Krayzelburg Sets American Record in 200 Backstroke

Lenny Krayzelburg, formerly of USC, broke the American record in the 200-meter backstroke with the second-fastest performance in history Monday night at the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships at East Meadow, N.Y.

Krayzelburg won in 1 minute 56.95 seconds, only .38 of a second off Martin Zubero’s 1991 world record. Krayzelburg now owns five of the top 11 performances in history. His former record of 1:57.38 was set at the 1998 summer nationals.

In the same final, Aaron Piersol, 15, of Irvine finished third in 1:59.88 to become the youngest American to break two minutes in the event.

Olympics

Dick Pound, International Olympic Committee vice president, marketing director Michael Payne and other IOC officials will meet with their highest-level sponsors today in New York. It is the first such meeting since an emergency assembly to deal with the biggest scandal the games have faced.

The last time they met in mid-February, representatives of the 11 corporations that pay $50 million each to use the Olympic rings in their ads told the IOC that drastic change was needed to erase the stain from the bribery scheme linked to Salt Lake’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games.

Since then, the IOC has expelled six members and taken the first steps toward what it says will be watershed reforms in the committee’s membership and structure.

Representatives of several sponsors said Monday they did not know what to expect. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said Pound, Payne and other IOC officials had given them a thorough briefing in a conference call at the end of the special session at Lausanne, Switzerland, March 18.

Jurisprudence

Wide receiver Tony Martin, who played for the Atlanta Falcons last season, lost his chance to have his Miami trial on money-laundering charges postponed until after the 1999 NFL season.

U.S. District Judge Michael Moore set trial for May 3, rather than agreeing to a defense request for a January date for Martin. The decision complicates Martin’s plans to negotiate an NFL contract.

Martin, despite being the Falcons’ leading receiver, was released last month and since then has drawn interest from half a dozen NFL teams. The trial is scheduled for three weeks, but estimates are often too short. A May trial could easily run into June mini-camps.

Pat Jarvis, a former pitcher for the Atlanta Braves and a former sheriff of Georgia’s DeKalb County, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for using his office to profit from county contractors.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash also ordered Jarvis, who pleaded guilty in January to a federal mail fraud charge, to pay a $40,000 fine.

Federal prosecutors contend Jarvis, 57, who pitched for the Braves for eight years starting in 1966, pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from people who conducted business with DeKalb County. In some cases, prosecutors said, rolled-up bills were passed to Jarvis in foam cups at a restaurant.

Miscellany

Officials digging up the backyard of a house in Livingston, N.J., found a human bone that may be remains of a former Soviet Olympic boxer authorities believe was killed by the Russian mob.

For more than three years, authorities have investigated whether Sergei Kobozev, 31, was murdered by members of a Russian organized crime ring. He was last seen in early November 1995 and had been living in Brooklyn.

FBI spokesman Jim Margolin said a forensic anthropologist has determined the remains found in the yard are human.

“But a definitive ID of whose remains [were found] may take some time,” he said. “It could be several days or even weeks before we know whose bones they are.”

Irina Spirlea of Romania, the runner-up at last year’s Family Circle Cup, opened this year’s tennis tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C., with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Anna Smashnova of Israel.

Conchita Martinez of Spain, a two-time Family Circle champion, breezed by Alexandra Fusai of France, 6-0, 6-0, in 49 minutes.

The Russian national women’s volleyball team has canceled an exhibition tour of the United States next week, citing the bombings in Kosovo and violence at the U.S. embassy in Russia.

Galaxy defender Robin Fraser will be sidelined three to four weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Monday.

Two days after a humiliating 9-0 loss to Spain in a European Championship qualifying game, Austrian soccer Coach Herbert Prohaska resigned.

Names in the News

Boxer Oscar De La Hoya and fiancee Shanna Moakler became parents of Atiana Cecilia De La Hoya, who weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces at birth. . . . The New York Jets cut starting guard Todd Burger and signed free agent Erik Norgard, who played 10 seasons with the Houston and Tennessee Oilers.