■ATHLETICS
Bolt honored in Kingston
The world’s fastest man received one of his Caribbean homeland’s highest honors on Monday. Sprint superstar Usain Bolt received the Order of Jamaica award during heritage celebrations in Kingston. At 23, Bolt is the youngest person to ever receive the honor. In recent weeks Jamaica has also renamed a highway after the Olympic and world 100m and 200m champion and record-holder.
■RUGBY UNION
Mortlock out with calf injury
Former Australia captain Stirling Mortlock was yesterday ruled out of upcoming Tests against New Zealand and England because of a torn calf muscle, officials said. The Wallabies will play their first Test under new skipper Rocky Elsom against New Zealand in Tokyo on Oct. 31 and face England at Twickenham on Nov. 7. Mortlock, who said he had a “decent size tear in the muscle,” was hoping to rejoin the 35-man squad ahead of the Test against Ireland on Nov. 15. “I think realistically we’re targeting being 100 percent right by that week leading into the Ireland match,” he told reporters. “I’ll be ready to go, don’t worry about that.” Mortlock has just recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him for much of this year’s Tri-Nations series.
■FOOTBALL
Wesley suspended for hit
Carolina Panthers defensive back Dante Wesley has been suspended for one game for a hit on Clifton Smith of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Wesley “launched himself” and hit the “neck and head area” of Smith during a punt return, NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson said in a statement on Monday. Anderson said Smith, who had not touched the ball, was in a “defenseless posture.” The hit ignited an on-field scuffle between the two teams. Smith sustained a concussion and did not return to the game, won by Carolina, 28-21, on Sunday at Tampa Bay. Wesley will sit out the Panthers’ game this Sunday against Buffalo.
■BASEBALL
Tigers pursue Johjima
Japan’s Hanshin Tigers are keen to sign catcher Kenji Johjima after his decision to leave the Seattle Mariners and return home. The 33-year-old, who helped Japan retain the World Baseball Classic title earlier this year, opted out of the final two years of his contract with Seattle earlier this week. Johjima had signed a three-year, US$24 million contract extension with the Mariners during the 2008 season. “As a right-hander who can be a clean-up hitter he is a player we very much covet,” Tigers president Nobuo Minami told Japanese media yesterday. Johjima batted .268 during four seasons in Seattle, hitting 48 home runs with 198 RBI.
■TENNIS
Roddick books finals berth
American Andy Roddick has booked his place at the World Tour Finals with four weeks of the season remaining, the ATP said yesterday. The world No. 7 seven will join Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro at the end-of-season tournament. “The reaction I received from fans after the Wimbledon final was something I will never forget,” the 27-year-old Roddick told the ATP Web site. “I’ve always had great support in London and I’m looking forward to being back there in November.” Roddick, who reached the semi-finals in 2003 and 2004, has qualified for the season-ending event seven years in a row. Two places are still up for grabs with Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco leading the chase.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later