■ PHILIPPINES
Winner set for windfall
The Philippine government and the private sector are offering 9.5 million pesos (US$220,000) to any athlete who brings home the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal, an official said yesterday. The most recent medal of any color was silver in boxing in Atlanta in 1996. “This is an incentive. The first gold winner will get the money,” said Philippine Olympic Committee spokesman Joey Romasanta. The government pledged 5 million pesos and the rest came from donations from the private sector, Romasanta said.
■ UNITED STATES
Coach faces fight for life
US swimmer Dara Torres, set for her fifth Olympics next month in Beijing at age 41, is devastated as her coach for the past two years, Michael Lohberg, faces an unexpected fight for his life. The Miami Herald reported he had been diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder. “It’s so awful — really, really terrible. I can’t even talk about it right now. I haven’t stopped crying,” Torres told the newspaper. “They told me I might last only weeks or maybe even days ... Without treatment, I might not make it to Monday,” Lohberg said. Treatment can include blood transfusion or a bone marrow transplant. “I have always had a good outlook on things, so I will fight this as hard as I can and see if I can make it,” Lohberg told the Herald.
■ AUSTRALIA
Viagra abuse a risk: scientist
Next month’s Olympics may be remembered for the abuse of Viagra and other legal drugs among athletes, a leading Australian sports scientist said yesterday. Robin Parisotto, principal scientist involved in the development of a test for the banned blood booster EPO (erythroipoietin), said legal drugs including Viagra and psychological medicines also enhance athletic performance. The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering including Viagra on its list of banned substances, but a decision will not be made until after this year’s Olympics. “Any physical activity that goes for longer than two minutes would be a beneficiary of something like Viagra, just like the normal blood-doping drugs.” Parisotto told ABC Radio. The former senior scientist with the Australian Institute of Sport said Viagra had the same benefits as blood doping because it opens up arteries and veins — “and not only in the private parts.” But the erectile dysfunction drug isn’t the only legal medicine that can boost an athlete’s performance. Drugs used for psychological purposes can help competitors gain a mental edge, Parisotto said. “With sport quite often it comes down to a battle of wills and as you become fatigued you become confused and your judgement is not so good,” he said. “So to take a drug which will keep your mind clear and focused certainly is another area of drug-taking that would be of benefit to athletes.”
■ GERMANY
Rights group fears for horses
An animal rights group has called for the country’s equestrian team to pull out of the Olympics because of fears over the extreme temperatures horses will endure. The equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong’s sweltering heat and the German Animal Defense Association fears for the animals’ lives. “We are afraid of collapses and injuries because of the high workload the animals face in high temperatures,” spokesman Thomas Schroeder told the Sport-Bild Web site. “There is a real danger in that heat of serious injury and in bad cases, animals may have to be put to sleep.”
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
‘BOWLINE’ AND ‘ARCTOS’: Roy Quaden was hit on the head by a boom, while Nick Smith was struck by the main sheet and thrown across the boat amid rough seas Two sailors have been killed in separate incidents in the treacherous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, officials said yesterday, as a string of yachts retired in powerful winds and high seas. One of the crew members, 55-year-old Roy Quaden on Flying Fish Arctos, was hit on the head by a boom as the fleet raced down the New South Wales coast, race organizers said. The other man, 65-year-old Nick Smith, was struck by the main sheet aboard Bowline and thrown across the boat, said David Jacobs, vice commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. “Unfortunately, he hit his head on the winch, and
Liverpool on Thursday powered seven points clear at the top of the Premier League as the title favorites survived a scare in their 3-1 win against Leicester City, while Bruno Fernandes was sent off in Manchester United’s dismal 2-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Erling Haaland missed a penalty as crisis-torn Manchester City failed to end their dismal run with a 1-1 draw against Everton, but it was United’s travails and Liverpool’s remarkable run that took center-stage. Arne Slot’s side were shocked by Jordan Ayew’s early strike at Anfield, but the leaders recovered their composure to equalize just before the interval through Cody
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
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