Salt Lake Twosome Plead Not Guilty

Salt Lake City’s Olympic bid leaders pleaded not guilty Monday to charges they paid more than $1 million in cash and gifts to bring the 2002 Winter Games to Utah.

Bid chief Tom Welch and deputy Dave Johnson appeared relaxed and confident in U.S. District Court and said they were eager to tell their side of a story that has embarrassed the International Olympic Committee and prompted changes in the way it conducts its business.

After their pleas, Johnson, 41, said there was nothing wrong with using money to influence IOC members.

Magistrate Samuel Alba set an Oct. 16 trial date, but lawyers for Welch and Johnson said they would immediately move for a delay. They said it would take a year of collecting evidence before the trial could start.

Welch and Johnson face a count of conspiracy, five counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud and four counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering. The charges carry a combined sentence of up to 75 years in prison.

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With his victim watching from a wheelchair in a Waukegan, Ill., courtroom, a 16-year-old high school hockey player pleaded no contest to leaving a rival team’s captain paralyzed when he slammed him into the boards in a Nov. 3, 1999, junior varsity game.

The defendant, whose name was not released under judge’s order, had been charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery. The charges were reduced to a misdemeanor and the youngster, who faces up to a year in jail, is not expected to be incarcerated.

Olympics

An unidentified 19-year-old man jumped from a crowd and snatched the Olympic flame from a torchbearer during the relay in Melbourne, Australia, then briefly ran with it before being stopped by police. Security staff immediately returned the torch to Linda Colcott, who completed her designated leg.

Former New York Yankee outfielder Tim Raines is moving closer to winning a spot on the U.S. Olympic baseball team, with another round of cuts scheduled for later this week.

Raines is the only former major leaguer still in contention for a spot on the team, said Bob Watson, co-chairman of the U.S. Olympic selection committee.

Ticket availability has again been cut for Alpine skiing at Ogden, Utah’s Snowbasin ski area for the 2002 Winter Olympics to reduce traffic delays and environmental disturbances and ensure adequate views for spectators. Though the new figure has not been specified, the most recent transportation plan sets capacity for the venue at 25,000 visitors.

Golf

Fred Couples made a 12-foot putt worth $75,000 to cap the first day of the Export A Skins Game at Vernon, Canada. The big payout on the day’s ninth and final hole came because the previous three holes had been carried over. Couples also won $15,000 on the second hole and his $90,000 gave him the lead through nine holes.

Sergio Garcia earned $15,000 on the opening hole and finished with $60,000 on four skins. Mike Weir and Phil Mickelson failed to win a skin.

Tennis

French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten celebrated his No. 1 ranking by cruising past unseeded Jerome Golmard, 6-0, 6-4, in the opening round of the Masters Series-Cincinnati tournament.

Though top-ranked, Kuerten is fourth-seeded in this tournament.

Third-seeded Magnus Norman needed two tiebreakers to beat Juan Ignacio Chela, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7).

Track and Field

Three-time Boston Marathon winner Uta Pippig, 34, settled her dispute with the German track federation over a drug suspension and will no longer seek financial compensation. Her suspension expired in April.

Pippig, who has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs though she failed a drug test, lives in Boulder, Colo., and has applied for U.S. citizenship.

Stacy Dragila, who recently broke the women’s world pole vault record at the U.S. Olympic trials, finished third at Malmoe, Sweden. China’s Gao Shuying won the event with a mark of 13 feet 11 3/4 inches. Dragila, who set the record of 15-2 1/4, also cleared 13-11 3/4, as did Melissa Mueller of the United States. Gao won on fewest attempts.

College Football

UCLA defensive back Lovell Houston, a potential starter, will require surgery on his right shoulder and likely miss the season, the school announced.

Houston has already used his redshirt year, so he will return in 2001 as a junior.

Miscellany

Mike Tyson was granted a delay in his hearing before British boxing officials investigating the aftermath of the Lou Savarese bout seven weeks ago. Tyson stopped Savarese after 38 seconds on June 24 in Glasgow, Scotland. He continued to pursue his opponent and accidentally knocked down referee John Coyle.

Defenseman Patrick Traverse and the Mighty Ducks agreed on a one-year contract worth $550,000, the result of an arbitrator’s decision in Toronto.

Right wing Ladislav Kohn has an arbitration hearing Wednesday and center Antti Aalto has one scheduled for Sunday.