SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – NFL players and owners have been urged to resume talks aimed at ending their bitter labor dispute themselves after a U.S. judge said she would need around two weeks to make a ruling for an injunction against the league’s lockout.

The protracted row was no closer to being resolved after a full day of legal arguments in Minnesota on Wednesday.

Judge Susan Richard Nelson was asked by the players to grant an injunction to end a lockout imposed on them by the NFL but did not make a ruling when the hearing ended.

An attorney for the players, who include high-profile quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, had asked for an immediate ruling, saying the lockout was illegal.

But league attorney David Boies questioned whether the court had jurisdiction in the case, saying the National Labor Relations Board should first rule on an owners’ complaint against the players’ union.

Judge Nelson said she would take the case “under advisement” but would need about two weeks before making a ruling. In the meantime, she told the feuding sides they would be better off returning to the bargaining table under her supervision.

Both sides have indicated they would lodge an appeal if they lost the decision on the injunction, setting the stage for a long and costly legal battle.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – A sprint showdown between the world’s fastest men, Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, appears unlikely until the world championships in South Korea in August.

“I don’t think it is all that likely (before then),” Gay’s agent Mark Wetmore told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“It is a little early to know for sure. It’s still possible but there is not one planned at the moment.”

Jamaican Bolt has five European races scheduled ahead of the August 27-September 4 world championships in Daegu and his agent Ricky Simms is looking at two other possibilities including London.

Britain’s tax laws, though, could keep Bolt out of the London Diamond League meeting on August 5-6 just as they did in 2010.

While American Gay is expected to run in London again this year, Simms said he was concerned about the tax implications of an appearance by world record holder Bolt.

“The situation with London is a little more difficult with the taxes there,” Simms told Reuters. “We would like to run there but it is outside of our control really.”

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – Olympic bronze medalist David Oliver has withdrawn from this weekend’s U.S. indoor championships because of problems with his left calf, the year’s fastest hurdler said on Friday.

“It just tightened up on me in the middle of the race in Karlsruhe, Germany (on February 13) and the doctor suggested I take a few days off because scar tissue was pulling so tight on my calf,” Oliver told Reuters in a telephone interview from his Kissimmee, Florida, training base.

His coach, Brooks Johnson, still entered Oliver in the U.S. meeting scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but recently decided the hurdler should not compete.

“It’s nothing serious,” said Oliver. “I am back at practice after taking last week off. I just didn’t want to take any chances by running any more indoor meets.”

The U.S. record holder in the outdoor 110 meters hurdles, Oliver tore his left calf muscle in 2009.

“In the course of normal competition this winter and not getting enough therapy while I was in Europe, I wasn’t able to keep the scar tissue from tightening up on me,” he said.

Before the problem, Oliver had enjoyed his most successful season in the 60 meters hurdles, going undefeated in three indoor races to add to his win streak of 15 consecutive 110 meters hurdles victories outdoors last year.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – U.S. athletics officials hope a pair of collegiate coaches will be the tonic needed to ensure their Olympic teams at the 2012 London Games avoid repeating the disappointing 2008 showing in Beijing.

University of Maryland coach Andrew Valmon and University of Miami director of track and field Amy Deem were chosen on Thursday to lead U.S. athletics teams in London, where they will be expected to bring home 30 medals, seven more than an underachieving U.S. team won in Beijing.

“They are two very confident, young coaches,” USA Track and Field (USATF) president Stephanie Hightower said in a telephone interview from Birmingham, England. “I am thrilled with their selection. They bring a level of expertise that will motivate our athletes.”

USATF raised the bar for the London Games after dropped relay batons and missed anticipated medals at the 2008 Games led to a major review of its Olympic preparations.

Valmon, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the 4×400 metres relay, will coach the U.S. men, while Deem, a long-time coach at Miami, will direct the women.

“It is a difficult goal and a lot of things have to fall in place but it is obtainable,” Deem, who has coached at Miami for the past 20 years, said via telephone of the USATF’s 30-medal challenge. “We have great athletes.”

Both coaches have led U.S. national teams. Deem coached U.S. women at the 2007 world outdoor championships and Valmon directed U.S. men at the 2010 world indoor championships.

SALVO, North Carolina, Feb 17 (Reuters) – U.S. athletics officials hope a pair of collegiate coaches will be the tonic needed to ensure their Olympic teams at the 2012 London Games avoid repeating the disappointing 2008 showing in Beijing.

University of Maryland coach Andrew Valmon and University of Miami director of track and field Amy Deem were chosen on Thursday to lead U.S. athletics teams in London, where they will be expected to bring home 30 medals, seven more than an underachieving U.S. team won in Beijing.

