OLYMPIC ROUNDUP \ News & notes

Greer makes track roster: Javelin thrower Breaux Greer made the U.S. track and field team for the Beijing Olympics, joining Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix and Jeremy Wariner on the 126-member roster. Greer, an eight-time national champion, didn’t qualify at the recent Olympic trials, finishing 17th and failing to reach the final round. But USA Track Field decided to place him on the team announced Monday, citing a rule that allows for “the selection of an injured athlete who competed in the Olympic trials but did not final ... as long as another athlete is not displaced from the team.” Greer hurt his shoulder while winning a bronze medal at last year’s world championships and hadn’t thrown in competition until the Olympic trials. Monday’s roster includes 15 Olympic medalists and 31 outdoor world championships medalists. The United States topped the track and field medal table at the 2004 Athens Olympics with 25. That was the country’s largest haul since taking home 30 medals from the track at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games.

Chambers’ appeal delayed: Dwain Chambers’ bid for a place at the Beijing Games was delayed until Thursday by a judge who will decide whether to overturn the British sprinter’s lifetime Olympic ban. The decision Monday leaves even less time for either Chambers or the British Olympic Association to appeal the judge’s verdict before Sunday’s deadline to submit the squad to the International Olympic Committee. The BOA asked for the hearing to be moved to allow chairman Colin Moynihan to return from an overseas trip. It was originally scheduled for Wednesday. Chambers, who served a two-year doping ban from 2003-05, will ask London’s High Court for an injunction against the BOA’s lifetime exclusion of drug cheats ahead of a full hearing after the August Games. He tested positive for the steroid THG, the drug at the center of the BALCO scandal, in August 2003.

Olympic warnings: For any Olympic fans wanting to make like Robin Hood, know this: Crossbows will be banned at venues. The Chinese government will be taking tough security measures when the Olympics begin in 3 1/2 weeks. It issued another reminder Monday about fan behavior and what not to bring into Olympic sites. Hoping to stage-manage a perfect show, Beijing organizers have been preaching “civilized behavior” for several years as the Aug. 8 games approach: no spitting, stand in line, and be polite to other nationalities. Zhang Zhenliang, a Beijing organizing committee official, said Monday the rules were aimed at “maintaining an orderly, civilized and peaceful environment at competition venues.” Zhang ran off a list of restricted articles, which he said was similar to other Olympics. The difference with these Olympics is the repeated emphasis on order, security and decorum for the Chinese. Banned items include guns, ammunition, crossbows, daggers, fireworks, flammable materials, corrosive chemicals and radioactive materials.

Associated Press