Olympic Games

It started as kids’ alternative to moto cross and, 40 years later, it stands on the threshold of becoming an Olympic sport. According to an announcement released by the International Olympic Committee on Monday, BMX is now slated to join the Olympic program in 2008 in Beijing, replacing two yet-to-be-named track events that will be pulled. According to IOC president, Jacques Rogge, one women's and one men's BMX race will be added. Rogge called BMX a ``new, spectacular event.'' ``We believe that this introduction will definitely enhance the Olympic program,'' he said. The two new races

The former site of the Iraq National Olympic Headquarters, complete with its recognizable five rings on the wall outside and a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein inside the walls, stands a charred wreck. It sits near the Canal Expressway in Western Baghdad, filled with a few poor Baghdad residents sifting through the wreckage for something useful to loot. Already, the head of the statue of Saddam that once stood outside had been sawed off and taken away. According to the New York Times, a metal framework used for administering electric shocks to athletes who didn’t perform, was taken to a

He’s not ready to broach retirement talk just yet, but Marc Gullickson is smart enough to see the writing on the wall. While most of the high-profile mountain-bike teams have finalized their rosters for 2003, the 35-year-old finds himself without a contract very late in the off-season-signing game. “I’m still holding out hope, but it’s not looking great,” says the 10-year pro who spent the last three seasons with the Mongoose-Hyundai squad before being let go after the 2002 campaign. “They lost a couple co-sponsors, so now it’s just down to Todd [Wells] and Eric [Carter].” Gully, as he’s

Carl Swenson traded in his knobby tires for cross-country skis Saturday in a run for a gold medal at the XIX Winter Olympic Games. The professional mountain-bike racer came up short of the medal podium – he finished 37th in the men’s 30km freestyle mass start – after he said his legs “tightened up.” ”It was a disappointing day. I just seized up and I couldn’t recover,” Swenson said after racing on the challenging, high-altitude course in the shadow of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains south of Park City. “My muscles were tight and I ran out of energy.” More than 15,000 fans packed the course as