IOC Extends Probe of Australian Coles

There was good news for one International Olympic Committee official caught in the Salt Lake City bribery scandal Tuesday, bad news for another.

The IOC’s executive board said it had “no new element” of evidence to justify further action against Kim Un-yong of South Korea, a board member and head of the international taekwondo federation.

But the board said there was enough new information to extend its investigation of Australian Phil Coles, who like Kim had received a severe warning after an earlier inquiry.

It appointed a three-member panel to report its latest findings by June 13.

“I think and I hope this case will be settled” by the IOC’s June session in Seoul, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said.

Coles could face expulsion from the IOC if the investigation finds he violated more rules.

Kim was facing expulsion if it had been proved that he knew Salt Lake bid officials helped pay his son’s salary at a telecommunications company in Salt Lake City.

But IOC Vice President Keba Mbaye said, “No new element at present justifies going beyond the severe warning.”

Coles was cited originally for accepting free travel and accommodations from Salt Lake City bid officials.

New evidence emerged after Australian media reported that Salt Lake City had obtained confidential briefing notes by Coles on how other IOC members could be trusted to vote.

Tennis

A shaky Venus Williams struggled to defeat 50th-ranked Gala Leon Gardia of Spain, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, in the third round of the Italian Open at Rome.

The third-seeded Williams over-hit, under-hit and double-faulted at key junctures, but she was on target when she had to be in the 2-hour 20-minute match.

American Corina Morariu upset 16th-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 6-2, 6-1, and Israel’s Anna Smashnova topped 14th-seeded Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, 6-3, 6-1.

Greg Rusedski and Goran Ivanisevic were among five seeded players bounced from the $2.45-million German Open at Hamburg.

Felix Mantilla, Thomas Johansson and Cedric Pioline also were beaten and gone before the second round had been completed.

Eighth-seeded Justin Gimelstob defeated former Australian Open champion Petr Korda of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round match of the Citrix Championships at Delray Beach, Fla.

Names in the News

Investigators examined a fan’s videotape that shows a wheel flying into the grandstand where three people were killed and eight others injured during last weekend’s IRL Indy car race at Concord, N.C.

They hope to find a videotape that will show them how the wheel snapped off one of the cars in a three-car wreck. They also want to determine how much clearance there was between the wheel and the top of a 15-foot safety fence.

The spectator’s videotape that was turned over to speedway officials shows neither the wreck nor the wheel going over the fence.

Billy “Red” Hendrix, captain of LSU’s 1958 national championship football team, died at his Louisiana home at 64. He’d had Alzheimer’s disease for years, according to his sister. . . . Jockey Billy Patin is expected to testify today at Little Rock, Ark., when the state racing stewards conduct a hearing into allegations that the rider carried an illegal electrical device when he rode Valhol to a win in the Arkansas Derby.

Cleveland State has given basketball Coach Rollie Massimino a three-year contract extension. . . . Markus Naslund had three goals and an assist as defending champion Sweden routed Switzerland, 6-1, to close in on a quarterfinal berth in the World Hockey Championships at Oslo. Finland, which lost to Sweden in last year’s final, qualified for the quarterfinals with a 4-1 victory over Belarus at Hamar.