OLYMPIC ROUNDUP FRIDAY’s RECAPS

Opening ceremony

Soccer great Pele skips pageantry

RIO DE JANEIRO

Pele did not attend Friday’s opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics because of poor health, denying Brazilians a chance to celebrate their greatest sports figure.

The 75-year-old soccer great said this week he had been invited to light the cauldron, though that was not confirmed by Rio organizers.

Pele had hip surgery recently and often walks with a cane. His absence — in any role — will be a huge disappointment to fans and organizers. He is easily Brazil’s most recognizable athlete — or former athlete — though he stopped playing almost 40 years ago.

Track Cycling

Italian team replaces Russian squad

RIO DE JANEIRO

The Italian men’s pursuit team was added to the track cycling program at the Olympics on Friday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the decision to bar Russia’s squad from competing.

Kiril Sveshnikov, Dmitry Sokolov and Dmitry Strakhov appealed to CAS after they were included in the McLaren report that detailed state-directed doping across numerous winter and summer sports.

Their pursuit teammate Sergey Shilov was cleared to compete in Saturday’s road race and presumably could have ridden on the track, while teammate Viktor Manakov had never been implicated.

Cycling’s governing body, the UCI, told The Associated Press that it consulted with the IOC before reallocating Russia’s vacated team pursuit spot to Italy.

BOXING

Moroccan accused of sexual assault

RIO DE JANEIRO

A Moroccan Olympic boxer was arrested Friday on allegations he sexually assaulted two Brazilian housekeepers in the Olympic Village.

Police said the possible attacks by Hassan Saada happened Wednesday. The women filed a report this week, saying the 22-year-old boxer asked them to go to his room, then restrained and fondled them, chief investigator Carolina Salomao said.

“They were cleaning the room right across his, and he assaulted them. He groped the breast of one of them and touched the other woman’s thigh. They were able to get out,” Salomao told reporters.

The detective said Saada shared the room with two other athletes, but was alone at the time of the alleged assault.

Saada will be jailed for 15 days while they investigate. Under Brazilian law, suspects can be held for a long period while a case is examined.

It’s not clear what charges he is facing.

DOPING

USOC chairman stands by not banning Russia

RIO DE JANEIRO

The chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee defended his support of the decision not to ban Russia’s entire team from the Rio Games.

Chairman Larry Probst also is an International Olympic Committee member. He was among the 84 members who approved the IOC executive committee’s call to allow individual sports to determine which Russians could compete.

At a USOC news conference Friday, Probst said that decision was not going to change, so there was no use voting against it. Only one IOC member did: Britain’s Adam Pengilly.

But Probst reiterated what he said in the IOC meeting Tuesday — the anti-doping system is broken. He said the problem goes deeper than Russia, and the system in place is not working.

Staff/wire reports