Defending champion Hamm withdraws from Beijing Games

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - Paul Hamm won't defend his Olympic all-around gymnastics title in Beijing, and said on Monday he had lost his bid to come back in time from a broken hand.

Although Hamm had displayed a high enough level recently to convince US selectors to send him to Beijing, he notified USA Gymnastics on Monday that he was resigning from the team, the federation said.

"I have put my heart and soul into my comeback and done everything I could to get ready in time to compete in Beijing," Hamm said in a statement released by USA Gymnastics.

"After returning home from the preparation camp, I had a few physical setbacks, and it became clear to me that my physical preparations would not be sufficient to properly represent the United States and contribute to the team's efforts to win a medal."

Hamm made a return to competitive gymnastics in August 2007 after a nearly three-year layoff after the 2004 Games to complete his education.

This year he won the all-around title at the Winter Cup Challenge, Tyson American Cup and Pacific Rim Championships presented by Gillette Venus, but his Beijing bid was slowed when he broke his right hand in May.

He underwent surgery on May 27 and missed the US Olympic trials in June but petitioned his way onto the US Olympic squad.

On July 19, Hamm performed his routines in a special demonstration to show he was fit enough to compete in the Olympics.

Since then, however, Hamm said he had encountered further setbacks.

"I recently strained my rotator cuff and have been unable to perform all of my skills. I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to make a comeback. At this point in time, the success of the team and fairness to the team, and the alternates, is most important. While I am very disappointed, I feel I can wait no longer to make this decision."

"We admire Paul for making this difficult decision," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics.

"Paul's comeback this year has been phenomenal, made even more impressive following the injury to his hand. He has raised the level of determination among the entire team to put forth a medal winning effort in China."

Hamm was hoping to defend an all-around title won amid controversy in Athens.

In 2004, he fell in vaulting but rallied to win the all-around gold medal by the smallest margin in Olympic gymnastics history with South Korean Yang Tae-Young placing third.

A gold medal was barely around Hamm's neck when controversy erupted. Judges discovered they gave Yang too low a start value for his routine and that based on scores that followed, it should have been the Korean claiming the gold.

International Gymnastics Federation officials declared Hamm the winner and the Court of Arbitration for Sport denied an appeal from Yang.

Tanzania to send eight athletes to Beijing

DAR ES SALAAM - Commonwealth marathon champion Samson Ramadhan will head an eight-member Tanzanian athletics squad to next month's Beijing Olympics, the national Olympic Committee (TOC) announced on Monday.

Other members include 2005 world half marathon champion Fabiano Joseph and the only woman in the team, Zakia Mrisho, who will run the 5,000m.

Ramadhan, 28, set a personal best 2:08:01 during the 2003 London marathon.

Joseph, who also took a bronze medal in the 10,000m in Melbourne in 2006, will double the 5,000m and 10,000m, said TOC secretary general Filbert Bayi.

Bayi and Suleiman Nyambui are the only Tanzanian athletes to win an Olympic medal with silvers in the 3,000m and 5,000m respectively at the 1980 Moscow Games which were boycotted by many African countries

US basketballers arrive in China with gold in mind

MACAU - Team USA chatted freely about winning gold at the Beijing Games and rejected suggestions of complacency as they jetted into Chinese territory on Monday to begin their Olympic preparations in earnest.

Star forward LeBron James, back to fitness after an ankle sprain, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony all expressed confidence about the big prize despite an international drought stretching back to Sydney 2000.

"I will be playing here in Macau and in Shanghai preparing myself to get ready for Beijing," said James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"We're going to use these matches to get better every day, every second we're on the basketball court, to come together to be the team we need to be to win the gold medal."

The NBA superstars face Turkey and Lithuania in this gambling enclave on Thursday and Friday before completing their warm-up against Russia and Australia in Shanghai.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team also boasts NBA MVP Kobe Bryant and 2000 gold-medallist Jason Kidd, dismissed notions of over-confidence after the bronze-medal flops of Athens 2004 and the 2006 World Championships.

"We're not complacent. You shouldn't play unless you're confident but we have nothing to be complacent about. We haven't accomplished anything," he said.

"So we're in the midst of trying to accomplish so there will never be any complacency."

USA have been drawn in a tough Group B including world champions Spain, African title-holders Angola and European powers Greece and Germany. First up are the hosts, Yao Ming's China, on August 10.

"We have great respect for them but we haven't seen them so it's difficult for us to comment," said the coach. "They will be a tough foe especially because they are our first game in the Olympics."

