NOTES

The U.S. basketball teams ran their first backdoor play of the Olympics, slipping out of a Melbourne hotel surrounded by demonstrators after a protester with a mohawk haircut gave the NBA stars his OK.

The bizarre morning escape was the result of an odd juxtaposition: the men’s and women’s basketball teams were staying in the same hotel where the World Economic forum was held.

Protesters were out in force around the Crown Casino and Hotel. After the demonstrators forced cancellation of practice Monday, team officials decided to bolt the hotel the next day.

The protesters, however, blocked the team buses from leaving. It was only after the protester in the mohawk verified that the bus was filled with athletes rather than venture capitalists that the team was allowed to leave.

*

Germany’s Anke Huber has withdrawn from the Olympics because of a tendon injury in her right arm.