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Walsh, May-Treanor Start Making Plans

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 22, 2008

BEIJING - Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor defended their Athens gold medal with a dominating run through the 2008 Games. But now, with both players having entered their 30s, Walsh and May-Treanor plan to take an extended break in their volleyball careers to start families - May-Treanor with husband Matt Treanor of the Florida Marlins, and Walsh with her husband Casey Jennings, also a pro beach volleyball player.

They plan to take 2009 off entirely, and their comeback plans remain vague, if they come back at all.

"I'd like to give it a year or so," May-Treanor said, her gold medal around her neck and still soaked after playing in the rain. "I'd like to coach and teach. I'd like to get my master's. Maybe even start a beach program. But a lot of women have had children and rush to get back. But I'd like to spend time and see the child grow.

"We want to go maybe for a third gold. But babies first. Priorities change."

With careers that have featured national championships in college - May-Treanor at Long Beach State and Walsh at Stanford - and more than 200 beach titles between them, the motherhood portion of the program is on deck.

"I would like to see my husband for longer than a day and have a family," May-Treanor said. "In 2007, I saw Treanor for two weeks between February to November. The last time I saw him for a couple days was All-Star break, so that was July 17.

"The time has come, and it's going to be exciting to come home and say, 'Honey, what's for dinner?'"

There is still a tour schedule to complete this year, so the time off isn't coming just yet.

And the more you listen to May-Treanor, the more it seems obvious the pair will attempt a comeback together.

Asked if another team can match their accomplishments on the beach, May-Treanor didn't answer with an "if" but a "when."

"I think it's going to be pretty hard," she said. "I think when Kerri and I come back, we can do it again."

Pingpong To End Glue Dependency

In a narrow tent outside Peking University's gymnasium, table tennis players sit shoulder to shoulder, applying a performance-enhancer for the last time at an Olympics.

Not steroids or human growth hormone. The substance of choice here is speed glue.

The adhesive, which sticks rubber skins to rackets, also helps increase ball speed and spin and has been favored by top paddlers since a forgetful Yugoslavian player discovered its benefits by accident in the 1970s. The glue's effect is multiplied if applied immediately before a match.

One week after the last of the sport's four gold medals is awarded Saturday at the gymnasium, speed-gluing will be banned and table tennis will enter a new era of reduced turn and torque.

"A lot of players attribute their wins to the glue," said Bob Fox, U.S. table tennis team leader at the past four Olympics. "That's going to be very interesting, to see how people adapt."

IOC Chides Bolt For Lack Of Respect

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt on Thursday for showing a lack of respect to other competitors after his record-breaking gold-medal performances in the 100 and 200 meters.

"That's not the way we perceive being a champion," Rogge said.

The IOC chief hailed Bolt's stunning achievements in the sprints, comparing him to American great Jesse Owens, but he said Bolt should have cut out the look-at-me flaunting and acknowledged the other athletes.

"I have no problem with him doing a show," Rogge said in an interview with three international news agency reporters. "I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters."

Having built a huge lead in Saturday's 100 final, Bolt slowed, glanced around with arms outstretched and pounded his chest before crossing the finish line in a world-record time of 9.69 seconds.

Bolt, who turned 22 on Thursday, stormed to another one-sided victory Wednesday night in the 200. He made little effort to congratulate the other runners as he wrapped himself in a Jamaican flag and set off on a solo victory lap. Swaying to the reggae music on the stadium loudspeakers, he walked barefoot around the track, putting his face inches from a TV camera, raising an index finger and yelling, "I am No. 1! I am No. 1!"

IOC Temporarily Suspends Ukrainian After Failed Test

Heptathlon silver medalist Lyudmila Blonska was kicked out of the women's long jump final Thursday following her positive doping test.

The International Olympic Committee temporarily suspended the Ukrainian athlete from the Games pending a final ruling today, the same day as the medal round of the long jump.

Four Team-Jumping Horses Suspended For Doping

HONG KONG - Four horses in the Olympic equestrian team jumping competition, including one from Norway's bronze-medal team, have been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned pain reliever.

The drug test results - positive for capsaicin in each case - were announced Thursday afternoon by the sport's international governing body.

The horse Camiro, ridden by Tony Andre Hansen, was part of Norway's bronze-medal team, and the team could lose its medal. The other three horses are Ireland's Lantinus, ridden by Dennis Lynch; Brazil's Chupa Chup, ridden by Bernardo Alves; and Germany's Coster, ridden by Christian Ahlmann.

A second blood sample for each horse will be tested in an "accelerated procedure" in the next two days.

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