Swimming Group Gets Tougher on Drug Users

Taking what it called “a dramatic step,” world swimming’s governing body Tuesday approved tougher sanctions on drug use with an eye to next summer’s Olympics.

FINA voted in Rio De Janeiro to extend to four years a mandatory ban on first-time steroid users. The current suspension is two years.

The change means swimmers who flunk drug tests will automatically miss an Olympic Games.

FINA also ruled that swimmers who test positive for banned substances will lose all “medals, victories and accomplishments” in the preceding 12 months.

“It’s a pretty dramatic step, an extraordinary step,” said FINA secretary Gunnar Werner of Sweden.

In a compromise with advocates of mandatory drug testing, delegates determined that federations must inform FINA if a swimmer’s time is among the 50 fastest in the world. But they stopped short of making drug testing compulsory.

College Athletics

Federal investigators are trying to determine whether NCAA rules that deny scholarships to students unprepared to handle college academic work discriminates against student athletes with learning disabilities. Such discrimination would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The probe stems from a complaint by the parents of Illinois high school swimming star, Chad Ganden, 17, who was told he did not have enough college preparatory courses to accept a school-paid recruiting visit, according to the Washington Post.

College Football

San Diego State quarterback Billy Blanton was named second-team All-Western Athletic Conference. Blanton, a graduate of Mater Dei, passed for 3,300 yards and 23 touchdowns this season.

Utah State receiver Kevin Alexander (Valencia) and kicker Micah Knorr (Orange) and Nevada offensive lineman Bob Cooper (Westminster) were named first-team All-Big West Conference.

Baseball

Cleveland Indian slugger Albert Belle was convicted in Lyndhurst, Ohio, of reckless operation of a motor vehicle on private property for chasing five teen-agers who allegedly threw eggs at his house on Halloween night. Belle was fined $100 by Judge Robert Grogan. The charge carried a maximum fine of $100 and no jail time for first offenders.

Colorado Rockie General Manager Bob Gebhard, who helped build an expansion franchise into a playoff team in only three seasons, received a promotion to executive vice president and a two-year contract extension, said owner Jerry McMorris. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Baltimore Oriole assistant general manager Frank Robinson, who was told by owner Peter Angelos to wait until a new general manager was hired when he offered his resignation recently, said he plans to offer it again after the hiring of GM Pat Gillick. Robinson, however, said he agrees with Gillick’s hiring and will meet with him today.

Soccer

Ajax Amsterdam won its first world club championship since 1972, beating Gremio of Brazil, 4-3, on penalty kicks after a scoreless tie in the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo.

Miscellany

The Long Beach Marathon’s board of governors announced that the 15th running of the event was “postponed indefinitely” because of declining sponsorship money.

Barry McDaniel, president of the marathon board, said sponsor commitments totaled about $160,000, well short of the $293,000 needed to finance the 1996 race.

Mike Tyson’s co-manager, John Horne, said the former heavyweight champion’s fight against Buster Mathis Jr. is on for Dec. 16 in Atlantic City, but New Jersey gambling enforcement authorities are still opposed, saying it would violate a 1994 order banning promoter Don King from doing business with Atlantic City casinos.

The U.S. men’s volleyball team defeated favored Japan, 15-7, 15-12, 15-9, for its fifth consecutive victory in World Cup competition in Sendai, Japan.

Lyle Whiting, a former trainer and jockey whose son, Lynn, saddled the Kentucky Derby winner in 1992, died of cancer at 80 in Hot Springs, Ark.