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Stephen McCain’s ankle has healed well enough...

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Associated Press

Stephen McCain’s ankle has healed well enough to keep him in the U.S. men’s gymnastics lineup.

Coach Peter Kormann submitted his lineup and named McCain as one of the country’s three all-around competitors.

Five-time national champion Blaine Wilson and Paul Hamm also will compete in all six events when preliminaries begin tonight.

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McCain sprained his right ankle at training camp in San Diego earlier this month. He went through a full workout for the first time Wednesday, after which Kormann said he looked good, but couldn’t guarantee he would be ready to compete.

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The U.S. baseball team made three roster moves the day before the 24-man Olympic squads must be finalized.

The U.S. added left-handed pitcher Rick Krivda of the Baltimore Orioles organization, right-hander Ryan Franklin of the Seattle Mariners system and slugging third baseman Sean Burroughs of the San Diego Padre organization.

Dropped from the active roster were outfielder Shawn Gilbert, third baseman Mike Coolbaugh and pitcher C. C. Sabathia.

The U.S. plays its opening game on Sunday against 1996 silver medalist Japan.

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Although the Chinese rowing team lost seven members who failed drug tests for EPO, its coach insisted the team has not used the drug and suggested traditional medicines might be to blame.

Zhang Qing said if Chinese authorities had used the combined blood and urine test being employed at the Sydney Olympics to check for use of the performance-enhancing substance, all of his rowers would have been cleared.

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“They definitely did not use EPO,” Zhang said in an interview. “If they had used the full EPO tests, not one of our athletes would have been positive.”

The rowers were dropped after just the blood test, which Zhang said showed they had above-normal red blood cell counts. In all, China dropped 27 athletes, most for failing blood tests for EPO. Their removal was hailed abroad as proof of China’s willingness to combat doping.

Zhang, whose team was reduced to 10 athletes, said nutritional supplements might have affected the tests. He also said some rowers take Chinese medicines typically given to women after childbirth to boost their blood cell counts.

He said that while the rowers’ red blood cell counts were above normal, they were “a long way from EPO.”

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