Hearing Is Set to Resolve Gold-Medal Dispute

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear an appeal Sept. 27 from the South Korean gymnast who lost the Olympic all-around title to Paul Hamm because of a scoring error.

Yang Tae Young is asking that international gymnastics officials be ordered to correct the results from the all-around, and adjust the medal rankings so he gets gold and Hamm gets a silver.

But the U.S. Olympic Committee is doing everything it can to make sure that doesn’t happen, spokesman Darryl Seibel said. The USOC’s general counsel has been working with Hamm’s attorneys, and both will appear at the hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland, as will Hamm.

Yang, who finished with a bronze, was wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his second-to-last routine, the parallel bars. He finished third, 0.049 of a point behind Hamm, who became the first American man to win an Olympic all-around gymnastics gold medal. But add the extra 0.10, and Yang would have finished 0.051 of a point ahead of Hamm.

Hamm’s medal isn’t the only one under review.

Hungarian discus thrower Robert Fazekas is contesting the decision to strip him of the gold medal for a doping offense, the CAS said. The International Olympic Committee ruled that Fazekas refused to provide a complete urine sample in his post-competition drug test.

Greek weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis appealed an IOC decision to revoke his bronze medal in the 137-pound division after a positive test for testosterone. And the Canadian gymnastics federation is challenging the results of the men’s vault final, seeking a bronze medal for Kyle Shewfelt.

Shewfelt was edged out of third place by Romania’s Marian Dragulescu. The Canadians claim Dragulescu’s performance was not judged according to the international gymnastics points code after the Romanian stumbled landing his second vault.

No hearing dates were announced for any of those cases.

CAS also has a decision pending in the case of Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima, who was grabbed by a spectator while leading the race. He eventually finished third, but Brazilian officials want him to be awarded a duplicate gold medal.

Tennis

Second-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero was upset by Kevin Kim, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of China Open at Beijing. Kim clinched the win with an ace.

Fifth-seeded Marat Safin finally played after two days of rain delays and won his first- and second-round matches, beating Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-4, 7-5, and Lu Hao, 6-2, 6-2.

U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated qualifier Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of the Wismilak International in Bali, Indonesia. Top-seeded Anastasia Myskina was upset by the world’s 61st-ranked player, Maria Elena Camerin, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.

Golf

Ted Purdy finished his course-record nine-under-par 61 with an eagle and a birdie and has a three-shot lead over four players after the first round of the Texas Open in San Antonio.

Purdy hit all 14 fairways on a windless but extremely hot day at the La Cantera Golf Club course. He reached all but one green in regulation and needed only 26 putts.

The 61 tied the course mark set in 2002’s second round by Garrett Willis. At 64 were Jim McGovern, Tim Clark, Dean Wilson and J.J. Henry.

Pro Football

The Denver Broncos have been fined $950,000 and will lose their third-round pick in next year’s NFL draft for circumventing the salary cap between 1996 and ’98. The penalties were levied after an agreement involving the league, its union and the team.

The violations included agreements involving the team and several players to defer salary payments with interest and an agreement not to waive a player before a certain date. Both raised issues with accounting for the salary cap.

Pro Basketball

The Houston Rockets exercised their fourth-year contract option on Yao Ming, ensuring that the All-Star center will remain with the franchise through the 2005-06 season. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Toronto’s All-Star guard Vince Carter wants to be traded, but Rob Babcock, the Raptors’ new general manager, says Carter isn’t going anywhere.

“It doesn’t change anything with us,” Babcock said. “He’s under contract with our team. We expect him to fulfill all obligations of the contract.”

Guard Steve Smith signed with the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the expansion team’s most experienced player. Smith, 34, has spent 13 seasons in the NBA, most recently with New Orleans.

Miscellany

Dane Reynolds of Ventura eliminated World Championship Tour points leader Andy Irons of Hawaii on the second day of the Boost Mobile Pro surfing meet at Lower Trestles in San Clemente. Reynolds, 18, a wild-card entrant, defeated the two-time defending champion, 15.50-14.60.