Krzyzewski also denied he had revenge in mind against Greece, who dumped Team USA out of the 2006 World Championships.

"We want to win the gold medal and we don't accomplish it that way, by putting one game more important than another," he said.

USA have established a regular national team after previous embarrassments on the world stage when they were widely accused of under-estimating their opponents.

"We feel this is going to be the best Olympics yet because competition is at its best," Wade said.

"The international game is at its best and the American game is right there also. That's not our worry - our focus is on the team Coach K has on the court."

Anthony said the additions of Bryant and Kidd had made the team "that much better. Now it's just a case of putting everything together on the court and doing what we've got to do to win that gold medal."

Krzyzewski said the team was well rested and raring to go despite a tough long-haul flight from Las Vegas. Anthony set a team record by sleeping all the way, he said.

Brazil win pre-Olympics exhibition match in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Led by AC Milan star Ronaldinho, Brazil's pre-Olympics preparations were off to a smooth start as the samba kings defeated a stubborn Singapore Selection side 3-0 in an exhibition match on Monday.

The Brazilians dominated possession for most of the first half of the match but failed to find the net as they missed several clear chances inside the penalty box area and faced stiff resistance from the Singapore side.

Werder Bremen midfielder Diego broke the deadlock in the 20th minute with a goal from just outside the penalty box, while newly signed AC Milan star Ronaldinho made his mark with a close range effort in the 27th minute to lift the score to 2-0.

Left-footed Brazilian forward Jo, who recently inked a four-year deal with English Premier League club Manchester City, found the net in the second-half with a close range effort to take his side up 3-0.

Defender Alex Silva was sent off in the closing minutes of the match when he was handed a red card but that was of little consolation to the Singapore side.

Brazilian coach Dunga was satisfied with his team's performance but indicated his men had yet to reach full fitness levels, with many having just joined the Olympic team in the tune-up for next month's Games in Beijing.

"It was a good game so we had a good practice especially (when) we are coming from different time zones, different weather... we have our players in several levels of their fitness," Dunga said in a post-match conference.

"(As) you can see in 15 days, we can't really prepare a team for this competition.

"So what we did was we try to pass the ball around, let the opponent run after the ball... we do that, we get to know each other and we tactically try to impose ourselves."

Brazil head next to Hanoi where they will play a friendly against Vietnam's national side on August 1.

The South American giant won the World Cup a record five times but have come up short at the Olympics, finishing with a silver medal in the 1984 and 1988 Games, and bronze in 1996.

Brazil determined to win at Beijing Olympics

Friday, 25 July 2008

SINGAPORE - Five time world champions Brazil have never won the Olympic gold medal, but they are determined to win at next month's Beijing Games.

The Brazilians are taking their warm-up games against Singapore and Vietnam seriously before heading to the Chinese capital.

The Brazilians are not wasting any time after arriving in Singapore. They got down to training a day later as Ronaldinho and company are on a mission.

Not surprisingly, the Brazilian Olympic Team know little of their opponents - but they will be doing their homework.

Diego, Midfielder, said: "We know very little about the Singapore team, but we are going to get to know more soon. We are going to watch videos of Singapore games and get to know more about them."

Coach Carlos Dunga said there is little time for the Brazilian team to prepare for the Olympics, and the tune-up in Southeast Asia is crucial.

Despite the big task at hand, the visitors have been gracious, inviting six young Singaporeans to train with them.

The Brazilians are indeed serious about their Olympic preparations. They will be training daily until their match against a Singapore selection side on Monday

China unveils biggest-ever Olympic team

BEIJING - China on Friday announced it would field 639 athletes to compete at the Beijing Games, its biggest-ever Olympic team and over 40 more than the United States.

China are hoping their home advantage will help them knock the United States from the top of the medals table, after finishing just behind them at the 2004 Games in Athens.

Reigning 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang and NBA basketball star Yao Ming were among the competitors announced Friday at a special ceremony in Beijing.

The ceremony was closed to the foreign press but details were posted on the website of the Beijing Olympic organisers.

In total, China will have a 1,099-member delegation, which includes coaches and officials.

The United States is sending 596 athletes to the Games, according to the country's Olympic website.

In Athens, Americans claimed 102 medals, 36 of them gold. Russians took 92 overall, 27 gold, while China had 63 overall with 32 gold.

The Games will take place from August 8-24, with most of the events taking place in the Chinese capital.

Chaos in final rush for Beijing Olympic tickets

BEIJING - Police were called in to control more than 50,000 people who queued for the last batch of Olympic tickets that went on sale here Friday amid chaotic scenes.

