■ATHLETICS
Wayne Collett dies aged 60
Wayne Collett of the US, who won the 400m silver medal at the 1972 Olympics and was later banned from the Olympics for life, died on Wednesday US media reported. Collett, 60, died at the St Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles from cancer, said Mark Dellims, the sports information director for UCLA, where Collett had been a track and field star. At the 1972 Munich Games, Collett was beaten to the 400m gold medal by compatriot Vince Matthews, but it was their subsequent antics on the podium that arguably dominated the headlines. As the national anthem played both athletes fidgeted and talked, sparking fears of another “Black Power” protest four years after Tommie Smith and John Carlos caused controversy in Mexico. Collett later explained he had felt uneasy honoring the anthem because of the struggle faced by African Americans at the time. “I couldn’t stand there and sing the words because I don’t believe they’re true,” he said. “I wish they were. I believe we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I don’t think we do.” Both Collett and Matthews were immediately banned from future Olympic competition by the International Olympic Committee.
■HORSE RACING
Brennan rides Cup winner
Paddy Brennan rode Imperial Commander to glory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Friday after pre-race favorite Kauto Star fell four fences out. Imperial Commander, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, was too strong for 2008 Gold Cup winner Denman, pulling clear on the run to the last before powering to win by seven lengths. “It’s by far the best day of my life,” a delighted Brennan said. “I’m speechless. It was a dream the whole way.”
■SPEEDSKATING
South Koreans dominate
South Korea dominated the first day of the short track speedskating world championships. Kwak Yoon-gy clocked 2 minutes, 24.316 seconds to win the men’s 1,500m title on Friday, leaving the silver and bronze medals to teammates Sung Si-bak and Lee Ho-suk. Park Seung-hi of South Korea took the women’s 1,500m title in a time of 2 minutes, 21.570, beating teammates Lee Eun-byul and Cho Ha-ri.
■SLED DOG RACING
Jamaican finishes 47th
The first musher from Jamaica to enter the 1,770km Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has reached the finish line at Nome, three days after Lance Mackey won for an unprecedented fourth consecutive time. Newton Marshall finished in 47th place. The 27-year-old rookie covered the arduous course in 12 days, 4 hours and 27 minutes, reaching Nome at 7:27pm on Friday. As of late Friday night, 48 mushers had completed the race and 15 others have scratched. Eight remain on the trail. The last musher to reach Nome receives the Red Lantern Award. Marshall, a resident of St Anne Parish, said before the start that he was determined to make it to Nome and excited to see the “lovely” landscape along the way.
■SKYDIVING
Florida jump goes wrong
A man died while skydiving in Florida after he had problems with his parachute, authorities said. Zephyrhills police said 68-year-old Paul Luter III appears to have died instantly upon impact on Friday afternoon. Skydive City general manager David Hayes said it appears Luter’s main shoot didn’t open properly. By the time Luter cut away from his main parachute at about 90m, there was not enough altitude for the reserve parachute to deploy.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
Hulking Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan on Monday surged away from the pack to win the second stage of the Criterium de Dauphine in Issoire, France, to take the overall lead from Tadej Pogacar. The 1.93m, 87kg Milan had to battle to keep up on a hilly 204.6km run through central France from Premilhat. When the pack hit the home straight, he rocketed away from his rivals to collect a 10-second victory bonus and the yellow jersey. “That was really tough,” Milan said. “I was dropped at one point, and I was really on the limit, but I have to say
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