Greek Official Faults Olympic Effort

The president of the Greek Basketball Federation fears that delays in Olympic preparations leave the country headed for a “national disgrace.”

George Vassilakopoulos said he has seen little or no progress since organizers for the 2004 Games received a warning from the International Olympic Committee, prompting a government change in Olympic leadership.

“We will not be able to avoid a national disgrace,” Vassilakopoulos said Monday in the daily Eleftherotypia’s weekly sports supplement. “In the eight months that have passed from the last threats of the IOC, nothing at all has been done . . . only words and pomp.”

This marked the first time a Greek sports official with Vassilakopoulos’ seniority has criticized Athens’ preparations. Organizers would not comment on his remarks.

On Jan. 11, the president of a company building the Olympic Village resigned after disagreements with the government. It was the third Olympic-related resignation in two months.

After an IOC warning that Athens was endangering the Games, Premier Costas Simitis pledged more personal involvement. He appointed Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki in May to run the organizing committee.

Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who led the winning bid team, also brought back her original staff. But organizers have been plagued by high-level resignations and firings.

Simitis also has fired a minister with Olympic oversight and a senior executive at the 2004 organizing committee in the last four months.

Vassilakopoulos said the new organizers have done little besides signing an agreement with a host broadcaster last month.

*

Chinese authorities detained five people who petitioned the IOC to urge Beijing to release jailed democracy campaigners.

Hu Jiangxia, wife of veteran dissident Wang Youcai, said three plainclothes officers took her and four others to a police station and questioned her for three hours, warning her not to appeal to the IOC again.

“They said this type of appeal would be detrimental for my husband and for me personally,” Hu said after her release.

Bejing is one of five finalists to hold the 2008 Olympics. The government is intent on avoiding a debate of its human rights record, a dispute that dogged Bejing’s failed bid for the 2000 Games.

An IOC delegation will inspect Beijing facilities next month and the commission will select the 2008 host in July.

*

Jozsef Csermak, the first Olympic champion to throw the hammer more than 60 meters, has died in Budapest, Hungary. He was 68.

Csermak’s toss of 60.34 meters (197 feet 11 inches) at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics broke the world record of 59.88 meters (196-5) set by compatriot Imre Nemeth two years earlier.

Soccer

The Union of European Football Assns. threatened to cut contact with FIFA because soccer’s governing body failed to seek its input on a new transfer proposal.

FIFA last week submitted a new plan to the European Union, which says the current transfer rules violate European laws.

“UEFA and the top 13 European leagues totally rejected the document on transfers recently submitted by FIFA to the European Commission and condemned FIFA’s decision to forward proposals to the EC without any consultation with the representatives of European football,” said a joint statement from UEFA and the European leagues.

UEFA and the European leagues, who feel that FIFA’s package gives too much consideration to elite professional players and not enough to the clubs, are demanding that FIFA withdraw the new proposals, agree to more stability for clubs and promise the full involvement of European football in future negotiations.

Brazilian striker Alex Dias, who plays for French first division club Saint-Etienne, was put under investigation at Saint-Etienne, France, as part of a larger inquiry into the use of fake passports by footballers, his lawyer said.

Alex, 28, was put under investigation for “using false documents” and released after being held for questioning at a Saint-Etienne courthouse, lawyer Andre Buffard said. The Brazilian had just flown back to France from Brazil, where he was visiting his sick mother.

College Football

Oregon football Coach Mike Bellotti visited Ohio State with Andy Geiger, the athletic director who is trying to find a new coach, according to broadcast and newspaper reports.

The Columbus Dispatch’s Web site, WBNS-AM and WBNS-TV all said Bellotti and his wife toured the Woody Hayes Athletic Facility with Geiger.

Bellotti had been rumored in December to be a candidate for the USC job, later filled by Pete Carroll.

Antonio Bryant, an All-American receiver at Pittsburgh, was arrested by campus police and charged with disorderly conduct in a parking-ticket dispute.

Two of the nation’s top quarterbacks--Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke and Josh Heupel--will sit out the Senior Bowl on Saturday at Mobile, Ala., because of injuries.

Senior Bowl officials replaced Weinke with Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer. Heupel was replaced by Rashard Casey of Penn State.

Alabama Birmingham signed Coach Watson Brown to a two-year contract extension through the 2005 season that raises his annual base salary from $140,000 to $200,000, the school said.

Miscellany

Lennox Lewis plans to make his next defense of the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation heavyweight titles on April 21.

Lewis said his list of possible opponents includes Hasim Rahman of the United States and David Izon of Ghana. He said Las Vegas is the most likely venue.

Patrick W. Lynch, longtime turf writer and a former vice president of the New York Racing Assn., died in New York after a lengthy illness, 10 days before his 85th birthday. . . . Dennis Fitzgerald, a former defensive coordinator of the Arena Football League’s Albany Firebirds, has died of cancer at 64.

Casey Mears, nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, will join Al Unser Jr. as a driver for Galles Racing this season. . . . John McDonnell, who has led Arkansas to 36 national championships during his 27 years as cross country and track coach, was in stable condition after suffering a mild heart attack at Fayetteville, Ark.