ATH–OBIT-WAITZ

OSLO, Norway _ Grete Waitz, a Norwegian runner who won nine New York City Marathons and the silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, died Tuesday after a six-year battle with cancer. She was 57. Moved. By Nils Myklebost.

NEW/DEVELOPING:

OLY–BOA DISPUTE

LONDON _ Britain’s two major Olympic bodies settled the messy financial dispute Tuesday that threatened to overshadow preparations for the 2012 London Games. Moved. By Stephen Wilson.

TEN–WIMBLEDON-PRIZE MONEY

WIMBLEDON, England _ The singles champions at Wimbledon this year will each receive 1.1 million pounds ($1.8 million), a 10 percent increase from last year. Moved. By Stuart Condie.

CRI–WCUP 2015-ICC

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates _ The International Cricket Council’s executive board will reconsider the lineup for the 2015 World Cup following protests at the exclusion of second-tier teams including Ireland and the Netherlands. Moved.

SOC-ITALIAN ROUNDUP

ROME _ Inter Milan visits Roma in the opening leg of the Italian Cup semifinals without striker Samuel Eto’o, who has an injured ankle. AC Milan and Palermo meet in the other semifinal Wednesday. By 2045 GMT.

SOC–NEWCASTLE-MAN UNITED

NEWCASTLE, England _ Premier League leader Manchester United can close in on a record 19th title with a victory at Newcastle. By 2100 GMT.

FOOTBALL:

SOC–COPA DEL REY FINAL

VALENCIA, Spain _ Real Madrid can end its three-year silverware drought on Wednesday by beating Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final _ the second of four meetings between the two sides in 18 days. Moved. By Paul Logothetis.

SOC–FRENCH ROUNDUP

PARIS _ League leader Lille is aiming for a first French Cup final appearance since 1955 when it travels to in-form Nice, which is currently enjoying an eight-match unbeaten run in all competition. By 2200 GMT.

SOC–MAN UNITED-WEMBLEY

LONDON _ Manchester United has offered to pay for minor damage caused to a Wembley Stadium dressing room in the aftermath of the team’s FA Cup semifinal loss to Manchester City on Saturday. Moved.

ALSO:

_ GLASGOW, Scotland _ BC-SOC–SCOTTISH ROUNDUP. By 2100 GMT.

_ NYON, Switzerland _ BC-SOC–UEFA-VILLARREAL. Moved.

_ FRANKFURT, Germany _ BC-SOC–HOFFENHEIM COACH. Moved.

_ COLOGNE, Germany _ BC-SOC–COLOGNE COACH. Moved.

_ BERLIN _ BC-SOC–BIELEFELD-FINANCIAL AID. Moved.

_ BEIJING _ BC-SOC–CHINA-BRAZIL-PLAYER FINE. Moved.

_ PERTH, Australia _ BC-SOC–A-LEAGUE-SMELTZ-FOWLER. Moved.

_ WELLINGTON, New Zealand _ BC-SOC–A-LEAGUE-PHOENIX. Moved.

GOLF:

GLF–BRITISH OPEN-COURSE CHANGES

SANDWICH, England _ The Royal St. George’s course will be 100 yards longer for this year’s British Open, with par being reduced from 71 to 70. Moved.

TENNIS:

TEN–BARCELONA OPEN

BARCELONA, Spain _ First-round play at the Barcelona Open continues as seeded players Gael Monfils, Nicolas Almagro, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Richard Gasquet and Milos Raonic are all in action on the outdoor clay. By 1500 GMT.

ALSO:

_ STUTTGART, Germany _ BC-TEN–PORSCHE GRAND PRIX. Moved.

_ FES, Morocco _ BC-TEN–GRAND PRIX SAR. By 1800 GMT.

ATHLETICS:

ATH–BOSTON MARATHON-WHEELCHAIRS

BOSTON _ Japanese athletes swept the Boston Marathon men’s and women’s wheelchair divisions on Monday, giving a boost to a nation still recovering from last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. Moved. By Mark Pratt.

CRICKET:

CRI–SRI LANKA-ATAPATTU

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka _ Former captain Marvan Atapattu will be Sri Lanka’s batting coach on the upcoming tour of England. The appointment on Tuesday signaled public forgiveness from Sri Lanka Cricket for Atapattu, who retired in 2007 following a spat with the national selectors and dropped most links with the governing body. Moved. By Krishnan Francis.

CRI–IPL-MISSING MONEY

JOHANNESBURG _ South Africa’s cricket body says allegations by its sacked president that 68 million rand ($9.95 million) went missing from its bank accounts are “totally unfounded” and “devoid of truth.” Moved.

