Four sprinters who were stripped of their 2000 Olympics relay medals because teammate Marion Jones was using performance enhancing drugs won an appeal Friday to have them restored.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the women, who had appealed the International Olympic Committee’s decision to disqualify them from the Sydney Games. The court said the IOC and International Association of Athletics Federations rules in 2000 did not allow entire teams to be disqualified because of doping by one athlete, reports the AP.

The IOC said the ruling was “disappointing and especially unfortunate for the athletes of the other teams who competed according to the rules.”

In Sydney, Jearl Miles-Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson were part of the squad that won gold in the 4×400 relay. Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Nanceen Perry and Passion Richardson were on the 4×100 bronze medal squad. All but Perry joined the appeal.

“The panel found that at the time of the Sydney Olympic Games there was no express IOC or IAAF rule in force that clearly allowed the IOC to annul the relay team results if one team member was found to have committed a doping offense,” CAS said.

In 2007, Jones admitted she was doping in Sydney and also lost her individual golds in the 100 and 200 meters and bronze in the long jump. She spent about six months in a Texas prison in 2008 for lying about using performance-enhancing drugs and her role in a check-fraud scam.

She has since made a comeback in basketball with the Tulsa Shock of the WNBA.

“I’ve totally moved on,” Jones told The AP on Friday in San Antonio, where the Shock were preparing to play the Silver Stars. “I’m moving forward.”

Jones said she had not heard about the CAS decision and had not spoken to her former Olympic teammates recently. She declined further comment.

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All it took was one jump from a cell phone tower stretching 259 ft. high into the sky and a fall that was a mere  5 seconds to end a life over the weekend. Now most would reason that over course you would die if you purposely leaped off of any building that tall but this was no suicide. But not only is one  man dead another faces trespassing charges after the two BASE-jumped from the tower. Base jumping is a type of extreme sports activity that consist of an individual jumping from a fixed object with a packed parachute. It is suppose to be some type of joy for those intense thrill seekers, but it simply sounds stupid.

Jason James Tompsett, of the 5000 block of School Road in Virginia Beach, was charged with one count of trespassing after the incident. According to a city press release, Tompsett contacted police just before 5 a.m. Friday to report an injured person. He gave emergency responders directions to the remote location. The victim was dead when emergency crews arrived. Both Tompsett and the victim who has now been identified as Tyler S. Stimson are both U.S. Navy Seals and members of the East Coast- based Seal Team. Police do not yet know what type of error or malfunction, if any led to the man’s death.

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The Rev. Jesse Jackson blasted the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday for treating Miami-bound LeBron James like a “runaway slave.” The civil rights leader slammed owner Dan Gilbert for calling James “disloyal” and “a coward” in an open letter to Cavaliers fans.

“He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” Jackson told The Associated Press. “His feelings of betrayal personify a slave-master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave.” Moments after James, 25, who was born and raised in Ohio, announced in a hour-long ESPN special Thursday that he was going to South Florida, Gilbert ripped his former franchise player. “You simply don’t deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal,” Gilbert told Cleveland’s long-suffering fans on the Cavaliers Web site.

Gilbert called James “narcissistic” and “heartless.” He even put a hex on the two-time NBA MVP, writing “the self-declared former ‘King’ will be taking the ‘curse’ with him down South.” Jackson described Gilbert’s lambasting of James as “mean, arrogant and presumptuous” – and an insult to NBA players who choose to exercise their labor rights.

“LeBron is not a child, nor is he bound to play on Gilbert’s plantation and be demeaned,” Jackson said. “He has been a model citizen and has inspired the children of Akron, Cleveland, the state of Ohio and the United States.”

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In the end, it’s Spain hoisting the 2010 FIFA World Cup trophy. It’s the first World Cup championship for Spain, the pre-tournament favorite, which defeated Netherlands 1-0 in the World Cup final. Spain is the eighth country to win the World Cup, and the first first-time winner since France won in 1998. Andrés Iniesta scored the eventual game-winner in the final minutes of extra time. Spain capitalized on the man advantage, after Netherlands defender John Heitinga was sent off. The win came after a rough game, that featured plenty of yellow cards, but no scoring during regulation.
Spain is now the first country to win the World Cup after losing its first contest. La Furia Roja fell to Switzerland in a shocking upset to open the tournament before regaining form.

Since that loss, Spain — the Group H winner — has won six consecutive matches, including an arresting 1-0 win against Germany in the semifinal to reach the World Cup final. FIFA already recognized Spain’s impressive run by placing three Spanish players on the shortlist for Golden Ball award nominees, more than any other team. Note: The game got off to a curious start when Jimmy Jump, a man notorious for his sporting event invasions, attempted to place a hat on the World Cup trophy.

