Tuesday’s Sports in Brief
OLYMPICS LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) Russian athletes will be allowed to stand on the medal podium ..
OLYMPICS
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) Russian athletes will be allowed to stand on the medal podium at the Winter Olympics – just not with their anthem playing or their nation’s flag rising above them.
The International Olympic Committee barred Russia and its sports leaders from the upcoming games in South Korea after its lead investigator concluded members of the Russian government concocted a doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Games that ”caused unprecedented damage to Olympism and to sports.”
Not welcome in Pyeongchang next year will be any sign of the Russian Olympic Committee or any member of its sports ministry, which was responsible for what investigators concluded was a top-to-bottom scheme of ”manipulation and cheating” to ensure Russians could dope at the Olympics on their home turf and not get caught.
The IOC punishment did leave room for many Russians to compete under the name ”Olympic Athlete from Russia” or OAR. They would have to pass drug tests to prove they were clean and also did not benefit from the Sochi scheme.
SOCCER
MOSCOW (AP) – Russia’s World Cup can’t avoid the tarnished legacy of Russia’s Winter Olympics.
The doping scandals that have consumed Russian sports for the last three years took another turn as the International Olympic Committee handed a lifetime ban to Vitaly Mutko, the sports minister during the 2014 Sochi Games.
After Sochi, the IOC ruled the host nation operated a doping program and tampered with Russian athletes’ urine samples. Still, Mutko has maintained a prominent role in Russian sports. He is now a deputy prime minister and is in charge of the country’s World Cup preparations as chairman of the local organizing committee for the June tournament.
The IOC commission didn’t directly accuse the Kremlin or Mutko of any wrongdoing for Sochi but found the sports ministry ”has to bear the major part of the administrative responsibility” because it was responsible for overseeing anti-doping measures at the 2014 Olympics. It also found in the case of Mutko’s then deputy minister, Yuri Nagornykh, that ”it is impossible to conclude that he was not aware of the system in place.”
PRO FOOTBALL
NEW YORK (AP) – Colin Kaepernick accepted Sports Illustrated’s Muhammad Ali Legacy Award from Beyonce and promised that ”with or without the NFL’s platform, I will continue to work for the people.”
Beyonce thanked Kaepernick for his ”personal sacrifice,” and 2016 Ali Award winner Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called Kaepernick a ”worthy recipient” during a video tribute.
Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem last season to protest racial inequality and police brutality. The demonstration sparked a wave of protests by NFL players during the anthem that repeatedly have been denounced by President Donald Trump. Kaepernick parted ways with the San Francisco 49ers in March and hasn’t been signed by another team.
He spoke Tuesday about fulfilling Ali’s legacy, saying the boxing great and activist ”mentored me without ever meeting me.”
Kaepernick skipped the red carpet prior to the show and was not available for questions. The show will be broadcast Friday night on NBC Sports Network
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Less than a year after Willie Taggart inspired the Ducks with his tagline ”Do Something,” Oregon is searching for a new coach.
Oregon’s players were summoned to a meeting at the team’s football complex early for the announcement that Taggart had accepted the coaching job at Florida State.
Senior cornerback Ty Griffin tweeted the words ”He gone” with a smoke puff emoji.
It will be Taggart’s third program in three seasons. He replaces Jimbo Fisher, who took the job at Texas A&M. Taggart was officially coach of the Ducks for 363 days.
Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Mario Cristobal was named interim coach. The Ducks play Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 16.
PRO BASKETBALL
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Authorities charged a man in connection with the slaying of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright, more than seven years after Wright’s bullet-riddled body was found decomposing in a Tennessee suburb.
Billy Turner, 46, was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder, and was being held on $1 million bond, said Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich. Court records did not list a lawyer for him or a date for a court hearing. Weirich and Police Director Michael Rallings declined to discuss any details of the arrest or investigation.
Wright’s body was found in suburban Memphis on July 28, 2010, 10 days after the 34-year-old was reported missing. He was shot multiple times. The seven-year investigation into his death has been one of the Memphis Police Department’s most high-profile unsolved cases.
BASEBALL
MIAMI (AP) – New Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter says the team has made no decision regarding right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who is on the trading block following an MVP season.
The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals are considered front-runners to acquire Stanton, with both teams offering a package of prospects. But the major league home run champion can veto any deal because his record $325 million, 13-year contract includes a no-trade clause.
”We will explore every option out there to make our organization better,” Jeter said Tuesday on the Marlins’ flagship radio station, WINZ-AM. ”There have been no decisions. We have not made many decisions on the baseball side. We’re still gathering information. Anything up to this point has been speculation.”
The revenue-starved Marlins hope to trade Stanton to help reduce payroll by at least 20 percent to $90 million or less as part of a rebuild under a new ownership group that includes Jeter.
