Friday, Jun. 06, 2008

Shawn Johnson leads U.S. women's gymnastics championships

BOSTON — Reigning world champion Shawn Johnson showed she's still the one to beat Thursday night, taking a solid lead at the U.S. gymnastics championships with a score of 63.450.

Nastia Liukin, expected to challenge Johnson all the way through Beijing, was 1.15 points behind after posting a 17.05 on uneven bars that was the highest mark for an American woman — on any event — since gymnastics went to its new, open-ended scoring system two years ago. The finals are Saturday night.

The biggest surprise might have come from Chellsie Memmel. She became only the third U.S. woman to win the world title in 2005 (Johnson has since become the fourth), but she missed much of the last two years with a devastating shoulder injury. She finished third after posting the second-highest scores of the night on balance beam and uneven bars.

She did so well that her father and coach, Andy, gave her four smiley-face stickers afterward.

"I couldn't be happier," she said, beaming.

Boxing

Maybe now we know why former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield wants to keep fighting at age 45. The "Real Deal" appears real broke.

His $10 million estate in suburban Atlanta is under foreclosure, the mother of one of his children is suing for unpaid child support, and a Utah consulting company has gone to court claiming he failed to pay back a half-million dollars for landscaping. The 54,000-square-foot home has 109 rooms, including 17 bathrooms, three kitchens and a bowling alley.

College Basketball

Indiana University believes there is enough evidence to show former coach Kelvin Sampson provided false and misleading information to investigators, didn't appropriately monitor his staff and failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance during his 1½ years at the school. The revelations were made in a case summary detailing the NCAA's four major accusations against Sampson, his staff and the Hoosiers.

Olympics

The International Olympic Committee ratified a new rule to keep convicted doping cheats out of future Olympics. Athletes will be banned from the following Olympic Games if they received a drug suspension of at least six months in the previous four-year period. The rule goes into effect on July 1 and will first apply to eligibility for the 2010 Winter Games.

College Football

Former Texas Tech defensive tackle Stoney Garland, who was paralyzed in a car accident more than a decade ago, has died at his home in Plains, Texas. He was 33.

Soccer

Juan Pablo Angel scored on a header in the 75th minute and host New York beat Chivas USA 1-0 in MLS play.

General

Administrators were having a hard time getting behind shirts bearing a slogan at Utah State University in Logan. At Utah State, "A" stands for Aggies. But when inserted into a slogan proposed for the back of T-shirts to be worn at basketball and football games, it takes on a new meaning: "I'm Proud of My A."

So Lance Brown, designer of the shirt and a member of student government, changed a word and came up with: "I'm Proud of the A." The shirt's front reads, "Go Blue or Go Home."