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Sports Briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 22, 2000

IOC continues to assure Athens

On the eve of a visit to Athens, the official overseeing preparations for the 2004 Olympics said Greek organizers shouldn't worry about losing the Games.

"I can only say to my Greek friends: The IOC is determined to have the games in Athens," International Olympic Committee executive Jacques Rogge said. "There is no plan to take the games away from Athens."

Rogge, head of the IOC coordination commission for the Athens Games, leads a delegation to the Greek capital for a three-day inspection starting today. IOC officials have expressed concern about the slow pace of preparations, beset by delays and political wrangling since the games were awarded to Athens in 1997.

MORE OLYMPICS: Bid officials "did everything in our power" to obtain U.S. travel visas for a Libyan IOC member's sons, according to documents from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. The bid leaders pressured the State Department and political leaders to admit the sons of Bashir Attarabulsi. One son, Sami Attarabulsi, was rejected because he was a member of the Libyan military, which was considered hostile by the United States. The other son, Suhel Attarabulsi, got a visa and received $60,000 from the bid committee to attend Utah schools. Bashir Attarabulsi avoided IOC censure by resigning. His family cost the bid committee $91,000, according to a federal indictment. ... Susie O'Neill, 27, the Australian who earned the nickname "Madame Butterfly," is quitting competitive swimming. O'Neill holds the world record in the 200-meter butterfly and has won two Olympic gold medals. She was upset by Misty Hyman of the United States at September's Sydney Games.

BASEBALL: John Ogiltree pitched four shutout innings and Jess Bechard hit a two-run homer as Canada beat the United States 7-4 at Dunedin and split a two-game exhibition in preparation for the 2000 Pan Am Cup. ... Ozzie Canseco, twin brother of Jose Canseco, is one of 22 independent minor-leaguers who will represent the U.S. in the 12-team Pan Am Cup tournament. The four top teams move on to the World Cup next year.

BOWLING: Steve Hoskins won $19,000 and his 10th PBA Tour title, beating Doug Kent 246-236 in the championship game of the season-ending Lone Star Open at Pasadena, Texas.

DRUGS: Olympic champion Linford Christie said a member of the committee that banned runner Diane Modahl told him all athletes were "guilty until proved innocent" of taking drugs. Christie testified in London for Modahl, a former Commonwealth 800-meter champion, who is seeking $1.5-million in damages over her suspension in 1994 for four years by the now-defunct British Athletic Federation, which accused her of testing for a high level of testosterone.

FIGURE SKATING: Two-time U.S. men's champion Michael Weiss withdrew from Trophee Lalique, the Grand Prix series competition in Paris. Weiss missed Skate America in October with a stress fracture to his left foot and was sixth at the Cup of Russia.

GOLF: Vijay Singh shot 3-under-par 69 for a two-stroke lead over Tiger Woods in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Poipu Beach, Hawaii. Tom Lehman opened with 73 and Paul Azinger shot 74 in the four-player, 36-hole event for the year's major champions. ... Johnny Miller and Beth Daniel combined for 7-under 65 and a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Hall of Fame Golf Challenge in St. Augustine. Daniel and Miller were at 11-under 133 in the $1-million, 54-hole best-ball tournament. Kathy Whitworth and J.C. Snead were second, two shots behind at 9-under 135, after 68. Juli Inkster and Roberto De Vicenzo, first-round leaders, shot 72 to drop into a tie for third with JoAnne Carner and Bob Charles at 137.

HORSES: Silver Chele held off Chelsie's House by 11/2 lengths in the $59,110 feature race for fillies and mares at Churchill Downs. Owned by Ray Esfahani, Silver Chele earned $37,490 to increase her lifetime winnings to $193,688. ... New Jersey's Meadowlands Racetrack saw its on-track handle drop 7.8 percent to $530,014 per day for this year's thoroughbred season, driven by an 8.6 percent fall in attendance. Total nightly handle, including simulcasting, fell 13.9 percent to $1.8-million. The track has the nation's largest on-site handle, about $580-million on live and simulcast bets.

RUGBY: Members of England's squad will refuse to play in Saturday's Test against Argentina at Twickenham unless a pay dispute is resolved.

SKIING: Sarah Schleper won a Super Series giant slalom with a two-run time of 2 minutes, 22.41 seconds at Colorado's Winter Park Resort. Stina Hogford Nilsen was second, and Japan's Kumiko Kashiwagi finished third. ... Sami Uotila had the fastest time on both runs to win a Super Series giant slalom on the 2002 Olympic course in Park City, Utah, in 2:25.19. Bode Miller was second and Erik Schlopy third.

TENNIS: Jan-Michael Gambill beat Max Mirnyi 7-5, 6-3 at the Stockholm Open. Sebastien Grosjean beat Daniel Nestor 6-4, 6-4. Qualifiers Johan Ortegren and Christian Vinck also won. ... Top-seeded Tim Henman won the first nine games of the match and beat Michal Tabara 6-0, 6-2 in the first round of the Samsung Open in Brighton, England. Raemon Sluiter defeated Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-1, 6-1; Renzo Furlan beat Christophe Rochus 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Ivan Ljubicic defeated Fabrice Santoro 7-6 (7-3), 6-2; Diego Nargiso beat Oliver Freelove 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; and Alexander Popp beat Jeff Tarango 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

OBITUARY: Glenn E. Seidel, who quarterbacked undefeated Minnesota football teams from 1933-5 and later became a vice president of Honeywell Inc., died Nov. 7 in Minneapolis from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 86.

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