But 23-year-old Lei Peng, who had slept on the footpath for two nights and survived the jostling, walked away with a huge smile.

The engineering graduate from eastern China's Anhui province was close to the head of one massive queue and managed to score two seats to one of the hottest event of the Games - the final of the men's 110m hurdles.

Chinese hopes for an athletics gold medal rest on Olympic and world champion Liu Xiang who is defending his 110m hurdles title.

"It was hard but worth it," said Lei, who had been queuing since midday on Wednesday.

"I never came close to quitting, because I just kept focussed on those tickets."

The final 250,000 Olympic tickets for events in Beijing including athletics, diving, and gymnastics went on sale at 9:00am (0100 GMT).

Demand was so high that more than 10,000 people were in the line by Thursday at one of the main ticket selling centres near the Olympic Stadium and by early Friday huge reinforcements of police were moved in to maintain order as numbers ballooned to between 40,000 and 50,000.

Those figures were given by district police chief Xiong Xingguo and were for just the one location, with tickets also on sale outside other Olympic venues around Beijing and the other co-host cities.

In hot and dusty conditions, tempers occasionally frayed and jeering crowds pushed and jostled the police at one point, breaking through a crowd control barrier and lurching closer to the ticket counters.

Several people were dragged from the lines and taken away by police.

The line snaked several times around a large block of open land within sight of the main Olympic stadium.

"The police didn't have a clue how many people would come here and there was no organisation at all, it was chaos," said Wang Zhongliang, a delivery worker for UPS.

Police chief Xiong acknowledged it was "chaotic and difficult" to maintain order.

"Once the newspapers released the news about the ticket sale, too many people came at once so we had a security problem," he said.

Han Ruxiang, 76, had spent two nights sleeping on a bamboo mat so that he and his 67-year-old wife could go to see the finals of the diving competition.

"How can you be Chinese and not go to the Olympics when it is in China?" he said. "I am tired but so happy."

Unlike Han, others were not prepared to queue for themselves.

Ding Ye, 27, said she had got two tickets for the diving competition for her boss who runs a food supply company.

"He sent me in his place," she said.

There is also a flourishing market in selling tickets at a massive profit, even though scalping has been outlawed. Police have arrested 60 touts over the past two months, according to state media reports.

Outside Beijing, 570,000 tickets for football matches went on sale in football competition host cities Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.

Altogether around seven million tickets were up for sale for the Games, with around 75 per cent going to China's vast domestic audience, with the rest made available overseas through each country's National Olympic Committee.

Friday's round was the fourth and final round of ticket sales for the August 8-24 Games.

Olympics: US swimmer Hardy plans doping appeal

LOS ANGELES - US swimmer Jessica Hardy will appeal her positive test for the banned substance clenbuterol but her status for the Beijing Olympics remains uncertain, the Orange County Register reported Friday.

Howard Jacobs, Hardy's lawyer, told the newspaper that she will appeal the result to a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) arbitration panel and he is confident of a ruling fast enough for her to compete at the Olympics if she is cleared.

"She's still hoping to compete in Beijing," Jacobs said. "She's doing as well as can be expected. This is extremely stressful."

Hardy was told Monday that she failed a urine test after placing fourth in the 100-meter freestyle final but she had passed doping tests after winning the 100m breastsroke final July 1 and placing second in the 50m freestyle final July 6, the newspaper reported.

NBC television's Olympic website reported that both "A" and "B" samples from Hardy tested positive.

Dave Salo, who coaches Hardy at the Trojan Swim Club, told the newspaper that he thinks Hardy's positive test for the stimulant at the US Olympic swim trials ending July 6 was an "inadvertent consumption of a banned substance".

Hardy is among several US Olympians listed as endorsers of nutritional supplements and sports performance products from a company some of whose products have been banned by US college sport officials and linked to doping positives, the Register reported.

Salo, who guides Jensen as well as Hardy, said Hardy has passed numerous drug tests over the past three years in and out of competitions, including 14 administered by USADA from 2005 through 2007.

Hardy, 21, was to have departed with the US team Friday, set to make her Olympic debut in the 100m breaststroke, 50m freestyle and relays. But she left the US training camp after learning about her positive test Monday.

Clenbuterol, often used on racing horses, helps boost aerobic capacity and aids the body's flow of oxygen as well as stimulating the central nervous system. It is prescribed for people with asthma in some cases.

Athletes can apply for medical-use exemptions for such drugs but Jacobs told the Register he was not certain whether or not Hardy had filed such a waiver.

