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IN BRIEF
Landis promises to fight as French sanction looms
UNION-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES
February 8, 2007
Vowing to fight the “lack of leadership at the top of cycling and at the top of the anti-doping agencies,” Floyd Landis insisted at a New York fundraising rally he's innocent of doping.
Landis, 31, could be banned from racing in France for the next two years if the country's anti-doping agency issues a maximum penalty today for his positive doping test at last year's Tour de France.
Instead of attending the hearing, where he will be represented by his lawyers, the Murietta resident spoke last night to more than 200 supporters of his Floyd Fairness Fund.
“There's not any of us who is against anti-doping agencies,” he said. “What we hope for is a more American system. They don't want to provide some of the rights that would be provided to even the worst criminals in our country.”
After Landis won last year's Tour de France, his sample after Stage 17 was found to contain elevated testosterone to epitestosterone levels. He would be the first rider in the 104-year history of the race to be stripped of his title.
Landis has denied any wrongdoing and argues the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which carried out the tests, is unreliable.
Landis' medical adviser, Arnie Baker of San Diego, said significant errors were made by the French lab in the transportation, analysis and outcome of Landis' urine sample. He also claimed Landis' sample was contaminated and said the testing procedures were unreliable.
Landis' hearing before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is set May 14.
More cycling
Tyler Hamilton returned to his first stage race after a two-year doping ban. The Olympic gold medalist was 66th in the first stage of the Etoile de Bessages race between Pezenas and Palavas-les-Flots in southern France, 11 seconds behind stage winner Angelo Furlan of Italy.
Tennis
Justine Henin won in her first match of the year, rallying past Emilie Loit 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Gaz de France tournament in Paris. Third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova won a 2½-hour match with Katarina Srebotnik, taking the last three points for a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory.
Drugs
Mike Tyson has checked himself into an inpatient treatment program in Phoenix for “various addictions” while awaiting trial on drug charges, his lawyer said. David Chesnoff wouldn't describe Tyson's addictions, but police said the 40-year-old former heavyweight champion told officers that he used cocaine frequently.
Figure skating
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo took the lead of the pairs competition at Four Continents after the short program in Colorado Springs, Colo. Shen and Zhao lead Chinese counterparts Tong Jian and Pang Qing by 3.49 points. Defending Four Continent champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin landed their signature throw triple axel, but they still were in third place, 7.56 points out of the lead.
Baseball
A little more than four months after playing his last game in the major leagues, Vinny Castilla officially retired from baseball. Castilla played first base in Mexico's 4-3 victory over Venezuela on the last day of the Caribbean Series in Puerto Rico. The Dominican Republic clinched the title Tuesday with a victory over Mexico and Puerto Rico's loss against Venezuela . . . Joe Mays, a 17-game winner for the Minnesota Twins in 2001, agreed to a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and will attend spring training as a nonroster invitee.
Golf
The International, known for its unusual scoring system on a Castle Pines golf course south of Denver, will no longer be on the PGA Tour schedule effective immediately, a tour official said.
Death
Charles Grimes, a member of the Yale varsity crew that won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics and the husband of U.S. Tennis Association chairman Jane Brown Grimes, died Monday. He was 71 and had pancreatic cancer.
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