Track star faces warrant in California

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 28, 2000

An arrest warrant has been issued for 400-meter silver medalist Alvin Harrison for failing to appear in court for a traffic violation.

Judge John Salazar of Santa Cruz (Calif.) County Superior Court issued the warrant in connection with a September 1998 citation issued by the California Highway Patrol after Harrison was stopped while driving with a suspended license.

Harrison, 26, pleaded guilty in March 1999 to the misdemeanor, and Salazar sentenced him to five days in a jail-supervised work-release program, a $445 fine and 150 hours of volunteer service with a high school track team.

The penalty was based in part on Harrison having two convictions on the charge, in neighboring Monterey County in 1993 and 1995.

The warrant was issued after Harrison missed at least three court dates between September 1998 and August 2000, all on the citation.

Harrison and his twin brother, Calvin, are scheduled to run in the 4x400-meter relay Saturday. Court officials said the charge isn't serious enough to justify extradition.

MURKY WATERS: The day after a group of athletes took to the waves for a surfing lesson, authorities advised people not to swim at Sydney beaches because of pollution.

With their competitions finished, swimmers including U.S. gold medalists Jenny Thompson and Lenny Krayzelburg; Australian gold medalists Grant Hackett and Michael Klim; and Equatorial Guinea's Eric "The Eel" Moussambani hit the surf Wednesday at Bondi Beach.

The first-time surfers were reassured by instructors that the beach was free of sharks before they donned wetsuits and hit the waves.

But officials closed Sydney beaches, including Bondi, because of pollution that has washed into the sea from storm-water drains after rain in the previous two days, raising a risk of bacterial infection.

NO LOITERING: So long, farewell ... get out of here!

Sydney Airport officials are urging people not to spend too long welcoming or saying goodbye to visitors Monday, when the international terminal will have its busiest day ever.

Airport spokesman Peter Gibbs said about 28,000 people are expected to fly out of the airport the day after the Closing Ceremonies.

"It's going to be manic Monday," Gibbs told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

"We will be conducting a campaign to encourage people not to come to the airport unless they have urgent business." HORSE SALE: Australian equestrian Matt Ryan said he might have to sell his gold medal-winning horse if he wants to compete at the Athens Olympics in four years.

Though that's hardly a strategy of champions, Ryan and many of his teammates have to sell their best horses to remain in the sport at a professional level because of the lack of sponsors -- even though Australia has won four gold medals at the past three Olympics, including three team gold medals in a row.

"In just surviving, we have to sell our best horses to the Japanese, the Malaysians, to Europe," said Ryan, who won his third gold medal last week at the three-day team event. He won his previous gold medals at Barcelona in 1992.

DRUG FREE?: With drug scandals breaking out all around the Games, China is crowing about more than 100 of its athletes passing drug tests, saying it shows the country's anti-doping efforts are paying off.

But Shouzhang Wu said he couldn't guarantee that no Chinese athlete would test positive before the Games end.

"With today's high wages and incomes, every country has people who pay no attention and take risks. Of course, China is not an exception," said Wu, secretary general of the Chinese delegation. "If you ask me to state that China will not have doping, I don't dare say that because it's a long-term struggle."

China cut 27 athletes from its team 10 days before competition started, most of them for suspicious results in domestic blood tests for the performance-enhancing drug EPO.

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