One More Austrian Biathlete Calls It Quits

Austrian biathlete Wolfgang Rottmann retired Tuesday, the second team member to quit after Olympic doping raids.

Rottmann, 32, fled the Turin Games with teammate Wolfgang Perner after a police search of the team’s housing, with both admitting they may have used “illegal methods” during the Olympics. They were kicked off the team for leaving without permission. Perner retired Monday.

“Since I have lost any sense of joy in participating in the sport due to the unfair and vexing handling [of the doping charges], I will enter into my previously planned retirement a few weeks early,” Rottmann said in a statement to the Austrian Press Agency.

Italian police raided the Austrian team’s lodgings outside Turin on Feb. 18 and uncovered about 100 syringes, unlabeled drugs and a blood transfusion machine. At the same time, Olympic doping control officers conducted surprise tests on 10 Austrian athletes.

The tests were negative, but the International Olympic Committee and Italian police are continuing to investigate.

The raids were conducted after it was discovered banned coach Walter Mayer was with the team at the Turin Games. Mayer was banned from the Olympics after accusations of blood doping at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

SOCCER

Galaxy, Revolution

Search for Victories

Major League Soccer’s Galaxy and New England Revolution need victories in Costa Rica today to stay alive in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

The Galaxy plays Deportivo Saprissa at San Jose. The teams tied, 0-0, at Carson in the first leg of their quarterfinal series. The Revolution plays LD Alajuelense at Alajuela. The teams tied, 0-0, in their first game.

The second leg in the other two quarterfinal series are Club America of Mexico against Portmore United FC of Jamaica at Mexico City and Toluca of Mexico playing host to Olimpia of Honduras.

America defeated Portmore United, 2-1, at Jamaica and Toluca holds a 2-0 lead over Olimpia after the first leg.

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-- Grahame L. Jones

Former Chivas USA coach Thomas Rongen was selected coach of the U.S. men’s under-20 national team, the second time he has held the position.

Rongen coached the team to fifth place in the 2003 world youth championship at the United Arab Emirates.

Host Villarreal tied the Rangers, 1-1, to win on away goals and reach the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time.

The Spanish team’s bus was attacked by Ranger supporters on the way to the match, news agency Europa Press reported. A group of the Scottish team’s fans hurled bottles and beer cans, and broke a side window as the bus arrived at the stadium.

WINTER SPORTS

South Korean Leads

Junior Figure Skating

Kim Yu-na of South Korea took the lead in the short program after favorite Mao Asada of Japan failed to complete a triple axel-double loop in the world junior figure skating championship at Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Kim had 60.86 points, Asada 56.10 and Christine Zukowski of the U.S. was third with 51.37.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada took the lead in the ice dancing compulsories with 34.88 points. Natalia Mikhailova and Arkadi Sergeev of Russia were second and Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the U.S. were third.

Andreas Kuettel of Switzerland had 273.3 points to win a World Cup ski jumping event at Kuopio, Finland, and overall leader Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic finished eighth for a 144-point lead over defending champion Janne Ahonen of Finland, who did not participate.

Thobias Fredriksson of Sweden finished first and Peter Larsson was second in a World Cup men’s cross-country ski sprint meet at Borlange, Sweden.

Tobias Angerer of Germany, who did not compete, retained the overall lead with 725 points.

In a close women’s race, Arianna Follis of Italy defeated Marit Bjorgen of Norway, who increased her overall lead to 825 points.

JURISPRUDENCE

Moore Files Papers

Against Bertuzzi

Steve Moore filed court papers in British Columbia, Canada, against Todd Bertuzzi, alleging assault and battery and giving the former Colorado Avalanche player the option to bring another lawsuit against the Vancouver Canuck forward.

Moore filed a lawsuit last month in Ontario, Canada, and one in Colorado in 2004 that was thrown out.

Bertuzzi pleaded guilty to assaulting Moore in Vancouver on March 8, 2004, after knocking him to the ice with a roundhouse punch. Moore, then with the Avalanche, suffered three fractured neck vertebrae, a concussion and other injuries.

Bertuzzi faced up to 1 1/2 years in prison after Vancouver authorities charged him with assault. He pleaded guilty and was then sentenced to probation and community service.

Lance Armstrong’s lawyer asked a court in Latina, near Rome, to drop charges in a defamation lawsuit brought against the seven-time Tour de France champion by Italian cyclist Filippo Simeoni after a report in the French newspaper Le Monde in April 2003.

Neither cyclist was in court. A judge will decide April 13 if a trial will go forward.

In the report, Armstrong contended that Simeoni had agreed to testify against Dr. Michele Ferrari in exchange for a lesser penalty if the Italian rider was accused of doping by the sport’s governing body.

Ferrari, who once advised Armstrong, received a suspended jail sentence for a year in October 2004 for sports fraud and malpractice.

MISCELLANY

Ohio State Kicker

Is Reinstated to Team

Ohio State kicker Jonathan Skeete returned to the team as a walk-on after his suspension and arrest on charges of drug trafficking.

Skeete was suspended from the school and team when university police arrested him in May. He was convicted in October and sentenced to a year of probation. He reapplied to Ohio State when his suspension expired and was readmitted.

Skeete, a redshirt in 2004, was stripped of his scholarship when he was suspended.

Former swimmer Jenny Thompson, America’s most decorated Olympian, rejected a medal given each year by the University of New Hampshire to protest the school’s decision to cut its men’s swimming team and other sports.

Thompson graduated from Stanford and is studying at Columbia’s medical school.

The four-time Olympian, who retired from swimming in 2004, owns a U.S.-best 12 medals.

Overall leader Tom Boonen of Belgium won his second consecutive stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race, beating Allan Davis of Australia in a sprint finish to the 124-mile course from Cerilly to Belleville.

Danilo Napolitano of Italy was third and Francisco Ventoso of Spain was fourth. Boonen finished the stage in 5 hours 20 minutes 50 seconds.

The American Assn. of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators, in response to recent cheerleading injuries during basketball games, recommended that certain maneuvers be prohibited immediately.