Bribery Matter Puts Janikowski in Jail

Sebastian Janikowski, Florida State’s two-time All-American kicker, was arrested at a Tallahassee, Fla., nightclub early Sunday and accused of attempting to bribe a police officer into releasing his roommate for $300.

Bribery is a third-degree felony but it is up to the state attorney’s office to officially charge Janikowski. However, police said he can be charged with greater or lesser offenses.

Janikowski was released from Leon County jail at 7:42 a.m., on $1,000 bail. If found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Janikowski has kicked 50 field goals the past two seasons and earlier this month said he will leave school a year early to make himself eligible for the the NFL draft.

Boxing

Boxer Vinny Pazienza was arrested on charges of drunken driving, recklessly eluding police, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer in Pawtucket, R.I. . . . If Oscar De La Hoya wants a rematch with Felix Trinidad, it will have to be as a super welterweight. Trinidad said he plans to leave the welterweight division if he beats WBA super welterweight champ David Reid March 3 at Las Vegas. . . Naseem Hamed’s WBO featherweight title defense against Junior Jones has been called off because of a contract disagreement.

Olympics

Some leaders in the Utah Legislature knew that Salt Lake bidders used scholarships to help win the 2002 Winter Games more than a year before the Olympic bribery scandal broke, but thought the practice was discontinued.

In 1997, members of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee reportedly told Senate President Lane Beattie, Rep. Marty Stephens and then-House Speaker Mel Brown of incentives given to International Olympic Committee members.

“[SLOC President] Frank Joklik told us about scholarships,” Beattie said. “He said, ‘Here’s what I found out and I’ve cut them off.’ ”

But a ledger of IOC-related payments shows the SLOC continued to pay tuition for at least one IOC offspring, Libya’s Suhel Attarabulsi, until Oct. 21, 1998. . . . The International Fencing Federation will drop plans to use new wireless technology for epee events in Sydney after fencers said the equipment was making scoring errors.

Winter Sports

Mario Matt, starting 47th, completed an Austrian sweep of the weekend’s races on the Hahnenkamm with a surprise win in the slalom at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Matt put together two daring runs for an aggregate time of 1 minute 42.79 seconds. He finished nearly a second ahead of Matjaz Vrhovnik of Slovenia.

Sweden’s Anna Ottosson charged down a steep and twisting giant slalom in a combined time of 2:45.76 at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, for her first World Cup win. . . . Ladislav Rygl won a Nordic combined event before his home crowd at Liberec, Czech Republic, finishing the 15-kilometer cross-country race in 41 minutes, 34.1 seconds. . . . Chris Witty of West Allis, Wis., set a world outdoor record at the World Cup speedskating sprints at Butte, Mont. Witty covered the women’s 1,000 meters in 1 minute 16.96 seconds, nearly a full second ahead of runner-up Edel Therese Hoiseth of Norway. The indoor world record is 1:14.61, held by Germany’s Monique Garbrecht, who finished third in 1:18.12.

Miscellany

Under Texas law, a 1984 felony conviction will keep former Dallas Cowboy Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson from running for an Austin City Council seat, the secretary of state’s office said.

Magic Johnson scored 17 points as Magic M7 beat Molndals-Kvarnsby, 88-65, in a Swedish Basketball League game at Boras, Sweden.

France’s Jean-Louis Schlesser and Andorra’s Henri Magne won the Dakar Rally at Cairo, Egypt, finishing more than 12 minutes ahead of their closest competitors. Jimmy Lewis of Costa Mesa finished third in the motorcycle category.