2 more doping cases

A Russian cyclist and Colombian runner were sanctioned by the IOC on Saturday for failing pre-competition drug tests, bringing to four the number of official doping cases so far at the London Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee said Russian track cyclist Victoria Baranova was expelled after testing positive for testosterone on July 24 in Ratomka, Belarus. Her positive test had been confirmed on Friday by cycling's world governing body.

The 22-year-old Baranova was the bronze medalist in the sprint at the European championships and the two-time under-23 European champion in both the sprint and the keirin.

The IOC said her accreditation was taken away and she was kicked out of the Games. Her case was forwarded to the international federation for any further sanctions.

Colombian 400m runner Diego Palomeque was provisionally suspended after testing positive for testosterone on July 26 in London. The 18-year-old athlete did not start in his scheduled heat on Saturday.

No show for collins

Former 100m world champion Kim Collins was disciplined by the St. Kitts and Nevis team and dropped from the event on Saturday at the London Olympics.

St. Kitts and Nevis team spokesman Lester Hanley said that Collins would not run in his heat after breaking team discipline rules by leaving the Athletes' Village.

"Kim has not been in camp the last couple of days," Hanley said in a telephone interview.

Collins posted messages on his Twitter account Saturday, saying: "My fans. I won't lie. Won't be running later tonight."

"Even men in prison get their wives to visit," wrote the 36-year-old Collins, who is attending his fifth straight Summer Games.

The 2003 world champion was the team's flag-bearer at the Olympics opening ceremony.

Collins is still entered in the 200 and the 4x100 relay and could yet run if team management allow.

Risk of downpours

The men's Olympics 100m final on Sunday, which is likely to feature a duel between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, could be run in rain if showers heading London's way arrive early, forecasters say.

The showpiece event of the 2012 Olympic Games, set for 9:50 pm (4:50 am Beijing time), should just escape the worst of the downpours but the risk of showers remains, the Met Office national weather service said on Saturday.

"We're looking at a day with sunny spells across London through Sunday but there is the chance of showers turning up and that chance increases as we go through the evening," Met Office forecaster Helen Chivers said.

"The timing is critical; at the moment it looks as though the showers will turn up after 9:50 pm ... and the 10 seconds after it," she joked.

"So whilst there is a risk of showers developing across the London area during Sunday evening, it looks as though they will turn up slightly later than 10 pm.

"It may well be that when people are leaving the stadium and going home, they may well have turned up by then so it's going to be quite close."

Canadian sets record

Ian Millar of Canada rode into Olympic history on Saturday to set a record before his horse jumped its first obstacle at Greenwich Park.

London marks Millar's 10th Olympics, more than any other athlete in games history.

The 65-year-old Millar surpassed Austrian sailor Hubert Raudaschi, who retired in 1996 after appearing in nine games.

Millar has been an Olympic competitor for 40 years, his first games being Munich in 1972. The only Games he missed in that stretch came during the Western-led boycott of Moscow in 1980.

Reuters - AFP - AP

(China Daily 08/05/2012 page8)