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■ Soccer
Cockroach stunt draws flak
Real Madrid's Ronaldo has apologized after being criticized for a goal celebration in which he and his Brazilian teammates imitated a cockroach on its back. Alaves president Dmitry Piterman had said Ronaldo, Robinho and Roberto Carlos acted "like clowns" and "spoilt kids" when they wiggled their arms and legs while lying on their backs after Ronaldo's second goal in Sunday's 3-0 league win at the Mendizorroza stadium. "It was something silly between friends and I didn't intend to offend or insult our opponent's fans. I have never done it before and I'll never do it again," Ronaldo told radio station Cadena SER yesterday. Ronaldo tempered his apology by suggesting Piterman had gone too far with criticism, especially as the former US triple jumper was photographed nude this year for an article about Alaves in Spanish magazine Interviu. "I don't see what I did as being so serious. I was only celebrating a goal," Ronaldo said. "A man who appeared naked in a magazine is not the ideal person to make judgments and call Robinho, Roberto Carlos and myself clowns." Ronaldo explained that the idea for the celebration had come from a journalist and his press officer, David Espinar, who had dared him to imitate a cockroach.

■ Athletics
Race organizer stops train
Passing freight trains disrupted the 2005 Quad Cities Marathon, prompting a race organizer to drive a truck on to the tracks to block the path of an approaching locomotive. After runners were forced to stop and wait as two trains made their way through East Moline, Illinois, on Sunday, Joe Moreno sped over to an intersection near the 35km marker and parked his truck on the railroad tracks, blocking a third train from passing. The train stopped less than a block away from Moreno's truck. Moreno says he then sat in the vehicle with the doors locked for nearly and hour and a half as several hundred runners crossed the tracks. A railroad employee tried to get Moreno to move his truck, but it wasn't until police arrived that the former East Moline mayor agreed to move the vehicle. "With every minute, I was buying time for the runners," Moreno said. Richard Stoeckly, vice president and chief operating officer of the Iowa Interstate Railroad Co, said the disruptions were the result of a ``breakdown in communication'' between race organizers and the company.

■ Soccer
Zidane ready to return
Barring "catastrophe," Zinedine Zidane said in an interview published yesterday that he will return from injury to play for France in its World Cup qualifier next month against Switzerland. The Real Madrid midfielder, who hasn't played since pulling a muscle in France's 1-0 away win at Ireland on Sept. 7, said he expects to return for the Spanish club's match against Mallorca on Sunday. "Except for a last-minute catastrophe, I will be able to play" against the Swiss, Zidane was quoted as saying by sports daily L'Equipe.

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