Baiul Is Fined for Speeding; Drunk-Driving Charge Dodged

Oksana Baiul, the Olympic champion figure skater who was driving in a 97-mph car wreck on Jan. 12, escaped prosecution on a drunken-driving charge Tuesday and was fined $90 for speeding.

Baiul, a 19-year-old Ukrainian who lives in Simsbury, Conn., was admitted to an alcohol-education program and ordered to perform 25 hours of community service by Superior Court Judge Terence Sullivan in Hartford.

If she completes both, the drunken-driving charge will be dropped.

Baiul, who had also been charged with reckless driving in the single-car accident, pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of traveling unreasonably fast.

Baiul, who won her gold medal at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 at age 16, did not speak during a hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes. She had previously apologized and promised never again to drink and drive.

The judge said he couldn’t suspend Baiul’s driver’s license because a blood-alcohol test that showed her level at .16 was administered at the hospital where she was treated, rather than by police.

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Ryan Kalich, a freshman who started all 13 games at guard for Florida’s national championship football team, faces misdemeanor charges for driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident after an early Sunday accident in which his car collided with one driven by an off-duty police officer in Gainesville, Fla.

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Bernard Tapie, former government official, tycoon and deputy in the European Parliament, went to a Paris prison after losing his final appeal in a bribery conviction. He was found guilty of offering soccer players money to throw games to Olympique Marseille, the club he owned.

Tennis

Steffi Graf, who pulled out of a Pan Pacific Open final against 16-year-old Martina Hingis in Tokyo last weekend because of an injured knee, will not need surgery and may be able to play again in two weeks.

Hans Paessler, a doctor in Frankfurt, Germany, said Graf has an acute infection below the left kneecap.

Baseball

Outfielder Kevin Bass and the Angels have agreed to terms on a minor league contract. Bass, 36 and a 14-year veteran, last played for the Baltimore Orioles in 1995, when he hit .244 with five home runs and 32 RBIs.

Football

With Coach Dan Reeves in place and in charge of personnel decisions, Ken Herock has resigned as the Atlanta Falcons’ vice president of player personnel.

Houston Oiler owner Bud Adams is negotiating with Harris County Judge Robert Eckels to try to leave Houston a year early for Tennessee, offering the county an extra $2 million.

Brigham Young University linebacker Derik Stevenson, from Diamond Bar and awaiting sentencing on two misdemeanors involving a gun in Utah, withdrew from school.

Miscellany

World-record holder Le Jingyi of China finished .05 of a second behind winner Leah Martindale of Barbados in the women’s 50-meter freestyle at a World Cup short-course swimming meet in Imperia, Italy. Martindale clocked 25.26 seconds.

Venus Lacy, a member of the 1996 USA women’s Olympic basketball team, was in serious but stable condition after a two-car collision that knocked her car through a plate-glass window in Ruston, La.

A hospital in Monroe, La., refused to discuss the nature of Lacy’s injuries, but witnesses at the scene told the Ruston Daily Leader that Lacy’s hands appeared to be injured.

Soccer’s Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y., has closed because of financial problems.

Names in the News

Russian Olympic double gold medalists Alex Popov, a swimmer, and Svetlana Masterkova, a middle-distance runner, were voted European sportsman and sportswoman of 1996 in a poll by the European Sports Press Union. . . . Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz has a new job as a motivational speaker and customer relations spokesman for an international corporation involved in water and waste water treatment equipment and services. . . Ipswich soccer midfielder Adam Tanner was suspended for three months by the English Football Assn. after testing positive for cocaine.