■ATHLETICS
Club to pay Semenya
The owner of a lapdancing club in South Africa is to pay world champion Caster Semenya 20,000 rand (US$2,700), the Star newspaper reported on Thursday. Lolly Jackson, who owns the Teazers club, has been embroiled in a row over a billboard advertising his club. The billboard shows a naked woman lying on her back and the words “No need for gender testing” written on it. Semenya’s gender was questioned after she won the women’s 800m final at the world championship. Leaked test results show Semenya to be intersexed — or having both male and female characteristics. South African athletic officials, who at first denied knowing about the test, have come under attack since it emerged that they lied. Jackson told the newspaper that he was going to pay the money to the athlete.
■TENNIS
Belgians face doping board
Belgian US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer and compatriot Xavier Malisse must appear before a Belgian anti-doping commission after violating its rules, Belgian news agency Belga reported on Thursday. Wickmayer broke the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) “whereabouts” rule three times in the past 18 months, Belga said, citing a spokesman for the Flemish Doping Tribunal. Under the rule, athletes must tell their national anti-doping authorities where they will be at a chosen hour between 6am and 11pm each day for a three-month period. If they change plans they are obliged to inform the authorities. Athletes who miss three doping tests over an 18-month period face possible suspension. Malisse, ranked 153rd in the world, broke the whereabouts rules twice and missed a doping test, Belga said.
■TENNIS
Tauziat to file suit
Former Wimbledon finalist Nathalie Tauziat indicated on Thursday she will pursue a claim for defamation against the media and three former players, saying she has been falsely accused of keeping quiet over allegations of rape that led to the arrest of her former coach. Tauziat’s former coach Regis de Camaret was arrested in 2007 after several players, including Isabelle Demongeot, accused him of sexually assaulting minors between 1977 and 1989, when he ran an academy at Saint Tropez. De Camaret insists he is not guilty. Tauziat says she was defamed when Demongeot and fellow players Catherine Tanvier and Isabelle Amiach alleged Tauziat had been aware of the alleged assaults but had kept quiet. Tauziat says she was also defamed by media outlets that reported the allegations.
■GOLF
Woods breaks US$1bn mark
Tiger Woods, 33, has become the first sportsman to break through the US$1 billion earnings barrier, Forbes magazine reported on Thursday. Woods reached the latest landmark of his career when he won a US$10 million bonus for his FedEx Cup victory last weekend. Forbes’ said Woods went into the 2009 season on US$895 million, which included prize money, endorsements, appearance fees as well as fees from his golf course design business. Woods has been the top-earning sportsman since 2002, ousting former Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher. His most lucrative commercial deal is with Nike for more than US$30 million dollars a year. Forbes estimated that retired NBA star Michael Jordan will be the next sportsman to earn US$1 billion. Jordan amassed around US$800 million in his playing career and continues to make US$45 million a year thanks mainly to a deal with Nike.
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