| Olympic News: |
| A member of Paris' Olympic bid committee was among 47 people who went on trial Monday in a major political corruption case.
Guy Drut, also an IOC member and former French sports minister, is accused in a party funding scandal dating to the 1990s. Drut, one of four former ministers charged, denies wrongdoing. The case centers on a secret deal in which companies allegedly funneled millions of dollars in kickbacks to France's major political parties in exchange for contracts to build and renovate schools. Drut is accused of receiving thousands of dollars in kickbacks between 1990 and 1993. Paris is considered the front-runner in the vote for the 2012 Olympics, vying with London, New York, Madrid and Moscow. The International Olympic Committee is to select the winner in Singapore on July 6, and Drut is not expected to take the stand until May in a trial expected to run through July. The Paris bid committee had no comment on the case Monday, committee spokesman Jerome Lenfant said. IOC president Jacques Rogge and the IOC ethics commission have been aware of the case for at least seven months, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. Drut, the 1976 Olympic champion in the 110-meter hurdles, was sports minister from 1995-97 and has been an IOC member since 1996. |
| More Olympic News: |
| A former priest who jumped out of the crowd and knocked over the leader during last year's Olympic marathon has been ordered by a court to keep away from next month's London Marathon.
During the Athens race, Cornelius Horan, an Irish ex-priest dressed in a kilt and beret, grabbed Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima and pushed him into the crowd. De Lima, who had been in first place, ended up with a bronze medal. Greece gave Horan a suspended jail sentence for the stunt. Horan ran onto the track during the 2003 British Formula One Grand Prix and tried to disrupt last year's London marathon. London's Metropolitan Police said they had obtained an order that would subject Horan to arrest if he enters any London borough along the route of next month's race, except the borough where he lives, where he must stay away from the route. "Given the scale of the operation, it is not possible to ensure that any individual bent on mischief can break through the crowds and we needed a measure that would prohibit Mr Horan from being anywhere near the event," police said in a statement. Horan has said he is sorry he knocked over De Lima and does not intend to disrupt any more sporting events. |