Swimming Championships: Drugs Remain in Spotlight

On the opening day of the World Swimming Championships on Monday at Perth, Australia, Chinese swimmers were right where they were expected to be: in the spotlight.

Chen Yan, the 16-year-old world-record holder in the 400-meter individual medley, won that event in 4 minutes 36.66 seconds, well off the record of 4:34.79 she set at the Chinese nationals in Shanghai last October.

Earlier, Shan Ying was third behind five-time Olympic gold medalist Jenny Thompson of the United States, who swam 54.95 in the 100-meter freestyle. Shan’s time of 55.10 far slower than her best effort last year.

Both Chen and Shan said the furor surrounding the discovery of 13 vials of growth hormone in the luggage of a Chinese swimmer had been detrimental to the team.

“The incident certainly affected us,” said Shan, 19.

A jubilant Thompson was asked within minutes of her race if it was more satisfying to have beaten a Chinese swimmer.

“Let’s just say that’s one clean win,” she responded.

Winter Sports

Andy Gabel, who won Sunday’s 1,000-meter pursuit race in record time at the U.S. Olympic short-track speedskating trials at Lake Placid, N.Y., continued his surge, winning both of his 500-meter heats and then the final--again in record time.

Gabel skated the final in 43.032 seconds and is assured a spot on his fourth Olympic team.

Jurisprudence

Former junior featherweight champion Antonio Cermeno said from Caracas, Venezuela, that his gun had gone off accidentally when he shot a woman in the leg in December, and denied reports he had fled Venezuela.

Police confirmed that no charges will be brought against the fighter, who will presumably be able to meet Puerto Rican Wilfredo Vazquez early this year in a fight for the World Boxing Assn. featherweight title.

Jamie Richardson, a sophomore receiver suspended twice for previous criminal violations during a troubled football career at Florida, has been suspended indefinitely after being charged with battery.

Coach Steve Spurrier said Sunday night that Richardson was “off the team” pending an investigation into charges that he struck a bouncer at a Gainesville bar early Sunday.

Timothy Rinehart, a Rockville (Md.) teenager, received no jail time from a Montgomery County Circuit judge for his role in the April, 1997, accident that killed world-class triathlete Judith Flannery.

Judge Dennis McHugh ordered Rinehart to perform 300 hours of community service, attend school every day, attend each of his classes daily and maintain a 2.8 grade-point average.

Flannery, 57, was killed when the bicycle she was riding was struck by the car Rinehart was driving in Seneca, Md.

Baseball

The Dodgers agreed to minor league contract terms with right-handed pitchers Mark Gubicza and Sug Chung.

Gubicza, 35, spent 13 years with the Kansas City Royals and started two games for the the Angels last season before arthroscopic surgery to his right shoulder sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Chung, 24, played on the Korean national team. He will complete his army service on Feb. 8 before coming to the United States.

Pete Rose Jr., who hit .301 last year in 112 games with double-A Chattanooga and 12 games with Indianapolis, signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds.

Rose, the son of former Red star Pete Rose Sr., appeared in 11 games last September with the Reds.

Detroit Tiger Manager Buddy Bell, who led the team to 26 wins more last season than the year earlier, agreed to a two-year contract extension.

The extension runs through the 2000 season and the team has an option for the 2001 season.

Miscellany

USC football Coach Paul Hackett is interviewing former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Bill Young as a possible defensive coordinator or defensive line coach. Young said he resigned at Oklahoma after the season because the Sooners wanted to change defenses. He has previously coached at Ohio State and Arizona State.

Bartlett H. McGuire, a longtime outside legal counsel and business advisor of the Corel WTA Tour, was named the tennis organization’s chief executive officer.

Clem Haskins, who led Minnesota’s men’s basketball team to its first Final Four appearance last season and was an assistant on the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, was appointed coach of the U.S. men’s basketball team for the Goodwill Games next summer in New York.

The tumor found in the brain of former baseball star Dan Quisenberry last week was cancerous, according to hospital officials in Kansas City, Mo.

Said the former Kansas City Royal pitcher’s neurosurgeon, Jonathan Chilton, “With his projected type of therapy, we now measure these situations in months to years. It is very unlikely that the malignancy will [spread] to other areas of his body.”

The Portuguese Formula One Grand Prix at Lisbon, Portugal, was canceled for the second consecutive year because of unfinished improvements to the track.

Former Boston Red Sox player Bernie Carbo sued major league baseball in federal court, claiming the sport and MCI illegally created a commercial of his home run in the 1975 World Series without his authorization.