“They are two very confident, young coaches,” USA Track and Field (USATF) president Stephanie Hightower said in a telephone interview from Birmingham, England. “I am thrilled with their selection. They bring a level of expertise that will motivate our athletes.”

USATF raised the bar for the London Games after dropped relay batons and missed anticipated medals at the 2008 Games led to a major review of its Olympic preparations.

Valmon, a two-time Olympic gold medallist in the 4×400 metres relay, will coach the U.S. men, while Deem, a long-time coach at Miami, will direct the women.

“It is a difficult goal and a lot of things have to fall in place but it is obtainable,” Deem, who has coached at Miami for the past 20 years, said via telephone of the USATF’s 30-medal challenge. “We have great athletes.”

Both coaches have led U.S. national teams. Deem coached U.S. women at the 2007 world outdoor championships and Valmon directed U.S. men at the 2010 world indoor championships.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – Despite unparalleled success as a cyclist, Lance Armstrong could never shed allegations he was a drug cheat.

Rumors spread for years that the seven times Tour de France winner who retired on Wednesday used performance-enhancing drugs to fuel his brilliant career.

Armstrong, a cancer survivor who has never failed a doping test, vehemently has denied the allegations.

Yet as he turns his attention to his campaign against cancer, Armstrong finds himself the subject of numerous allegations of doping and a federal investigation.

Former team mate and deposed Tour de France winner Floyd Landis last May accused Armstrong not only of using performance-enhancing drugs but teaching others how to avoid being caught.

Landis said he witnessed some of his team mates, including Armstrong, use illegal drugs, including once on a team bus during a race, to boost performance and endurance.

Landis also said Armstrong flew on charter flights that landed at private airports with less stringent customs checks, Sports Illustrated magazine reported.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The workload will be a little lighter when Usain Bolt goes for double gold at this year’s world championships and the 2012 London Olympics.

The Jamaican triple Olympic and world champion, like most other sprinters, will need to run only six races instead of the traditional eight he faced for a Beijing sprint double.

A streamlined scheduled announced Tuesday for the London Games and already approved for the Daegu world championships shaves two races from most sprinters’ programs as athletics officials look to make their sport more dynamic and time sensitive.

One round of the 200 meters has been shelved completely for all runners, male and female, and only sprinters without a qualifying standard would go through four rounds of the 100 meters.

Instead of having Bolt and sprinters like American Tyson Gay thrashing the competition in the opening round of the 100 meters, faster sprinters will draw byes and begin competition with the newly named round one.

“The idea is to have all the non-qualified runners compete in a qualifying round, then some of them would advance to round one,” IAAF competition director Paul Hardy said in a telephone interview from Monaco.

The non-qualifiers gain their opportunity because of an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rule allowing member federations who have no world championship and Olympic qualifiers to enter a male and a female in one event.

SALVO, North Carolina, Feb 15 (Reuters) – The workload will be a little lighter when Usain Bolt goes for double gold at this year’s world championships and the 2012 London Olympics.

The Jamaican triple Olympic and world champion, like most other sprinters, will need to run only six races instead of the traditional eight he faced for a Beijing sprint double.

A streamlined scheduled announced Tuesday for the London Games and already approved for the Daegu world championships shaves two races from most sprinters’ programmes as athletics officials look to make their sport more dynamic and time sensitive.

One round of the 200 metres has been shelved completely for all runners, male and female, and only sprinters without a qualifying standard would go through four rounds of the 100 metres.

Instead of having Bolt and sprinters like American Tyson Gay thrashing the competition in the opening round of the 100 metres, faster sprinters will draw byes and begin competition with the newly named round one.

“The idea is to have all the non-qualified runners compete in a qualifying round, then some of them would advance to round one,” IAAF competition director Paul Hardy said in a telephone interview from Monaco.

The non-qualifiers gain their opportunity because of an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rule allowing member federations who have no world championship and Olympic qualifiers to enter a male and a female in one event.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – Disgraced Olympic and world 400 meters champion LaShawn Merritt may take legal action if USA Track & Field (USATF) does not allow him to compete in this year’s world championships, his lawyer said on Friday.

Merritt’s 21-month doping suspension is scheduled to end on July 27, a month ahead of the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, but a month after the U.S. trials in Eugene, Oregon.

As the reigning world champion, Merritt would normally be an automatic qualifier for the world championships with the U.S. trials determining the other three American 400 meters competitors.

