Anti-doping policies expanded

The governing body for U.S. track and field is expanding its zero-tolerance anti-doping policy to coaches.

New regulations made public Thursday will require coaches to register with USA Track & Field, and coaches who have had athletes serve at least a two-year ban for doping or have been sanctioned themselves must be approved by a review panel.

The rules, to take effect sometime next year, are the federation’s first concrete attempt to deal with coaches linked to doping cases, such as elite coach Trevor Graham.

This summer, the federation learned Graham’s top athlete, Olympic and world sprint champion Justin Gatlin, tested positive in April for steroids and other performance enhancers.

Graham, whose former clients include five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones and former world-record holder Tim Montgomery, has had several athletes test positive for banned substances.

He also has been indicted on charges of lying to federal investigators in the BALCO drug probe and is the subject of an U.S. Anti-Doping Agency investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and has denied supplying banned drugs to his athletes.

“While USADA remains responsible for issuing doping bans, the board of directors recognizes how critical it is that we do everything we can to deny USATF benefits to those who may be influencing athletes to use drugs,” USATF Chief Executive Craig Masback said in a news release.

Agents and medical staff also will be subject to the new rules.

Coaches who choose not to register will not receive credentials for national championships, get stipends for training athletes or serve on national team coaching staffs.

Under current rules, coaches routinely receive credentials for national competitions and a coach for any athlete who ranks in the top 10 in the world in an event receives $2,000 from the federation.

“We think this is a step in the right direction,” said U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel, “and it is an acknowledgment of the fact that responsibility and accountability must include not only an athlete but also his or her coach and agent.”

HORSE RACING

Appeals court upholds

suspension for Pletcher

An appeals court upheld trainer Todd Pletcher’s 45-day suspension and $3,000 fine, dismissing his challenge to the penalties for using an anesthetic on one of his horses too close to a race in 2004.

Tales Of Glory won the third race at Saratoga on Aug. 14, 2004. Blood and urine samples tested positive for mepivicaine, a substance that is banned from being “administered by any means within one week of the start of a racing program,” according to the decision by the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Albany, N.Y.

Pletcher is the nation’s leading trainer.

Arlington Park in Illinois, where at least 21 thoroughbred horses had to be euthanized after leg injuries on the dirt track during the 2006 racing season, will replace the dirt with a synthetic racing surface next year.

GOLF

Argentina, South Africa

share World Cup lead

Argentina’s pairing of Andres Romero and Angel Cabrera were one of only two teams to make bogey at the relatively easy par-four opening hole of the World Cup.

They recovered nicely from there.

On a blustery and often rainy day, the duo combined to make five straight birdies on the back nine -- four by Cabrera -- on the way to a seven-under-par 64 and a share of the first-round lead with South Africa and Sweden at the final World Golf Championships event of the season at St. James, Barbados.

South Africa’s team of Rory Sabbatini and Richard Sterne finished their round of 64 by making birdie at the par-three finishing hole, as did the Swedes and Germans, who finished one shot back at six under along with defending champion Wales.

Meanwhile, the United States is squarely in the mix after round one.

Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry finished with a five-under 66, fueled by three straight birdies on holes 14 through 16, as they opened a bid to deliver their nation’s 24th World Cup title -- and what would be the first for the U.S. since 2000, when Tiger Woods and David Duval prevailed.

MISCELLANY

Biffle is OK after

fiery crash in Las Vegas

Nextel Cup driver Greg Biffle was in a fiery crash while testing tires at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and was helped from his burning race car by Kyle Busch.

The two drivers were helping Goodyear test tires on the remodeled speedway when Biffle apparently blew a tire, causing him to hit the wall between the first and second turns. The accident broke the fuel pump and caused his Ford to burst into flames.

Busch, who was trailing Biffle at the time of the accident, jumped from his car and helped Biffle to safety.

Although Biffle was uninjured, he did not continue the session.

“That was a really hard hit and we lost a good car, but I’m OK,” Biffle said.

Zach Lund won his first World Cup skeleton title and fellow American Katie Uhlaender took the women’s competition, giving U.S. sliders a first-place sweep at Park City, Utah.

Lund, a Salt Lake City native who had never finished higher than second in the World Cup, beat Canadian Jeff Pain by 0.16 of a second in the two runs at Utah Olympic Park.

Lund finished with a combined time of 1:38.15. Pain, who won the season opener in Calgary, was second in 1:38.31.

Uhlaender had runs of 50.11 and 50.79 seconds for a combined time of 1:40.90, which was 0.39 of a second ahead of Maya Pedersen of Switzerland (1:41.29).

Roberto Duran, a world champion in four weight divisions over a career that spanned five decades, and Olympic gold medalist Pernell Whitaker, another four-division champion, were voted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Duran and Whitaker were chosen from the modern era, along with undefeated Mexican strawweight champion Ricardo “Finito” Lopez, who held his world crown for more than a decade.

Artist Leroy Neiman topped the list of old-timers, pioneers, non-participants and observers. Other living inductees who will be enshrined June 10 are Argentine trainer Amilcar Brusa and longtime World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman.

Germany set a world record in the men’s 4-by-50-meter medley relay at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Helge Meeuw, Johannes Neumann, Thomas Rupprath and Jens Schreiber finished the 200 meters in 1:34.06. Germany held the previous record of 1:34.46 set at the 2003 Euro Short Course Championships in Dublin, Ireland.

South Korean rider Kim Hyung-chil was crushed by his horse and died after missing a jump on a muddy equestrian course at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, raising concern over how organizers managed the event. It was the first death of a competitor in the 55-year history of the Asian Games.

PASSINGS

Former Nebraska and

Dolphins player was 47

Former Nebraska fullback Andra Franklin died Wednesday in Lincoln of natural causes. He was 47. Franklin’s body was found by police at his apartment. Franklin, who was drafted by the Miami Dolphins and played four years in the NFL, had heart problems and other health issues in recent years, and friends said he suffered from congestive heart failure.