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Sports Briefs: Steroids ban in horse racing proposed
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Published: June 18, 2008
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Thoroughbred racing took a major step toward outlawing steroids yesterday when a safety panel created days after Eight Belles' fatal run in the Kentucky Derby recommended that they should be banned by January.
The proposal was immediately endorsed by several key players in horse racing.
The call for a sweeping ban on anabolic steroids for racing was one of three suggestions from the committee established by North America's thoroughbred registry, the Jockey Club. Other recommendations dealt with banning certain horseshoes known to cause injuries and regulating the use of the riding crops by jockeys.
Congress might take action on the issue, too. On Thursday, a House Energy subcommittee will hear testimony from key players in the industry about steroids and other safety matters. Using as a bargaining chip a federal law that grants simulcasting rights to states, there is a push by some legislators to force the industry to ban steroids and do a better job of policing itself.
Unlike most team sports, which have a national commissioner to make decisions, thoroughbred racing makes its regulations through individual states. Fewer than a dozen states have approved a model rule that would ban steroids before racing.
Basketball
■ Wes Miller, a guard on North Carolina's NCAA championship team in 2005, has been hired as an assistant men's coach at Elon, Coach Ernie Nestor announced yesterday.
Miller finished his career at North Carolina in 2007 and spent last season with London Capitals of the British Basketball League, where he ranked eighth in the league in scoring with 19.6 points a game.
■ Jocelyn Wyatt , a former women's basketball player at Appalachian State, has joined the women's staff at East Carolina as an assistant, Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener announced yesterday.
Wyatt spent the past two seasons as a graduate assistant at Georgia. She was a three-year letter winner at Appalachian and played in 21 of 28 games as a senior in 2005-06, averaging 9.3 points.
■ Reserve forward Ryan Childress of Tennessee has had successful surgery on his right knee.
Trainer Chad Newman said yesterday that there is no timetable for Childress' return to the court.
Childress suffered the injury last week in a pickup game.
Newman said that Childress is expected to be released today from University of Tennessee Hospital.
Childress averaged 2.3 points and 2.4 rebounds last season.
Football
■ Ambrose "Bud" Dudley, who founded the Liberty Bowl in 1959 and oversaw the game for many years, died yesterday at a nursing home in Memphis after a long illness. He was 88.
Dudley was the athletics director at Villanova from 1953 to 1957 and founded the Liberty Bowl in his hometown of Philadelphia in 1959. The bowl stayed in Philadelphia for five years, then moved to Atlantic City, N.J., for one year and then on to Memphis. Dudley was the executive director for 35 years before retiring in 1994.
■ Mississippi is now thin at quarterback after incoming recruit Chris Wilkes signed with the San Diego Padres.
The Padres took Wilkes, a pitcher from Orlando, Fla., in the 22nd round of the Major League Baseball draft.
Coach Houston Nutt of Ole Miss has Jevan Snead listed as the starter. But Snead has little experience after sitting out after his transfer from Texas and his backups have even less.
Billy Tapp will be the second-string quarterback and Nathan Stanley, a true freshman from Oklahoma who's already on campus, could figure in Nutt's plans.
Olympics
■ Bobby Lea and Michael Blatchford have been added to the U.S. Olympics track-cycling team after hitting qualifying times at a team-selection camp this week. Lea will ride in the points race and the Madison in Beijing, and Blatchford has qualified for the team-sprint roster.
They join Taylor Phinney -- a new junior world record-holder in the 3,000-meter individual pursuit -- as the only U.S. men's qualifiers in track cycling so far. Phinney, 17, is the son of Connie Carpenter-Phinney, a 1984 Olympics gold medalist, and Davis Phinney, a former Olympian and Tour de France stage winner.
Other U.S. cyclists who have qualified for the Beijing Games are: Kristin Armstrong (women's road), Levi Leipheimer (men's road), Sarah Hammer and Jennie Reid (women's track), Mike Day and Kyle Bennett (men's BMX) and Jill Kintner (women's BMX). USA Cycling plans to announce the full rosters July 1.
■ A top official of China's national basketball team said that no decision has been made on whether Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets will play in an Olympics warm-up tournament next month. Newspaper reports around China have suggested that Yao had been cleared to play in the Stankovic Cup, scheduled July 17-20 at Hangzhou, China.
Yao had surgery on his left foot after suffering a stress fracture Feb. 27. Agent John Huizinga said that Yao had an examination Monday that went well but disputed reports that his client would play in the Stankovic Cup. Yao has said he will not leave for China until the Rockets clear him to practice.
■ Eunice Barber of France plans to skip the heptathlon in Beijing to focus on the long jump.
Barber, the world champion in the heptathlon in 1999 and in the long jump in 2003, had surgery on her right knee eight months ago. She said she has had "muscular problems since my knee operation" and that she and her coach determined that "it was too restrictive to work on all the (heptathlon) disciplines until Beijing."
■ The International Weightlifting Federation has suspended 11 Greek weightlifters for two years after they tested positive for the banned steroid methyltrienolone. The IWF said that Greece still will be able to send a team of four weightlifters -- three men and one women -- to Beijing.
Miscellaneous
■ The U.S. women's soccer team edged Brazil 1-0 yesterday at the Peace Queen Cup in South Korea on a goal by forward Amy Rodriguez. It was the first meeting between the teams since Brazil's 4-0 win in the semifinals of the 2007 Women's World Cup, and the Americans improved to 2-0 heading into Thursday's match against Italy.
Both teams lost key players early. Aline, Brazil's captain, left in the seventh minute with an ankle injury. Carli Lloyd, a U.S. midfielder, broke her nose about 10 minutes in while jumping for a header.
■ Lindsay Davenport withdrew from the International Women's Open in Eastbourne, England, yesterday with a knee injury but expects to compete at Wimbledon. The tournament was to have been the first for Davenport since she defaulted her semifinal match against Maria Sharapova at Amelia Island in April.
"I am very disappointed to be unable to compete here but I unfortunately injured my right knee in practice over the weekend and was unable to recover in time for today's match," Davenport said in a brief statement.
■ Track coach Bob Pollock of Clemson announced his retirement yesterday after a season in which he was accused of depositing money from campus track-and-field events into a personal account.
Pollock has led the men's track-and-field program for the past 20 years and will leave the Tigers after the U.S. Olympic Trials early next month.
His final year was marred when he and assistant coach Charles Foster were investigated by the State Law Enforcement Division after accusations they deposited more than $27,000 in personal accounts. Prosecutors said that there was not enough evidence to bring charges. Pollock has denied any wrongdoing.
■ Tickets for next month's East-West high-school all-star games in Greensboro are now on sale at Ticketmaster's Web site (www.ticketmaster.com), by phone (336-852-1100), at the Greensboro Coliseum box office and at Ticketmaster outlets at Lowes Foods, FYE and Macy's stores.
The East-West basketball games will be July 21 at the Greensboro Coliseum, the soccer games will be July 22 at UNC Greensboro, and the football game will be July 23 at Greensboro Grimsley's Jamieson Stadium.
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