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Dog Meat Off The Menu

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The Associated Press

Published: July 12, 2008

BEIJING - Canine cuisine is being sent to the doghouse during next month's Beijing Olympic Games.

Dog meat has been struck from the menus of officially designated Olympic restaurants, and Beijing tourism officials are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

Waiters and waitresses should "patiently" suggest other options to diners who order dog, it said, quoting city tourism bureau vice director Xiong Yumei.

Dog, known in Chinese as "xiangrou," or "fragrant meat," is eaten by some Chinese for its purported health-giving qualities.

Beijing isn't the first Olympic host to slap a ban on the dish.

South Korea banned dog meat during the 1988 Seoul Olympics by invoking a law prohibiting the sale of "foods deemed unsightly." After the Olympics, the ban was not strictly enforced.

Dog meat is also eaten in some other Asian countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos.

Pistorius Fails Again To Qualify For Games

Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius has missed out in another attempt to qualify for the Olympics.

The South African timed 46.62 seconds to finish seventh in the 400-meter B race at the Golden Gala meet Friday in Rome. He must run a 45.55 to qualify for the Olympics.

His personal best is 46.36.

Pistorius resumed training less than two months ago after a sports arbitration court ruled he was eligible to run in Beijing.

Swimmer Shanteau Has Testicular Cancer
Olympic swimmer Eric Shanteau is heading to Beijing with a startling diagnosis: He has cancer.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Shanteau said he learned just a week before the Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb., that he has testicular cancer. His doctors cleared him to compete in that meet and he surprisingly made the team in the 200-meter breaststroke, finishing second ahead of former world-record holder and heavy favorite Brendan Hansen.

"I was sort of like, 'This isn't real. There's no way this is happening to me right now,'" Shanteau said. "You're trying to get ready for the Olympics, and you just get this huge bomb dropped on you."

Luckily for Shanteau, the doctors determined his cancer was treatable and had not spread, so it wouldn't be a risk to compete in the Olympic trials.

Now, Shanteau's putting off surgery until after Beijing because he doesn't want to disrupt his lifelong goal of swimming in the Olympics. The 24-year-old Georgia native will be monitored closely over the next month and vows to withdraw from the team if there's any sign his cancer is spreading.

Radcliffe Still Hopes To Make Beijing

Marathon world-record holder Paula Radcliffe is in training and still hopes to overcome a stress fracture in her left thigh to compete at the Beijing Olympics next month. Radcliffe's agent said the 34-year-old runner, who was diagnosed with the problem in May while having an MRI for a hip problem, was still optimistic about going to the games.

"Paula is back running," Sian Masterton told the British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday. "She is training at high intensity, and the goal is very much to be in Beijing."

She was the favorite for the gold medal in the marathon at the 2004 Athens Games but dropped out about a mile from the end, and also dropped out of the 10,000 meters a few days later with eight laps remaining.

Bogut Selected To Australian Olympic Team

Center Andrew Bogut was selected to Australia's Olympic basketball team Friday, a day after agreeing to a $72.5 million, five-year contract extension with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.

Bogut will join European-based players David Anderson and Matthew Nielsen in a strong team that also includes veteran Chris Anstey and six players making their Olympic debuts.

U.S. Softball Team Tops All-Stars 31-0

Crystl Bustos hit two of the U.S.'s seven home runs as the national softball squad blanked the Spokane All-Stars 31-0 Thursday in Spokane, Wash.

"We were seeing the ball well," Bustos said. "We had a really intense week of training - double practices, weights and optional hitting off live pitching."

Cat Osterman allowed three hits and struck out 21.

Isinbayeva Vaults To World Record

Russian Yelena Isinbayeva has improved her own pole vault world record to 16 feet, 6 inches.

The Russian cleared the record height (5.03 meters) with ease on her second attempt Friday at the Golden Gala meet in Rome, nearly three years after her previous record of 16-51/4 (5.01 meters) at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, Finland.

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