■ ATHLETICS
Blonska stripped of medal
Lyudmila Blonksa has been stripped of her Olympic silver medal in the heptathlon for doping. The Ukrainian athlete has been disqualified and kicked out of the Beijing Games by the International Olympic Committee. Blonska tested positive for a steroid after finishing second in the heptathlon last Saturday. She was temporarily suspended on Thursday, and her medal was officially removed yesterday. Blonksa faces a lifetime ban because it was her second doping offense. She is the biggest name among the five athletes who have tested positive so far at the Games.
■ SYNCHRO SWIMMING
Russia nearly perfect
Russia placed first in the technical routine of the synchronized swimming team event yesterday, staying on course to sweep both the duet and team event for the third straight Olympics. The team was awarded a near-perfect 49.500 points. Spain was second with 48.917 points and China was third with 48.584. The team event concludes today with the free routine. Anastasia Ermakova and Anastasia Davydova won gold in the duet on Wednesday and are also part of Russia’s eight-woman squad for the team event. Wearing suits with red hearts on the front and silver-sequined lightning bolts on the backs, the Russians showed off their superior throws, lifts and splits to the Spanish Suite by Albenise. The music choice may have been a response to the decision by the Spanish duet to use traditional Russian music in their technical routine on Monday. Russia earned all 9.9s and one 9.8 for both execution and overall impression. Spain performed to the Happy Feet soundtrack and won a big applause for a unique windmill move. Gemma Mengual and Andrea Fuentes won Spain’s first Olympic synchro medal when they claimed silver in the duet. Japan, which has medaled in synchro in every Olympics since the discipline was introduced at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, placed fourth. Canada and the US tied for fifth. The Americans wore yellow suits with a large, brown Chinese knot design on the front to appeal to the local audience.
■ GREAT BRITAIN
Team plane gets nose job
The plane bringing Britain’s Olympic team home next week is to get a golden nose job in honor of the team’s record gold medal haul in Beijing, British Airways said on Thursday. Britain has had its best Olympics for a century, taking its 17th gold on Thursday and staying in third place in the overall medals table, behind China and the US. “Team GB has led the opposition home in event after event at this golden Olympics,” said British Airways chief Willie Walsh, announcing the golden respray for the normally dark-blue nose-cone of the Boeing 747 which will bring them home. “It is right that a gold nose cone should adorn the aircraft that brings the team home to the UK. We salute our Olympians.” Meanwhile BA refused to comment on a report that London mayor Boris Johnson had been refused an upgrade to business class in the plane which took him to Beijing this week.
■ DIVING
Zhou leads 10m prelims
Zhou Luxin led after the men’s 10m platform preliminaries yesterday, putting China in position for a sweep of the eight diving gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. Zhou totaled 539.80 points, earning a perfect 10 on his toughest dive in the fourth round. Matthew Mitcham of Australia was second with 509.60, followed by platform world champion Gleb Galperin of Russia. The top 18 divers advance to today’s semi-finals.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
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