SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The governing body of U.S. track and field (USATF) is considering a request to bend its own rules and allow disgraced Olympic and world 400 meters champion LaShawn Merritt compete in this year’s world championships.

Merritt is scheduled to complete his 21-month doping suspension 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 but USATF bylaws require all athletes to compete in the trials to be considered for the American team.

“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.

SALVO, North Carolina, Jan 28 (Reuters) – The governing body of U.S. track and field (USATF) is considering a request to bend its own rules and allow disgraced Olympic and world 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt compete in this year’s world championships.

Merritt is scheduled to complete his 21-month doping suspension 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 but USATF bylaws require all athletes to compete in the trials to be considered for the American team.

“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.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The downtrodden Cleveland Cavaliers are on the verge of a record-setting tailspin just one year after being the NBA’s best regular-season team.

A Cleveland loss to Denver on Friday would equal the longest single-season losing streak ever by the once-proud franchise, which has been in a nosedive since the offseason departure of LeBron James.

Not since 1982 has a Cleveland team dropped 19 consecutive games.

“That’s something that we don’t need (reminding about),” Cavaliers forward Antawn Jamison told reporters after loss number 18, a demoralizing 112-97 defeat at Boston on Tuesday.

“The biggest thing for us is to go out there and compete, and not worry about what’s being said in the news, and how many we lost in a row, one off whatever record.”

The Cavaliers, with James leading the way, compiled a sparkling 61-21 regular season a year ago.

But James, an Ohio native, has taken his All-Star game to Miami, and the Cavaliers, an NBA-worst 8-37 and losers of a team-record 22 consecutive road games, are dredging up memories of the franchise’s wretched 1981-82 and 1982-83 teams.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – An IOC rule on Olympic eligibility for drug cheats is harming anti-doping efforts, a key U.S. official said Wednesday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule bans any athlete suspended for six months or more from competing in the next Olympics.

But it has had an unintended negative impact in several areas, U.S. Anti-Doping (USADA) Agency chief executive Travis Tygart told Reuters.

“The rule goes beyond the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) code and unintentionally has had the effect of deterring those who would otherwise provide substantial assistance to anti-doping authorities,” Tygart said in an email.

Tribunals determining the fate of drug-cheating athletes will often reduce sanctions “clearly to circumvent the IOC rule,” he added.

While USADA has pushed for increased sanctions for drug cheats, “we also firmly believe that each case should be reviewed by an independent legal tribunal to determine the fairness of the automatic application of the IOC rule,” Tygart said.

U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) chief executive Scott Blackmun has called for the IOC to participate in an arbitration of banned American Olympic 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt.

SALVO, North Carolina, Jan 12 (Reuters) – An IOC rule on Olympic eligibility for drug cheats is harming anti-doping efforts, a key U.S. official said Wednesday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule bans any athlete suspended for six months or more from competing in the next Olympics.

But it has had an unintended negative impact in several areas, U.S. Anti-Doping (USADA) Agency chief executive Travis Tygart told Reuters.

“The rule goes beyond the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) code and unintentionally has had the effect of deterring those who would otherwise provide substantial assistance to anti-doping authorities,” Tygart said in an email.

Tribunals determining the fate of drug-cheating athletes will often reduce sanctions “clearly to circumvent the IOC rule,” he added.

While USADA has pushed for increased sanctions for drug cheats, “we also firmly believe that each case should be reviewed by an independent legal tribunal to determine the fairness of the automatic application of the IOC rule,” Tygart said.

U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) chief executive Scott Blackmun has called for the IOC to participate in an arbitration of banned American Olympic 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – A young Kenyan provided athletics’ biggest breakthrough in a year when injuries and American Tyson Gay bested Usain Bolt.

Twice in one week, David Rudisha, 21 at the time, shattered the 800 metres world record that had stood for 13 years.

“Fantastic,” said Rudisha who became the first Kenyan, and the youngest man, to be named the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) athlete of the year after his hot August runs of one minute 41.09 seconds and 1:41.01 eclipsed Wilson Kipketer’s 1997 mark of 1:41.11.

“This is a happy moment and I think this is only the beginning,” Rudisha said upon returning home.