However, a USATF bylaw requires all athletes to compete in the U.S. world championship trials to be considered for the American team.

“Should USATF violate the binding arbitration (in Merritt’s doping case) … and attempt to preclude LaShawn Merritt from competing at the 2011 world championships, the matter would then unfortunately have to be resolved through the legal system,” Howard Jacobs, Merritt’s lawyer, said in an email to Reuters. The arbitration ruling denies the USATF and other governing bodies the right to exclude Merritt from events after his period of ineligibility expires if the reason for his exclusion would be related to his anti-doping rule violation, Jacobs said.

Since Merritt’s participation at Daegu would not affect other U.S. runners, “it is difficult to understand the logic under which USATF would defy the binding arbitration,” Jacobs said. USATF officials said earlier on Friday they were considering bending their rules so Merritt could compete. “Our question is, do we want to set ourselves up to create a precedent by allowing him to run,” USATF president Stephanie Hightower told Reuters in a telephone interview. “I am a strong believer in rules are rules. But as circumstances and situations change, my philosophy is that you keep an open mind.” U.S. DECISION The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said the issue was entirely up to the USATF to decide. “The ‘wild card’ IAAF rule clearly states that they (defending champions) are eligible only with the agreement of the national athletics federation,” spokesman Nick Davies said in an email to Reuters. “So if the U.S. was to insist on participation (in the American trials), he would not be able to compete in Daegu, even as a wild card,” Davies said. Merritt was suspended in 2010 after he tested positive for a banned substance he said was found in a male enhancement product. His participation in the 2012 London Olympics already is under question. An International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule prohibits athletes with doping suspensions of six or more months from competing in the next Olympics. But the U.S. panel of arbitrators who suspended Merritt said the rule could not be used to prevent him from competing in the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials or Olympic Games. The IOC disagrees and the case is expected to make its way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a final ruling.

“We continue to work behind the scenes in support of a resolution as quickly as possible,” U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) spokesman Patrick Sandusky told Reuters. (Editing by Julian Linden and Peter Rutherford)

SALVO, North Carolina, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Disgraced Olympic and world 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt may take legal action if USA Track & Field (USATF) does not allow him to compete in this year’s world championships, his lawyer said on Friday.

Merritt’s 21-month doping suspension is scheduled to end on July 27, a month ahead of the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, but a month after the U.S. trials in Eugene, Oregon.

As the reigning world champion, Merritt would normally be an automatic qualifier for the world championships with the U.S. trials determining the other three American 400 metres competitors.

However, a USATF bylaw requires all athletes to compete in the U.S. world championship trials to be considered for the American team.

“Should USATF violate the binding arbitration (in Merritt’s doping case) … and attempt to preclude LaShawn Merritt from competing at the 2011 world championships, the matter would then unfortunately have to be resolved through the legal system,” Howard Jacobs, Merritt’s lawyer, said in an email to Reuters.     The arbitration ruling denies the USATF and other governing bodies the right to exclude Merritt from events after his period of ineligibility expires if the reason for his exclusion would be related to his anti-doping rule violation, Jacobs said.

Since Merritt’s participation at Daegu would not affect other U.S. runners, “it is difficult to understand the logic under which USATF would defy the binding arbitration,” Jacobs said.      USATF officials said earlier on Friday they were considering bending their rules so Merritt could compete.    “Our question is, do we want to set ourselves up to create a precedent by allowing him to run,” USATF president Stephanie Hightower told Reuters in a telephone interview.     “I am a strong believer in rules are rules. But as circumstances and situations change, my philosophy is that you keep an open mind.”     U.S. DECISION     The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said the issue was entirely up to the USATF to decide.     “The ‘wild card’ IAAF rule clearly states that they (defending champions) are eligible only with the agreement of the national athletics federation,” spokesman Nick Davies said in an email to Reuters.     “So if the U.S. was to insist on participation (in the American trials), he would not be able to compete in Daegu, even as a wild card,” Davies said.     Merritt was suspended in 2010 after he tested positive for a banned substance he said was found in a male enhancement product.     His participation in the 2012 London Olympics already is under question.     An International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule prohibits athletes with doping suspensions of six or more months from competing in the next Olympics.     But the U.S. panel of arbitrators who suspended Merritt said the rule could not be used to prevent him from competing in the 2012 U.S. Olympic trials or Olympic Games.     The IOC disagrees and the case is expected to make its way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a final ruling.     “We continue to work behind the scenes in support of a resolution as quickly as possible,” U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) spokesman Patrick Sandusky told Reuters.     (Editing by Julian Linden and Peter Rutherford. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)  

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