Shani Davis Wins Second Straight Gold

With a furious kick on the final lap Wednesday, Shani Davis stuck his skate across the line and won his second straight gold medal in 1,000-meter Olympic speedskating.

China to implement “No Africans” policy for Olympics.

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A Hong Kong based newspaper; the South China Morning Post has reported that the Chinese government has secretly implemented plans to prevent restaurants and bars in Beijing from serving Africans during the Olympics. The newspaper report which has been denied by the Beijing police claimed the carte blanc order was introduced by the Chinese authorities to clamp down on drug dealing in the city which the Chinese claim is controlled by African gangs.

China to implement “No Africans” policy for Olympics....

MARION JONES' MEDALS OFFICIALLY SNATCHED

IOC lowers the final hammer on track star following steroid admission.




Marion Jones was officially stripped of her five Olympic medals Wednesday by The International Olympic Committee following her admission that she lied about using performance enhancing drugs.

The IOC also banned the former track star from attending next year's Beijing Olympics in any capacity and said it could bar her from all future games. Last month, the International Association of Athletics Federations erased all of Jones' results dating to September 2000, but it was up to the IOC to formally disqualify her and erase her Olympic medals.

Jones won gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay in Sydney, and bronze in the long jump and 100-meter relay. She was the first female track and field athlete to win five medals at a single Olympics.


In addition to the Olympic medals, the IOC also disqualified Jones from her 7th-place finish in the long jump at the 2004 Athens Olympics. As previously reported, Jones had already handed back the three gold medals and two bronze she won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.


The IOC postponed a decision on redistributing her medals, including whether to strip her American relay teammates and whether to upgrade doping-tainted Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou to gold in the 100. The reshuffling of Jones' medals could affect the medal status of more than three dozen other athletes.

AL SHARPTON VS. CHICAGO POLICE

Rev. Al Sharpton has turned his attention toward the Chicago police department and its longstanding allegations of brutality, just as the city prepares to mount a campaign to host the 2016 Olympics.


The activist has given Mayor Richard Daley until Dec. 29 to respond to a series of recommendations Sharpton announced Monday to reform the police department. If no contact is made by the deadline, Sharpton said he will make good on his threat to lobby against the city's Olympic bid by launching an international press tour featuring victims allegedly abused by Chicago cops.


"The Olympics can be a point of leverage for people in this city that have not been able to get direct action by the city fathers," said Sharpton, president of the National Action Network.


Sharpton recommended that the U.S. Justice Department take control of the city's police force; that the city reject Daley's choice for police superintendent, J.P. "Jody" Weiss, because of what Sharpton called a lack of community input into his selection; and that the head of the Independent Police Review Authority be prohibited from speaking publicly about misconduct cases until agency investigations are completed.

When asked about Sharpton's threats at an unrelated news conference, Daley said, "He can do that; that is part of America."

Chicago beat out several other U.S. cities to become the U.S. Olympic Committee's nominee for the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee will pick the host city in 2009.


• Chicago's police department has been beset by claims that officers abused their positions. Four inmates were recently awarded almost $20 million between them to settle lawsuits claiming they had been tortured by a former lieutenant into falsely confessing to crimes.

• In July, prosecutors accused officers of torturing suspects in the 1980s.

• In September, four special operations members were charged with robbery, kidnapping and making false arrests.

• The department has also has been embarrassed by other accusations of brutality — some caught on tape, including the alleged beating of a female bartender by an off-duty officer.