Gold medals will be his next target as the African champion takes aim at victories in the 2011 world championships and 2012 London Olympics.

“Running under 1:40 is far away,” said the lanky runner. “But I think 1:40 is possible.”

Such barrier-breaking had been the norm for Jamaican Bolt until 2010.

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – The popularity contest known as NFL Pro Bowl voting has not been kind to Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.

The highly successful player has Atlanta atop the NFC standings with an 11-2 record but is missing from the latest top 10 of All-Star candidates based on balloting by fans — a list that features six quarterbacks led by former Atlanta player Michael Vick, now of the Philadelphia Eagles.

“As good as Atlanta is right now, Atlanta is not a household name in Montana or Oregon,” NFL expert Gil Brandt told Reuters in explaining Ryan’s absence. “They don’t have the fan background like someone like the Mannings or Brady.”

For Brandt, though, there is no more valuable player in the NFL this season than Ryan.

While others point to red-hot New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as the man for the honor, Brandt said last week he was sticking with Ryan, his preseason pick.

“The guy just doesn’t make bad plays,” said Brandt, vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys for 29 years who now shares his expertise as an NFL.com writer and Sirius radio analyst.

“He has got great composure. There is no question he is really bright and he is probably a better athlete than you think he is,” Brandt said via telephone from Dallas. “He has got everything going that you need.”

SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) – If sprinter Justin Gatlin needs a road map in his journey back from a long doping suspension, world indoor winner Dwain Chambers might be a handy reference, according to the former U.S. Olympic and world champion’s new coach.

“Chambers, right there in England, made a substantial comeback,” U.S. coach of the year Brooks Johnson told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“If Justin does comparably as well, and I think he will, if not better, that would put him right there in the 100 (metres) game,” said Johnson, who became Gatlin’s coach this autumn.

“It’s not as if we are breaking new ground like Dwain did,” added the long-time coach, who also mentors 110 metres hurdles U.S. record holder David Oliver.

“There is a model of success out there. Just follow the (Chambers) model and get better at it.”

Chambers, Britain’s top sprinter, rallied from a two-year doping suspension for the banned steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) to become European and world indoor 60 metres champion.

Even after the ban, he experienced long stretches off the track in unsuccessful bids at American football and rugby league before finding his footing again in athletics.

SALVO, North Carolina, Dec 14 (Reuters) – If sprinter Justin Gatlin needs a road map in his journey back from a long doping suspension, British world indoor winner Dwain Chambers might be a handy reference, according to the former U.S. Olympic and world champion’s new coach.

“Chambers, right there in England, made a substantial comeback,” U.S. coach of the year Brooks Johnson told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“If Justin does comparably as well, and I think he will, if not better, that would put him right there in the 100 (metres) game,” said Johnson, who became Gatlin’s coach this autumn.

“It’s not as if we are breaking new ground like Dwain did,” added the long-time coach, who also mentors 110 metres hurdles U.S. record holder David Oliver.

“There is a model of success out there. Just follow the (Chambers) model and get better at it.”

Chambers, Britain’s top sprinter, rallied from a two-year doping suspension for the banned steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) to become European and world indoor 60 metres champion.

Even after the ban, he experienced long stretches off the track in unsuccessful bids at American football and rugby league before finding his footing again in athletics.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – The U.S.’s recent failure to secure major international sporting events is more about governing bodies exploring new opportunities than a backlash against America, experts told Reuters on Friday.

“These bodies are more willing to go to places that haven’t had the events before in a much more proactive way,” said U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) spokesman Patrick Sandusky.

The U.S., once the glowing hosts of Olympics and other major events, missed out on the 2022 soccer World Cup on Thursday when the finals went to the tiny Gulf state of Qatar and failed to land the 2016 Summer Games which went to Rio de Janeiro.

“I honestly think it’s less about anti-U.S. and more about looking at going into new frontiers, and you’ve seen that with Rio, Sochi, the South African World Cup to a Qatar World Cup,” added Sandusky via telephone from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Brazil will also host the 2014 World Cup while the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi has been chosen to stage that year’s Winter Games. South Africa held the World Cup this year.

WINNING TOUGH

One of the other hurdles U.S. bids have had to overcome is that American bids are all privately funded while most other countries have the full financial backing of their governments.