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Sports Notebook Ottey hopeful for Sydney after drug ban lifted
Posted: Monday July 03, 2000 10:37 PM
ATLANTA (CNNSI.com) -- Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey had her two-year ban for steroid use lifted after an international track panel said the lab improperly tested her urine sample. The decision meant the former world champion and Olympic silver medalist was immediately eligible to compete.
The IAAF, track and field's world governing body, said in a statement that its three-man arbitration panel had decided after a hearing last month "there were not the grounds to maintain the suspension of Merlene Ottey from competition."
Ottey, winner of 34 individual medals in major international championships, hopes to compete in the Sydney Olympics at age 40. She is a former world 200-meter champion and finished runner-up in the 100 and 200 at the 1996 Olympics.
Ottey tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at a meet in Switzerland in July 1999. She denied taking the drug and was cleared by the Jamaican federation, but the IAAF refused to accept the Jamaicans' ruling and sent her case to its arbitration panel.
SoccerSouth Africa will not take any over-age players to the Olympic Games soccer tournament in September, Reuters reported. The South African Football Association has agreed with under-23 coach Ephraim Mashaba to retain the squad that qualified for the 16-team event. IOC rules allow a team to field three over-age players in the finals, but all qualifying matches are played at under-23 level.
SwimmingNew Zealand double Olympic swimming gold medallist Danyon Loader has announced his retirement, Reuters reported. Loader, 25, won gold in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events at the 1996 Olympics, but has struggled to qualify for this year's Games.
BadmintonNigeria will not send a badminton team to the Games because its players have not had sufficient international competition, according to a report by Reuters. Nigeria had planned to send a two-man badminton team to the Games, but a shortage of funds restricted the country's ability to participate in international tournaments this year.
Beach volleyballBrazil's Emanuel Rego and Jose Loiola beat countrymen Ze'Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos 16-14 in the final of the Chicago Grand Slam beach volleyball tournament. Both teams secured berths in the Sydney Olympics with their final-round appearances. The tournament concludes Tuesday with the semifinals and finals of the women's competition.
WrestlingU.S. Olympic team member Terry Brands and his wife Michelle paid tribute to the 2000 Games after the birth of their second child, a baby girl named Sydney Jae. The baby was born Wed., June 28 at about 10 p.m. and weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces. The couple also have a 15-month-old son, Nelson. Terry Brands won a berth to the Olympics in the 127.75-pound division at the U.S. trials in Dallas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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