OLYMPICS:

OLY–ANNECY 2018 BID

PARIS _ Annecy officials have increased their bid budget for the 2018 Winter Olympics to nearly 30 million ($43 million) after securing six new sponsorship deals with private French companies. Moved. By Samuel Petrequin.

OLY–LONDON-ITALY

ROME _ The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in downtown London will host Italy’s popular “Casa Italia” hospitality center during next year’s London Olympics. Moved.

ALSO:

_ ZAGREB, Croatia _ BC-SKI–KOSTELIC-SURGERY. Moved.

_ BOSTON _ BC-BBA–AL ROUNDUP. Moved.

_ DENVER _ BC-BBN–NL ROUNDUP. Moved.

_ MONTREAL _ BC-HKN–NHL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP. Moved.

_ HOUSTON _ BC-BKN–ROCKETS-SCOLA. Moved.

_ WELLINGTON, New Zealand _ BC-RGU–FIJI-TABUA. Moved.

_ MIAMI _ BC-BKN–NBA ROUNDUP. Moved.

_ TOKYO _ BC-TRI–YOKOMAHA-POSTPONED. Moved.

_ PERTH, Australia _ BC-RGU–WESTERN FORCE-HODGSON. Moved.

“The meet record was on my mind before I warmed up because it has been here for a long time,” said Campbell-Brown, the two-time defending Olympic champion in the 200. “And I felt like things were going great and I should go for it.”

Campbell-Brown dominated her competition with a quick start and a strong finish to beat Natalie Knight by more than a second and break the meet record of 22.59 set by Aleen Bailey in 2001.

Moments later, Campbell-Brown watched husband Omar Brown win the men’s 200 in 20.84. Campbell-Brown also competed in the 4×400-meter relay, with her team finishing fourth.

Campbell-Brown won three medals, including two golds, at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Four years later at Beijing, she became only the second woman in Olympic history to defend her title in the 200.

Campbell-Brown wasn’t alone in setting a meet record Saturday.

American Ivory Williams set a record of 9.95 in winning the men’s 100, beating a field that included two-time Olympian Churandy Martina, who crossed second behind Usain Bolt in the 200 in the 2008 Olympics before being disqualified for a lane violation. Martina finished fourth at the Kansas Relays.

“Yeah, this puts me on the map,” Williams said. “I know a lot of people know I can run out there. I just need to stay focused and run my race.”

The International All Stars’ time of 3:35.65 in the women’s 4×400 relay also set a record.

Peter van der Westhuizen of South Africa won the mile in 4 minutes, 6.84 seconds.

Last year, Van der Westhuizen battled Alan Webb throughout the race before Webb pulled ahead down the stretch with both runners finishing in under four minutes.

That’s slightly better than the most recent estimate of $250 million in losses. Advertising sales have improved a bit since NBC parent General Electric Co. made that projection in late January.

The Olympics did bring about $800 million in extra revenue to GE. But NBC had a lot of production and other expenses, including $820 million just to acquire the rights to carry the Vancouver Games on television and online. That expense was cited as the main culprit for the red ink.

Still, GE executives said the high-profile event had ratings that were 14 percent better than the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, for which NBC paid $613 million.

And GE Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin said the Olympics provided a good platform to advertise its new 10 p.m. lineup and Jay Leno returning to “The Tonight Show” at 11:35 p.m.

Cable TV giant Comcast Corp. is seeking government approval to acquire a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from GE. The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department are expected to approve the deal with conditions that are not yet known.

Maybe it’s because in downhill, it’s just you and the mountain. In skicross it’s you, the mountain, a couple dozen twists and turns and three other racers determined to beat you to the finish line.

“You never know what’s going to happen in front of you and you need to be prepared for that and to adjust very quickly,” Rahlves said.

The sport was added to the Olympic program following the overwhelming popularity of snowboardcross, which made a splash at the 2006 Turin Games. The men race on Sunday, with the women hitting Cypress Mountain on Tuesday.

Yet there is a decided difference between the two, from the age of the average competitors to the uniform.

Snowboardcross is populated by mostly 20ish riders who dash down the hill in baggy snowpants and are known to drop in a funky board grab or two to spice things up.

In skicross, not so much.

Many of the top racers are like the 36-year-old Rahlves, former Alpiners who moved to skicross in part because they were on the back end of their careers or were simply lured in by the new opportunities skicross provides.

Including Rahlves and teammate Casey Puckett, six of the world’s top 12 ranked men in skicross are former downhill skiers in their 30s.

The women’s side is a little younger, but not much. Ashleigh McIvor, a 26-year-old Canadian, 20-year-old teammate Kelsey Serwa and 33-year-old Ophelie David of France are considered the top contenders.