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I don’t know what was more shocking bearing witness to an active black Republican or seeing his race take off in the state of South Carolina. An influential anti-tax group is putting money behind national conservative endorsements for a black Republican facing the son of former segregationist Strom Thurmond in a South Carolina congressional runoff. Federal Election Commission records Monday showed that the Club for Growth political action committee spent about $54,000 in the past two weeks for third-party ads and mailings supporting Tim Scott against Paul Thurmond in the 1st Congressional District.

Scott, 44, got more than 30 percent of the vote in the nine-way primary on June 8. Thurmond, 34, got about half that. There’s a runoff Tuesday because no one received more than 50 percent of the vote in the coastal district that runs from Charleston to Myrtle Beach.

Scott has been endorsed by former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican whip. The contest could be an indicator of the GOP’s ability to diversify. The Washington-based Club for Growth, which promotes reducing taxes, budget reform and free trade, has only endorsed 12 candidates nationwide — three of them Republicans from South Carolina.

The others are U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint and state representative Jeff Duncan in his runoff campaign in the 3rd District against businessman Richard Cash. FEC records show the group spent just under $100,000 on ads during the past two weeks supporting Duncan.”My opponent has been backed by special interests; he’s been backed by Washington insiders,” Thurmond said Monday. “You have to ask who is he beholden to. Who is he gonna have to ask before he makes a decision?” The winner will face Democrat Ben Frasier to replace retiring Republican Rep. Henry Brown.
Scott’s latest campaign filing, running through June 2, shows that of $416,000 contributed, about $95,000 were contributions from individuals solicited through Club for Growth.
Thurmond had raised $336,000, the FEC filings showed.

“This is a grass roots organization with members from throughout the country who are tired of out-of-control spending, out-of-control earmarks and the insanity in Washington,” said Joe McKeown, a spokesman for Scott.
He said the group, after interviewing the candidates, felt it was important Scott be elected. He said voters don’t want to be told what to do by outsiders but “they’re wise. They’re smart. They are going to look at both records and find that Tim Scott is the better candidate.”

Mike Connolly, a Club for Growth spokesman, said the group supports candidates it feels can win.
“We want to endorse generally viable candidates,” he said. “We want to find people in viable races, races they can win and where we can make a difference.” Cash, running against Duncan, said Monday “this one special interest group has flooded the race. Club for Growth is trying to buy the seat.” The latest FEC report shows Cash raised about $192,000 for his campaign.
Contributions solicited from individuals through the club comprise about $82,000 of the $369,000 donated to Duncan’s campaign, the records show. Duncan disagrees with Cash that it’s special interest money because each check comes from an individual who wrote it to the campaign. He said he’s never received a check from the Club for Growth, but rather from its members “because I’m the identified conservative in the race.”

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According to ESPN, future Ohio State football player, Jamal Turner, is reportedly listed in critical condition after being shot multiple times early Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the 17-year-old girl he was with was pronounced dead after being shot multiple times also. Ohio State head coach, Jim Tressel issued a brief statement on the situation Saturday night saying, “I’m so sad to hear of Jamel’s misfortune. I have not communicated with Jamel, but am certainly praying for him at this time.”

This is very sad news. It also demonstrates the need to stop the violence all across the land. Jamel is a four-star recruit, via Scout, and was offered a scholarship by Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, and made the decision to enroll at Ohio State in February. We wish Jamel a full recovery.

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Basketball fans sparked a riot in Los Angeles last night after the local team won the NBA Championship.
Supporters of the LA Lakers threw rocks and bottles, torched cars and smashed windows after their team’s 83-79 victory over the Boston Celtics. Initially celebrations outside the side’s Staples Centre stadium in the city centre were warm and friendly following the historic win in the last of seven games in the final.
But within hours, violence had spread throughout the city.

Dozens of arrest were made as troublemakers in several locations threw rocks and bottles, set cars on fire, got into fights, and in some cases harassed motorists trying to leave the area, police said. ‘As the crowds left the area, we had some groups that decided to celebrate irresponsibly,’ LAPD spokeswoman Mary Grady said ‘It’s unfortunate, because you had a great game, and you had a great victory by the Lakers, and unfortunately some people decide that this is how they’re going to celebrate.

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Celebs and our First Family were at the Staples Center last night cheering on the Lakers to a serious win.

The altercation happened as Ojinnaka was preparing to watch a basketball game Tuesday night, the police report said. Ojinnaka told police his wife tried to stab him with a pen, and she said he threw her on some stairs before tossing her out of the house, the police report said.Neither Ojinnaka nor his wife complained of injuries and declined medical assistance, police said.

He was booked into the Gwinnett County Jail at 1:40 a.m. last Wednesday on a misdemeanor charge of simple battery, according to jail records. He was released about four hours later after posting a $2,400 bond. He will sit out the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 12.

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