USOC Asks Supreme Court to Rule on Wrestling Case

The U.S. Olympic Committee went to the Supreme Court on Saturday in a bid to keep Greco-Roman wrestler Matt Lindland off the American team and instead allow Keith Sieracki to remain on the team.

Justice John Paul Stevens is not expected to act on the request before Tuesday.

After Lindland dropped a 2-1 referee’s decision to Sieracki at the Olympic trials June 23, he claimed he was tripped by Sieracki during the trials, and took the case to arbitration. The arbitrator ordered a rematch, and Lindland beat Sieracki, 8-0.

But the U.S. Olympic Committee was reluctant to make the roster switch, so Lindland went to the U.S District Court of Appeals in Chicago and Friday it upheld Lindland’s right to join the U.S. team.

After that ruling, Lindland attorney Kevin B. Duff said he was “very pleased for Matt--he’s worked very hard over the years to get to this point.”

“He played by the rules both on the mat and followed the USA Wrestling and USOC procedures for appropriate protests when a situation such as this arises during a match.”

IOC officials said last week they would honor the District Court’s order.

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Race walker Liu Yunfeng was removed from China’s Olympic team after testing positive for a banned substance July 13.

If Yunfeng’s positive test is confirmed after checking tests results from a second sample, the head coach of China’s race walking team, Zhang Fuxin, could also be prevented from going to Sydney.

China, at the center of sports drugs scandals in the past, is eager to prove that stepped-up anti-doping efforts are paying dividends as Beijing campaigns to host the 2008 Olympics.

Testing has increased this year, officials say, with 2,200 urine tests and 300 blood tests, and a failure rate of 0.6%.

Under China’s stricter drug rules, coaches can be punished if their athletes test positive.

Yunfeng, considered a medal contender in one of China’s strongest events, is the second Olympic hopeful from China to test positive this year.

Swimmer Wu Yanyan, world-record holder in the women’s 200-meter medley, was barred from competing for four years when she failed a drug test in May at pre-Olympic trials.

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Vince Carter kept the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team from being outperformed with a series of dunks in the second half to answer spectacular plays by a team of collegians as the Olympians won their second exhibition game, 111-74, over the U.S. Select Team at Honolulu.

Carter didn’t miss a shot as he scored 24 points to lead the U.S. team in scoring for the second consecutive game.

A dozen of Carter’s points came in the first eight minutes of the second half, and his trio of spectacular dunks sparked a 29-9 run that locked up the victory.

Jason Richardson led the college team with 20 points.

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Sheryl Swoopes had a team-high 18 points and six rebounds and Lisa Leslie added 15 points to help give the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team a 75-53 victory against Brazil at Honolulu, in a tuneup for the Sydney Games.

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Morgan White, bothered by a sprained left foot, skipped all events except the uneven bars at the U.S women’s gymnastics exhibition at Southwest Texas State University.

White plans to perform at the Olympics.

Miscellany

Former Ohio State point guard Scoonie Penn, a second-round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks, has decided to play in Italy next season rather than try to make the Hawk roster.

Sven Ottke of Germany retained his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title against American Charles Brewer in a split decision at Magdeburg, Germany.

The U.S. men’s soccer team will play a 2002 World Cup qualifier today against Guatemala at RFK Stadium in Washington.

Norway, which reached the second round of the World Cup two years ago, was held to a scoreless tie at home by Armenia in the first day of European qualifying for soccer’s World Cup.

Alessandro Petacci of Italy won the eighth stage of cycling’s Tour of Spain in 3:52.1. Alex Zulle of Switzerland maintained his overall lead of 1 minute 9 seconds over Abraham Olano of Spain.

Alexandre Daigle, who became an unrestricted free agent in July after the New York Rangers didn’t re-sign him, is leaning toward taking a year off. . . . The Colorado Avalanche gave Coach Bob Hartley a one-year contract extension through the 2001-02 season.