While Alpine success can certainly help in skicross, it doesn’t guarantee a thing because skicross adds banked turns, blind jumps and racing near a competitor.

“There’s not that many guys that are good at this,” said Stanley Hayer of Canada, who is 36. “It takes a totally different skill set. You can be a great giant slalom skier and totally (stink) at skicross.”

Rahlves won 12 World Cup races between 2000 and 2006, but that success has never translated to the Olympics. He went 0-for-7 between Nagano, Salt Lake City and Turin, failing to crack the top five in any event.

He hopes to change that Sunday, and the unpredictable nature of skicross means anyone in the field can walk away with gold if they mix some good fortune with a whole lot of daring.

“I’m a scrapper,” he said. “I like to fight for it. I always like more challenge, when it’s harder and it’s more risky.”

The list of nations who qualified and entered bobsled events at Vancouver, obtained on Wednesday by The Associated Press, failed to include Jamaica _ which had spent the last few weeks hoping that a slot opened in the field.

Those hopes were dashed, and on Wednesday, the Jamaicans acknowledged that all chance for 2010 was gone.

“We’ve been in battles for many, many years,” Chris Stokes, a founding member of the Jamaican bobsled team more than 20 years ago, told The AP in a phone interview. “This is one more. But it’s disappointing, no question about that. The guys worked really hard and did well. Not qualifying, it’s by no means a failure. It’s a step going forward.”

Officials from the Vancouver organizing committee are in the process of certifying those entries. There remains a chance more nations could be added, but for that to happen a sled that has entered must drop out.

The Jamaicans say they’re no longer waiting for that to happen.

“I am told there are no other options at this point,” team spokesman Stephen Samuels said.

They knew they were long shots to get into the Vancouver Games, but still, the notion of another team from the tiny island nation competing in these Olympics _ 22 years after the first Jamaican sled raced in the Calgary Games and sparked the idea for the movie “Cool Runnings” _ was enough to create a buzz.

Poorly funded and often racing with substandard equipment, the Jamaicans and driver Hannukkah Wallace managed to just sneak into the world top 50 rankings in four-man sliding, giving life to the chance of a Vancouver berth.

In the end, they needed to be a few spots higher.

“If we have to be the last small nation, then so be it,” Stokes said. “We’ll keep the fight.”

Wallace has said he wasn’t sure if he’ll stay with bobsledding, return to his roots in athletics, or possibly both. It’s not uncommon for bobsledders to take some time off, especially early in a new four-year Olympic cycle.

Stokes said he believes Wallace will try to return and lead the team again.

“This is Hannukkah’s third year driving,” Stokes said. “People in the sport would say you need five, seven, maybe even 10 years to get to a certain level. Given the timeframe of development that we had, we knew it would be difficult. And one of the challenges we have in Jamaica bobsleigh, while other nations have several drivers coming up, we can afford only one.”

The Jamaicans already say they’re not abandoning all plans for 2010 _ or 2014, for that matter.

As has been planned for months, the team will be at Whistler, if for no other reason than to experience what an Olympics are like, Stokes said.

“It’s very important for them to go and see,” Stokes said. “They’ll remember what the games are like and watch the start line of a four-man Olympic race and feel that adrenaline. I hope it acts as a motivation for them.”

And for the Sochi Games of 2014, Jamaica says it’s hopeful of adding more sleds, more drivers _ and intends to offer a coaching job to retired U.S. bobsled pilot Todd Hays, who saw his career end after a crash this season. Even before retiring, Hays lent the Jamaican federation equipment and expertise.

“There are many things we can, and we will, do to improve our chances,” Stokes said.

MELBOURNE, Australia _ The Williams sisters hold court at the Australian Open, a back-to-back Venus-Serena doubleheader that left the siblings still in the mix for yet another Grand Slam singles title. Moved.

WITH:

_ MELBOURNE, Australia _ BC-TEN–AUSTRALIAN OPEN-IVANOVIC. Moved. By Tanalee Smith.

_ MELBOURNE, Australia _ BC-TEN–AUSTRALIAN OPEN NOTEBOOK. Moved. By Jocelyn Gecker.

FOOTBALL:

ENGLISH PREVIEW

LONDON _ With its rivals in FA Cup action this weekend, Manchester United has the opportunity to address its recent disappointing form and retake the Premier League lead. Defending champion United can leapfrog Arsenal and Chelsea, which both continue to chase a Wembley final appearance with FA Cup matches at Preston and Stoke, if it beats a Hull side it defeated 3-1 a month ago. Moved. By Stuart Condie.

