON: Defending champion Noelle Pikus-Pace is scheduled to race in a World Cup event today in Igls, Austria, seven weeks after breaking her right tibia and fibula when a bobsled overran its stop area and crashed into a group.

A license plate to help Daytona Beach attract the NASCAR Hall of Fame passed on the final day of a special session of the Florida Legislature. Each tag sold will provide $25 toward a fund to build and operate the hall.

OBITUARY: Former Indy car owner Maury Kraines died Dec.2 of heart failure in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 84. Mr. Kraines' biggest moment came when Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear by .043 in the 1992 Indianapolis 500, the race's closest finish. It was Mr. Kraines' only win in the race, and he retired afterward.

BASKETBALL: The ABA's Nashville Rhythm folded a year after hiring the first female coach of a men's pro team. Ashley McElhiney was fired by co-owner Sally Anthony during a game when she ignored an order to bench a player. McElhiney, now a women's assistant at Alabama, was later rehired.

SWIMMING: Austria's Markus Rogan and Hungary's Lazlo Cseh set world records in the 200-meter backstroke and 200 individual medley, respectively, at the European Short-Course meet in Trieste, Italy. Rogan finished in 1:50.43, .09 faster than American Aaron Peirsol in October 2004. Cseh finished in 1:53.46, .47 faster than Trinidad's George Bovell in March 2003.

CYCLING: Luxembourg's Charly Gaul, a former Tour de France champion and two-time Giro d'Italia winner, died Tuesday. He was 72, and no cause was disclosed.

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:20:12]