Intellectually Disabled Athletes Suspended From Paralympics

The Paralympics suspended all intellectually disabled athletes Monday after most of the championship Spanish basketball team in Sydney was found to have no mental disability.

The Spanish team last month was ordered to return its medals after the Spanish Paralympic Committee concluded only two of 12 players on the team had a mental handicap.

The International Paralympic Committee cited “serious problems regarding the determination of eligibility of athletes” in making its ruling. It said all athletes with an intellectual disability will be barred from IPC activities.

Jurisprudence

The teenager accusing Mark Chmura of sexually assaulting her broke down in tears while testifying in Waukesha, Wis., that the former Green Bay Packer tight end raped her on a bathroom floor at a drunken post-prom party last April.

The teenager, now 18, said Chmura called to her from the bathroom, saying, “Come here.” She said she went to the bathroom door because she didn’t know what he wanted.

She testified Chmura then pulled her into the bathroom, pushed her against the back of the door, kissed her on the neck and fondled her without her consent.

“I didn’t know what to do. I was in total shock. I couldn’t fight him off,” the woman said, her voice shaking.

The teenager said Chmura then pushed her to the floor and raped her.

The teen, who was 17 at the time, testified she was “very” drunk at the time. She did not make eye contact with Chmura, who looked at the witness during her testimony, his face impassive. Chmura, 31, has pleaded not guilty to third-degree sexual assault and child enticement, both felonies. He could face up to 40 years in prison.

Former WBO heavyweight champion Herbie Hide was convicted in Norwich, England, of punching a man and kicking him while he lay on a nightclub dance floor. Sentencing was set for Feb. 28. . . . Leeds United soccer stars Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer went on trial in Hull, England, on charges of attacking an Asian student outside a nightclub in January 2000. . . . Pitcher Armando Benitez of the New York Mets did not surrender to police in New York as expected because the investigation into whether he assaulted former girlfriend Stacey O’Neill was still continuing, investigators said.

Miscellany

Right-hander Al Levine and the Angels avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $715,000 contract, the midpoint between what he asked for and what the team had offered.

Ted Williams is making a slow, steady recovery 15 days after undergoing almost 10 hours of open heart surgery to replace and repair two valves in his heart, his doctors say.

“He is sedated most of the time,” Karl Krieger, one of the physicians overseeing the hall of famer’s care at the New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, told the Boston Globe for today’s editions. “He is responsive to questions, but he still has a long way to go.”

The former Boston Red Sox star, 82, remains in serious condition.

Roger Federer, George Bastl, Michel Kratochvil and Lorenzo Manta were picked to play for Switzerland against the United States in the opening round of Davis Cup Feb. 9-11 at Basel, Switzerland. New U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe will announce the U.S. team today. . . . Jan-Michael Gambill recovered from a tough second set to defeat Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-2, in the first round of the Milan Indoors at Milan, Italy.

Regine Cavagnoud of France won the super-giant slalom, the opening event of the world championships at St. Anton, Switzerland. She was timed in 1 minute 23.44 seconds. Silver medalist Isolde Kostner of Italy was 0.05 of a second behind. Hilde Gerg of Germany was third in 1:23.52.

Passings

Curt Blefary, the 1965 American League rookie of the year and a member of the Baltimore Oriole team that defeated the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, died after a long illness at 57 (See story, B6). . . . Jamaican soccer player Steve Malcolm, 30, a stalwart member of the Reggae Boyz team, died in a car accident late Sunday, hours after playing in a 0-0 tie with Bulgaria.