ITALIAN PREVIEW

MILAN _ AC Milan goes into the city derby against Inter Milan as a slight underdog, but knowing that a win on Sunday could open up the championship race. A Milan win would close the gap to leader Inter to three points, and Leonardo’s side also has a game in hand, against Fiorentina. Moved. By Jeremy Inson.

GERMAN PREVIEW

FRANKFURT _ The top four teams in the Bundesliga go on the road this weekend with Bayern Munich expecting the toughest test against a Werder Bremen side looking to return to form. Moved.

AFRICAN CUP ROUNDUP

BENGUELA, Angola _ Gabon is one win away from reaching the quarterfinals ahead of its meeting against Zambia, while four-time champion Cameroon could seal its spot in the knockout round with a win against Tunisia, which is also in the running for a berth in the last eight. By 1900 GMT. By Bruce Mutsvairo.

CLUB FINANCES

NYON, Switzerland _ UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino updates on the “financial fair play” debate that will see the European football authority announce new rules in the summer aimed at controling clubs’ spending, as English clubs try to restructure their finances to avoid being kicked out of the Champions League in 2012. By 2000 GMT. By Graham Dunbar.

ALSO:

_ LISBON, Portugal _ BC-SOC–SPORTING-INFIGHTING. Moved.

_ LONDON _ BC-SOC–ARSENAL-GIBBS INJURY. Moved.

_ BEIJING _ BC-SOC–CHINA-MATCH FIXING. Moved.

OLYMPICS:

VANCOUVER DOPING

LONDON _ Whether it’s cross-country skiers using blood-boosting drugs to build endurance or hockey players taking steroids to recover from injuries, any athletes planning to cheat at the Vancouver Olympics will have to beat the most stringent anti-doping net in Winter Games history. Moved. By Stephen Wilson.

ALSO:

_ UNDATED _ BC-OLY–CUR-CURLING PREVIEW. Moved. By Janie McCauley.

_ LONDON _ BC-OLY–LONDON 2012-CONSTRUCTION. Moved.

_ PRAGUE _ BC-OLY–CZECH SQUAD. Moved.

CRICKET:

BANGLADESH-INDIA

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh _ Amit Mishra claims four wickets in the final session to bowl out Bangladesh and give India a comfortable 113-run victory in the first test of a two-test series. Moved.

SKIING:

WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy _ After failing to score a single point in three consecutive technical races, Lindsey Vonn is planning to get back on track in her favored speed disciplines of downhill and super-G this weekend. German rival Maria Riesch holds a slight edge over Vonn in the overall standings and also has big weekend plans. By 1500 GMT. By Andrew Dampf.

SVINDAL-OLYMPICS HOPES

GENEVA _ Aksel Lund Svindal has some unfinished business to

attend to in the men’s Olympic downhill on Whistler Mountain next

month. He lost his downhill world title in France last season when

fog ruined his run, then Canadian officials wouldn’t let him on to

the Olympic hill for a first look at the downhill course. The

overall World Cup champion is looking forward to a special gold

medal race Feb. 13. By 1300 GMT. By Graham Dunbar.

ALSO:

_ CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy _ BC-SKI–WCUP-WOMEN’S DOWNHILL TRAINING. Moved.

_ KITZBUEHEL, Austria _ BC-SKI–WCUP-MEN’S DOWNHILL TRAINING. Moved.

_ KITZBUEHEL, Austria _ BC-SKI–ALBRECHT-FUTURE. Moved.

GOLF:

ABU DHABI CHAMPIONSHIP

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates _ Paul Lawrie and three others shoot 6-under 66s Thursday to take the early lead in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Championship. Moved.

TIGER WOODS-PHOTOS?

JACKSON, Mississippi _ Celebrity Web site radaronline.com says the next issue of the National Enquirer will feature photos of the world’s No. 1 golfer at Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. BC-GLF–TIGER WOODS-PHOTOS? Moved. By Chris Talbott.

ALSO:

_ LA QUINTA, California _ BC-GLF–HOPE CLASSIC. Moved. By Greg Beacham.

FIGURE SKATING:

EURO CHAMPIONSHIPS

TALLINN, Estonia _ Evgeni Plushenko, elated after a career-best short program, heads into the free program of the European Figure Skating Championships _ his last major test before trying to win a second consecutive Olympics gold next month. Brian Joubert, close behind, is vowing to do multiple quads to overcome him. Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin hold a comfortable, but not insumountable, lead ahead of the original dance. By 1600 GMT. By Jim Heintz.

