Fast Break
Softball
Fernandez cut from U.S. team
Lisa Fernandez, a three-time Olympic champion and perhaps softball’s signature star for more than a decade, has been left off the U.S. team’s final 15-player roster for the Beijing Games.
The 37-year-old Fernandez will be a replacement player on the American team, which will attempt to win its fourth straight gold medal this summer. Fernandez was on the mound when the U.S. team won gold in Athens, completing a historic run through the tournament in which the Americans outscored the competition 51-1.
Swimming
Speedo suit springs leak
Speedo’s new LZR Racer suit has taken the swimming world by storm, helping to set 16 world records since it was unveiled less than two months ago.
But it’s not nearly so sleek when filled with water.
Speedo officials planned to meet with Australian world record holder Jessicah Schipper after she revealed water got inside her suit during that country’s Olympic trials Thursday.
Schipper won the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2 minutes, 6.82 seconds, far off her world record of 2:05.40. She wore the Speedo LZR Racer “open back kneeskin” during the butterfly final.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation but are confident this is not endemic to the LZR Racer suit,” said Rob Davies, general manager of Speedo Australia. “Obviously, we will be working closely with Jessicah on a resolution and providing all the assistance she needs.”
Junior hockey
Quebec lawmakers earmark violence
The Quebec government is seeking stiff sanctions to curb fighting and violence in hockey, a move in part inspired by the junior brawl in which the son of former NHL goalie Patrick Roy repeatedly pounded an opponent during a game.
Quebec’s minister responsible for sport, Michelle Courchesne, asked Quebec Major Junior Hockey League president Gilles Courteau to form a committee and submit a report containing anti-fighting proposals by June.
Courteau said it is nearly impossible to eliminate fighting from the sport, but harsher sanctions might dissuade players from dropping the gloves. He said the committee will include players, coaches, parents, hockey experts, members of the business community and others.