"It's premature to speculate (on a cause). We're investigating everything," Jacobs said.

China's Web users top 250m on back of disasters, Olympics

BEIJING - China's online population, already the world's largest, has swelled to 253 million, an official report said, driven by news events such as natural disasters and the Beijing Olympics.

The number of Internet surfers in China grew by 56 per cent in the year to the end of June, the government-linked China Internet Network Information Centre said in its latest half-yearly report posted on its website Thursday.

Online music, news and instant messaging were the most popular applications, it said.

Readers of online news hit 206 million in the first half of this year, compared with 155 million in the second half of 2007, said the report.

"A series of significant news incidents that took place (meant) more netizens looked for related information on the Internet," it said.

Natural disasters such as snow storms during the Lunar New Year holiday and the earthquake that hit Sichuan province in May were huge news events online, along with news of the Olympics that start on August 8.

People younger than 30 accounted for 69 per cent of total Internet users, the report found, adding that 29 per cent of users accessed the Internet with mobile phones, reflecting the rapid growth of cellphone subscribers to 601 million at the end of June.

The report said that with 19 percent of the 1.3 billion population accessing the Internet, China lagged the global average of 21 per cent.

While the fast-growing online population has made the Internet a new forum for Chinese to express opinions in a manner rarely seen on the strictly government-controlled traditional media, the government does attempt to keep tight controls on how it is used.

President Hu Jintao called last year for efforts to "purify" the Internet, and in March the authorities introduced a licensing system in the online video service sector in the latest example of tightened government control.

Police struggle to control Beijing Olympic ticket

BEIJING - Police struggled on Friday to control surging crowds of more than 50,000 people desperate to grab the last Olympic tickets in Beijing, as a Hong Kong journalist trying to cover the chaos was detained.

Frustration boiled over as the fans -- many of whom had been queuing for two days -- jostled to maintain their spot in the long line as latecomers tried to force their way into prime positions.

At one point the surging crowd broke through a control barrier and lurched towards the ticket counters, sparking a sharp reaction from police.

In hot and dusty conditions, some groups in the crowd chanted insults at the officers, who were seen dragging people out of the line and kicking and punching them before leading them away.

"The police didn't have a clue how many people would come here and there was no organisation at all, it was chaos," said Wang Zhongliang, a delivery worker for UPS.

It was the last chance for Chinese to buy tickets for the Games, with 250,000 on sale at several locations in Beijing from 9:00am (0100 GMT) for events including athletics, diving, and gymnastics.

Demand was so high that more than 10,000 people were in a line by Thursday at one of the main ticket selling centres near the Olympic Stadium, district police chief Xiong Xingguo said.

By early Friday huge reinforcements of police were moved in to maintain order as numbers ballooned to between 40,000 and 50,000 at that one line alone, Xiong said.

Xiong conceded that police had been taken by surprise by the demand.

"The situation was chaotic and difficult," he said. "Once the newspapers released the news about the ticket sale, too many people came at once so we had a security problem."

Amid the confrontations, an AFP reporter saw police manhandle and lead away Felix Wong, a photographer with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. Staff at the newspaper's headquarters told AFP he was detained for several hours.

A Beijing Olympic spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that Wong was detained, but said it was because he was disobeying police orders to leave a restricted zone and had injured a police officer.

Despite the chaos, the sales did offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to some fans, such as 23-year-old Lei Peng, who had slept on the footpath for two nights.

The engineering graduate from eastern China's Anhui province managed to score two seats to one of the hottest events of the Games -- the final of the men's 110m hurdles.

Chinese hopes for an athletics gold medal rest on defending Olympic and world champion 110m hurdler Liu Xiang.

"It was hard but worth it," said Lei, who had been queuing since midday on Wednesday.

Han Ruxiang, 76, had spent two nights sleeping on a bamboo mat so that he and his 67-year-old wife could see the finals of the diving competition.

"How can you be Chinese and not go to the Olympics when it is in China?" he said. "I am tired but so happy."

The demand has fuelled a flourishing black market in selling tickets at a massive profit, even though ticket touting has been outlawed. Police have arrested 60 touts over the past two months, according to state media reports.

Outside Beijing, 570,000 tickets for football matches went on sale in football competition host cities Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.

Altogether around seven million tickets were up for sale for the Games, with around 75 per cent going to China's vast domestic audience, with the rest made available overseas through each country's National Olympic Committee.

Friday's release of tickets was the fourth and final round of sales for the August 8-24 Games.