CYCLING:

TOUR DOWN UNDER

ADELAIDE, Australia _ Portuguese national champion Manuel Cardoso wins the arduous third stage of the Tour Down Under while Lance Armstrong ends a day of sapping heat 30th on the stage and 26th overall. Moved. By Steve McMorran.

ALSO:

_ UNDATED BC-BOX–HAITI-BERTO. Moved. By Tim Dahlberg.

_ NEWARK, New Jersey _ BC-HKN–NHL ROUNDUP. Moved.

_ SAN ANTONIO _ BC-BKN–NBA ROUNDUP. Moved.

_ BEIJING _ BC-BKO–YAO MING. Moved.

In a story on Dec. 22, The Associated Press reported that Jamaican ski team member Errol Kerr would be representing Jamaica in the Winter Olympics. The story should have made clear that the official list of athletes who will be competing in skicross will be announced by the International Ski Federation in January. Kerr would qualify for the Vancouver Game according to the Federation’s current rankings.

__________________Some might say he’s Usain Bolt on skis. Not surprisingly, though, when Errol Kerr tells people he’s a member of the Jamaican Winter Olympic team, most pull out the bobsled one-liners.

“When people hear of a Jamaican skier, they expect dreads hanging out the back of my helmet and a smoke stream following me down the mountain,” Kerr said.

This is no joke, though.

Less than two years since Bolt brought world records and world renown to the island nation with his sprinting, Jamaica’s latest winter star is hoping to put his country on the map in the new Olympic sport of skicross.

“It’s more than just a country,” Kerr said. “It’s in my blood, in my DNA.”

Born to an American mother and a Jamaican father, Kerr grew up a dual citizen between Lake Tahoe in California, where he moved with his mother as a child, from Westmoreland, Jamaica’s westernmost parish.

He has felt most at home on the slopes since he was a kid watching a ski race on TV.

He rolls with the jokes, most of which inevitably draw comparisons to the Jamaica bobsled team, a fan favorite in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary that inspired the comedy movie “Cool Runnings”.

In fact, one of Kerr’s sponsors is a beverage company called Cool Runnings.

“There’s no running away from it,” Kerr said of the bobsled team. “I embrace it. They laid the groundwork.”

But while the bobsled team was initially a novelty, Kerr hopes to enter the Vancouver Olympics _ his first _ as a serious contender.

The hybrid style of skicross draws on Kerr’s extensive background in Alpine skiing. It also makes good use of the rougher edge he picked up in motocross and BMX, and the 200-plus pounds (90-plus kilograms) he has to throw around, said American Jonny Moseley, an Olympic gold medalist who will be a TV commentator for the freestyle events _ moguls, aerials and skicross _ in Vancouver.

“Errol’s got a good shot at the Olympics,” Moseley said. “He’s cut out for the sport.”

Kerr’s background helps in an event that is rowdier than Alpine ski racing, where one athlete races against the clock. In skicross, four competitors speed down a steep, winding course together, taking on banked turns, berms and each other along the way. The first one across the finish line wins.

“It’s very pure, very simple that way,” said Moseley. “But there’s a lot of contact, a lot of strategy and jockeying.”

To viewers, it is dynamic, and anyone who has raced friends down a mountain can relate to the scramble. Snowboardcross drew big crowds and good ratings when it made its Olympic debut at the 2006 Turin Games. Adding skicross will continue to draw younger athletes and fans, said Joseph Fitzgerald, the International Ski Federation’s freestyle race director.

“You watch it on TV and it pops, there’s so much activity,” said Fitzgerald, speaking from San Candido, Italy, site of the skicross World Cup.

Kerr is taking nothing for granted. He spends his days training at Alpine Meadows, a resort at Lake Tahoe that has sponsored him, and in his mother’s front yard, where he built a starting gate with the same specifications as the one in Vancouver and rigged up his own snowmaking machine.

His mother, Catherine Kerr, once a ski racer herself, stands behind the practice gate, counting down: “Racers ready … attention … ”

She lets the gate fly. Errol Kerr springs out, strides. He plants his poles once, and crouches for the first tabletop jump, staying tight and close to the ground. Another stride, another jump. Then he circles back, and goes through it all again … and again … and again, shaving off the precious fractions of a second that could land him ahead of the pack in Vancouver.

Errol Kerr’s late father never strapped on a pair of skis, Errol’s mother said. It would have moved him to see how far his son has come, and to know that he is competing for the island, she said. Kerr said part of his dream was always to race for his father’s country _ under the black, green and yellow flag of Jamaica.

“To be able to see Errol grab a hold of that and say let’s take it a step further, put Jamaica on the map of skiing, it’s beautiful,” she said. “He would just be so proud.”