Fast Break

Track and field

Gatlin denied reinstatement

Justin Gatlin sold himself as a new kind of Olympic athlete, the kind who didn’t dope and didn’t have to cheat to win.

Though he insists he never intentionally did anything wrong, he nonetheless joined Marion Jones and Ben Johnson on the list of tainted Olympic champions.

Gatlin’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on doping charges was rejected Friday, three weeks before the United States holds its track trials. The three-man CAS panel unanimously upheld the four-year ban given to the 26-year-old defending 100-meter Olympic champion earlier this year by another arbitration panel.

Gatlin had hoped to have his ban reduced to two years, which might have made him eligible for Olympic trials later this month. Instead, the ban was lengthened by two months – ending not on May 25, 2010, but on July 25, 2010, four years after he voluntarily accepted his provisional suspension.

Basketball

Pfeifer finalist for MSU-Billings

Montana State-Billings officials have set on-campus interviews next week for the four finalists for the men’s coaching job, including former Idaho coach George Pfeifer.

Former Cal State Bakersfield coach Henry Clark is scheduled to interview Tuesday. Pryor Orser, coach at the Colorado School of Mines, is set to be on campus Wednesday, followed by University of Sioux Falls coach Shane Murphy on Thursday.

Pfeifer, who was fired at Idaho on March 18 after two seasons with the Vandals, is scheduled for an interview Friday.

Track and field

Dibaba breaks 5,000 record

Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia broke the women’s world 5,000-meter record with a time of 14 minutes, 11.15 seconds at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway.

Dibaba, an Olympic madalist and world champion who had never broken an outdoor world mark, improved by more than 5 seconds the previous record of 14:16:63, set by countrywoman Meseret Defar last year at Bislett Stadium.

NBA

Lakers-Celtics boost TV ratings

The Lakers-Celtics matchup gave the NBA Finals’ television ratings a big boost.

Game 1 on Thursday averaged an 8.7 rating on ABC, the network said. That’s up 38 percent from the 6.3 during last year’s Cavaliers-Spurs series.

It’s the highest Game 1 rating since Lakers-Pistons in 2004 drew a 9.8.

The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions.