Russian Figure Skater Ivanova Is Found Dead

Figure skater Kira Ivanova, a bronze medalist in the 1984 Olympics, was found dead in her Moscow apartment, the chairman of the Russian Figure Skating Federation said Friday. She was 38.

Ivanova’s neighbors found her covered with knife wounds, said figure-skating official Valentin Piseyev. He said police told him she was killed several days ago.

She had been battling alcoholism in recent years, he said.

“It’s shocking,” said Yelena Valova, who won three pairs world titles and the 1984 Olympic gold medal with partner Oleg Vassiliev. “We used to be really good friends. Best friends, I’d say.”

Valova said she and Ivanova began skating together when they were 11 as part of a program designed to produce a medal winner in women’s singles. The former Soviet Union had won Olympic medals in men’s, pairs and ice dance, but it lagged behind the United States and other Western countries in women’s.

When Ivanova won the bronze at the Sarajevo Games, she became the first female skater from the former Soviet Union to win a medal in Olympic singles. She finished behind Katarina Witt, who won the first of her two gold medals in Sarajevo, and American Rosalynn Sumners.

High School Basketball

An 18-year-old high school basketball player died after collapsing during a game in Milwaukee.

The Custer High player, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was not in the game when he collapsed, but had played earlier, said Janis Doleschal, commissioner of athletics for Milwaukee Public Schools.

There was no immediate word on the cause of death.

Colleges

For the second time since 1990, Marshall has been punished by the NCAA for failing to control its athletic programs.

The university was put on four years’ probation and lost the right to award 15 football and two basketball scholarships in upcoming seasons for violating NCAA rules on academics and arranging work for athletes.

The sanctions follow an NCAA investigation into students who were paid up to $25 an hour to perform janitorial services between 1996 and 2000, and others who received test answers from a former assistant professor in 1999.

The NCAA will investigate possible rules violations by Arkansas’ football and men’s basketball programs, the university said.

According to a release from the university, the “preliminary inquiry” by the NCAA stems from Arkansas’ own report to the NCAA in July 2000, which acknowledged that a Dallas-area booster who employed several Razorback athletes gave them extra benefits.

The school said no current coaches or players are involved but will cut some football scholarships because of the extra benefits, which violated NCAA rules.

Soccer

The New England Revolution has loaned forward William Sunsing to Club Sport Herediano in Costa Rica for next season.

Sunsing started half of New England’s 22 games last season, splitting duty for the Costa Rican national team in its World Cup qualifying campaign.

Paris Saint-Germain striker Nicolas Anelka has been loaned to Liverpool until the end of the season, PSG said in a statement on its official Web site.

Miscellany

American volleyball player Prikeba Phipps was suspended by the Italian Volleyball Federation after testing positive for marijuana. Her Bergamo teammate and Italy’s captain, Maurizia Cacciatori, also tested positive for banned diuretics in a second analysis.

Cycling’s international governing body plans to ask the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn a Spanish decision clearing rider Txema del Olmo of drug use at the Tour de France.

Del Olmo, of the Euskaltel team, quit the tour in the summer after testing positive for a banned substance that boosts production of red blood cells.

A three-member committee of the Spanish cycling federation exonerated the rider on Monday.

Senior two-meter player Alfonso Tucay of UCLA was selected All-American in water polo.

Tucay scored 30 goals and earned 38 opponent ejections, almost three times more than any teammate.

It was his first season as a starter.

Also for the Bruins, goalie Brandon Brooks and driver Brett Ormsby were second-team All-American, Matt Flesher was third team and Jeff Pflueger was honorable mention.

Passings

Broadcaster Dick Schaap died Friday from complications following hip surgery. See story in Section B.