New SDSU track coach had positive drug test

For the second time in 2½ years, San Diego State has hired an assistant women’s track and field coach with a doping violation in his past.

Joining head coach Shelia Burrell’s staff is Dorian Scott, a shot putter who competes for Jamaica and tested positive for marijuana at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia. Scott received a “public warning” from the IAAF, the sport’s international governing body, and he was stripped of his gold medal at the CAC Games and had his national record shot put mark erased.

In 2009, SDSU hired Larry Wade, a former U.S. hurdler who had served a two-year competition ban for a steroid positive and who reportedly met with one of the sport’s major steroid dealers. Doug Logan, then the CEO of USA Track & Field, ripped SDSU, saying: “It’s extremely difficult to accept when they wouldn’t think of hiring a plagiarist in their English department.”

read more http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/12/sdsu-assistant-track-coach-has-marijuana-positive-/

The incredible, shrinking (Olympic sports) press box

by Rich Perelman

LOS ANGELES, Sep. 11, 2011 – What if they held a World Championships and no one knew about it?

The reality of the recent world championships in swimming and track & field is that for the non-obsessed American sports fan, that’s just about what happened.

• At the recent World Track & Field Championships in Daegu, South Korea, there were just four – count ‘em – four accredited writers from U.S. daily newspapers (Eugene Register Guard, New York Times, Pensacola News Journal [covering Justin Gatlin] and USA Today) and Tim Layden from Sports Illustrated. Moreover, only two of these were staff writers; three were stringers.

• At the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China earlier in the summer, the turnout was even worse: two U.S. newspapers (USA Today, Washington Post), one magazine (again, Sports Illustrated).

These are the two biggest sports in the Olympic Games and sports that the U.S. dominates.

read more http://www.perelman-pioneer.com/?p=308

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Carl Lewis back on ballot in NJ senate race

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis was ordered back on the ballot in a New Jersey state Senate election by a federal appeals court Tuesday in possibly the final word in a court drama over whether the celebrity political newcomer would meet a four-year residency requirement for state senators. A 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel put Lewis, a Democrat, back on the ballot with a 2-1 ruling issued less than five hours after hearing arguments. The court said a full opinion would be filed later. But after months of legal hair-splitting on exactly when Lewis became a New Jersey resident, the court seemed to indicate that issue was not the heart of the case. Instead, the court said, “the state has failed to demonstrate a compelling state interest” for leaving Lewis off the ballot.

read more http://www.universalsports.com/news-blogs/article/newsid=556137.html

Pistorius wants to prove himself in relay

 BRUSSELS (AP) – Double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius wants to prove before the London Olympics that he can run any leg of a 4×400 relay and should not be held back by concerns his carbon fiber blades would injure other athletes running in a pack.

South Africa agreed to let Pistorius run only the opening leg of the relay at the world championships in Daegu and he was left off the South African quartet which won silver in the final early this month.

Pistorius ran the leadoff leg in the semifinals, helping set a South African record, and received a medal as a team member even though he missed the final.

Pistorius is convinced he would stand a better chance of making the top South African relay team if he were allowed to run any of the four legs, especially since he set the second-best time of all South Africans this season.

Read More http://www.universalsports.com/news-blogs/article/newsid=556091.html#pistorius+wants+prove+himself+relay

Man gets prison term for drunk driving accident that paralyzed vaulter Brenna Bean

GREENFIELD, MASS – A Franklin Superior Court judge has sentenced a Whately man to a state prison term in connection with a drag racing incident that left a teenage woman paralyzed.

Kevin May, 23, of 149 Depot Road, was racing another car on River Road in Whately in August, 2010, when the second vehicle went off the road, striking a utility pole and a barn, according to police. The driver of the other vehicle, Peter Mahar, was ejected along with his passenger, Brenna Bean, 19. Bean, who was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, suffered injuries that have left her paralyzed from the waist down. Both Bean and Mahar are also from Whately.

May pleaded guilty Monday to operating under the influence of alcohol resulting in serious bodily injury and operating under the influence of alcohol, second offense. In seeking a prison sentence, Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Matthew D. Thomas told Judge Tina S. Page that May has a history of bad driving, including a 2006 incident in which he rolled his car over while intoxicated. While awaiting disposition of his case, May took a breathalyzer test that showed he was consuming alcohol despite the conditions of his release, Thomas said. May also failed a field sobriety test at the scene of the accident, according to police.

Bean was a track and field star at Frontier Regional High School, winning several pole vault titles at the All-Western Mass. High School Track and Field Championships. After her accident, she helped coach the team. She plans to enroll at Westfield State College in the fall as a recreational therapy major. After listening to a victim’s impact statement by Bean’s parents, Page sentenced May to 2½-4 years in prison followed by 30 days in the House of Correction.