Four East German Coaches Charged in Steroid Scandal

Four former East German swimming coaches were charged Tuesday with causing bodily harm for giving anabolic steroids to 17 teenage girls from 1974 to ’89.

The charges were the first to result from a criminal investigation into steroid use in East German sports. The coaches--Dieter Lindemann, Volker Frischke, Rolf Glaeser and Dieter Krause--were charged with feeding steroids to athletes without telling them or their parents.

All the young swimmers wound up with “considerable disturbance of muscle growth,” as well in several cases symptoms of pain and bodily changes such as a deeper voice or excessive body hair, according to Berlin prosecutors.

More cases are expected to follow.

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Spain’s Daniel Plaza, gold medalist in the 20-kilometer walk at the 1992 Olympics, said he will appeal a two-year suspension for steroid use. Plaza was allowed to compete in the 1996 Olympics after two negative tests followed a positive one, but then the National Anti-Doping Commission hit Plaza with the two-year suspension.

Jurisprudence

ESPN broadcaster Gary Miller denied in Cleveland Municipal Court that he urinated onto off-duty police officers from a dance club’s second-story window. Miller, a host for the cable network’s “Baseball Tonight,” pleaded not guilty to charges of public indecency, aggravated disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

All the charges are misdemeanors.

ESPN said Miller was given time off and future assignments have not been discussed.

Professional golfer Frank Lickliter Jr. is accused of pulling a pocket knife on a man in a crowded sports bar in Duluth, Ga., earlier this month. Police said Lickliter, 28, of Franklin, Ohio, became upset after a 21-year-old man accidentally bumped into Diane Lynn Owen, Lickliter’s girlfriend, and then bumped the golfer’s elbow. Witnesses told police the man apologized after both bumping incidents.

Jurors in the trial of boxer Mitch Green’s assault suit against Mike Tyson heard closing arguments and began deliberations. Green, 40, is suing Tyson, 31, for $25 million for the beating Tyson gave him in the 1988 fight in front of Dapper Dan’s, a leather goods store in New York.

Tennis

Croatia’s Iva Majoli, still in a slump since winning the French Open, lost, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, to Belgium’s Sabine Appelmans in the second round of the European Indoors at Zurich, Switzerland.

“I’m just so confused on court,” she said. “I just let the players beat me. They don’t really have to do much.”

In a match of home-crowd favorites at Ostrava, Czech Republic, fifth-seeded Petr Korda beat compatriot Daniel Vacek, 6-3, 6-4, in the opening round of the Czech Indoor tournament.

Wild-card entrant Arnaud Clement of France upset his second top-10 player in a week, beating U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter of Australia, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in the first round of the $750,000 Lyon (France) Grand Prix.

Women’s Sports

Cynthia Cooper, who played professionally in Italy before joining the WNBA, scored 14 points to lead five players in double figures as a touring WNBA all-star team beat Italian champion SFT Como, 93-73, at Como, Italy. Lisa Leslie had 13 points for the WNBA team.

Kate Starbird, last season’s Naismith Award winner from Stanford, will make her professional debut tonight in San Jose when her Seattle Reign plays the San Jose Lasers in the American Basketball League opener for both teams. San Jose plays at Long Beach on Friday night.

Washington will be the site of the first two editions of the Women’s Global Challenge, an international multi-sport event making its debut in the spring of 1999.

Miscellany

The British Thrust SSC team will make another attempt this morning to set an official land-speed record greater than the speed of sound in the Nevada desert 125 miles north of Reno. Thrust SSC broke the sound barrier twice Monday, but missed the record books by being about 50 seconds slow getting back on course. . . . The British Athletic Federation, the national governing body of athletics, said it is bankrupt and will face serious cutbacks in coaching and training young talent.

Names in the News

Willard A. “Will” Sherman, a defensive back for the Los Angeles Rams in the 1950s, died at age 69 in Long Beach last weekend. He played nine seasons in the NFL and in 1955 had 11 interceptions for the Rams. Sherman is survived by his wife Donna, four children and seven grandchildren. . . . A public memorial service for Calvin R. “Cal” Whorton, former Times sportswriter who died last weekend, will be held Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the Pierce Brothers Simone Du Bois Mortuary, 1136 E. Las Tuna Dr., in San Gabriel.