Skier Lazutina Is Suspended

Larissa Lazutina of Russia, stripped of an Olympic gold medal after a positive drug test, Monday was suspended for two years by the International Ski Federation, a move expected to cost her two other medals from the Salt Lake City Games.

The decision, made at the federation’s annual congress at Portoroz, Slovenia, is valid as of Dec. 8, when Lazutina tested positive for drugs, said Janez Kocijancic, a Slovene member of the federation.

Lazutina, 36, among the most decorated athletes in Winter Olympics history, was earlier stripped of a gold medal in the 30K classical race after testing positive for the endurance-bolster darbepoietin. She had been allowed to keep two silver medals from earlier races because she had passed tests after those events.

Kocijancic told Associated Press that FIS later learned the results of the Dec. 8 test were positive for darbepoietin.

The FIS intends to inform the International Olympic Committee about its ruling. IOC President Jacques Rogge said last month that the body would strip Lazutina’s medals once FIS announced any sanctions.

The FIS also banned British skier Alain Baxter from competition for three months, only two months after he was stripped of an Olympic bronze medal for testing positive for methamphetamine.

Motor Racing

Team Green will challenge driver Paul Tracy’s runner-up finish in the Indianapolis 500.

Owner Barry Green said he had appealed the ruling by the Indy Racing League that Tracy had not passed leader Helio Castroneves before a yellow caution light was displayed on the next-to-last lap of the May 26 race.

IRL director of operations Brian Barnhart, who heard a protest by Green the day after the race, ruled the yellow came out before the pass, locking Castroneves in first place and Tracy in second.

“The frame-by-frame video will show you that Paul Tracy has completed the pass when the yellow light comes on. That is the only accurate evidence that any of us has,” Green said.

Jurisprudence

Tonya Harding’s drunken-driving charge will go to trial Aug. 20 at Vancouver, Wash., and a conviction could mean the first significant jail time for the former Olympic figure skater.

Harding’s pickup crashed into a ditch April 20. Her blood-alcohol level was measured by a sheriff’s deputy at .16%--twice the legal limit in Washington.

Miscellany

The Sacramento County coroner’s office said an autopsy of former University of Washington cornerback Anthony Vontoure, 22, found no obvious reason why he died in a violent struggle with Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies while being taken into custody.

Results of toxicology tests won’t be available for several weeks.

Sheriff’s investigators said they found evidence of drug use in the apartment where Vontoure was found about 4 a.m. Friday.

Vontoure, of San Ramon, died after struggling first with three friends who were holding him down, then with officers who responded and were attempting to restrain him in a patrol car.

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Carol Semple Thompson, 53, was selected for the U.S. Curtis Cup team for a record 12th time. The biennial match of amateur golfers from the U.S., Britain and Ireland is scheduled for Aug. 3-4 at Pittsburgh.

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Wolfgang Schaedler agreed to a four-year contract extension to coach the U.S. luge team through the 2006 Olympic Winter Games at Turin, Italy.