IOC EXECUTIVE TARGETED IN TICKET SCALPING

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — A senior international Olympic official was taken to a hospital yesterday after police went to his hotel to arrest him as part of a probe into ticket scalping.

Ireland’s Patrick Hickey, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board, is accused of plotting with at least six others to illegally sell tickets for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, police said.

“Continuing our investigation, civil police discovered the involvement of Patrick (Hickey) in the international scheme of ticket scalping,” the Rio police fraud unit said.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Hickey was taken to a local hospital by ambulance at about 7:30 am.

“We will fully cooperate with the police investigation if there is one,” Adams said. “We don’t know what the allegations or charges are yet.”

He said the allegations centred on 1,000 tickets belonging to the Irish National Olympic committee, of which Hickey is the president.

Hickey, 71, is also president of the European Olympic Committees, and has served on the IOC executive board since 2012.

LAVILLENIE BOOED AGAIN BY OLYMPIC HOME CROWD

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Two days in a row, Thiago Braz da Silva was celebrated as a national hero in the Olympic Stadium. Both days, Renaud Lavillenie was booed by the home crowd.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach thinks enough is enough.

The IOC leader described the booing that echoed around the stands during Tuesday’s medal ceremony for the pole vault as “shocking behaviour”, saying it was “unacceptable at the Olympics”.

It reduced Lavillenie to tears, which streamed down his face at the ceremony.

“I wish this on no one,” he said, again shocked that thousands of people would boo him again.

RIO BOXING JUDGES, REFEREES REMOVED AFTER REVIEW

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) —Amateur boxing’s governing body said yesterday it had dropped an undisclosed number of officials from the Rio Olympics after “less than a handful of decisions not at the level expected”.

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) acted after several aggrieved boxers and their trainers accused the world organisation of either corruption or overseeing what one highly respected coach called some “crazy” judging decisions in Brazil.

The AIBA challenged anyone with evidence of deliberate wrongdoing to prove it or face legal action, saying in a statement that it had carried out a “thorough examination by the relevant commission”.

The so-called AIBA R&J Commission (referees and judges) had reviewed all 239 bouts to date in Rio “and determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected”, said the statement.

“Consequently it has been decided in accordance with the AIBA R&J evaluation committee that the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In accordance with AIBA rules the result of all the bouts will stand.”

BRAZIL COURT TELLS US SWIMMERS LOCHTE, FEIGEN TO STAY PUT

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — A Brazilian judge has ordered that the passports of American swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen be seized as authorities investigate their claim they were robbed at gunpoint during the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

The office of Judge Keyla Blank confirmed the request yesterday in a statement, but Rio police did not say whether the order was carried out.

Lochte and three of his teammates say they were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi Sunday morning as they returned to the athletes’ village from a party, several hours after the last Olympic swimming events were held.

Police have found little evidence so far to support their accounts, and say the swimmers were unable to provide key details in police interviews.

Lochte’s attorney, Jeff Ostrow, has said there is no question the robbery happened.

CHINA LAMENTS GOLD DROUGHT IN RIO ‘FLOP’

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese sports fans turned on the country’s athletes and administrators yesterday as the Asian giant languished behind Britain — once dismissed as an “old declining Empire” — in third place on the Olympic medal table in Rio.

In the early days of the games, Chinese media sought to play down the athletes’ relatively poor showing, instead praising their competitive spirit and arguing that medals were not “the be-all and end-all of the Olympics”.

But by yesterday even the official Xinhua news service could not help showing a little annoyance.

“Even #GBR has one more gold than China,” it wrote on a verified

Twitter feed, snapping that China’s gymnasts had “suffered the worst Olympic flop” after failing to win any golds.

It was even blunter a day earlier in a post showing Britain leading the world’s most populous country in golds with the comment: “You kidding me? The country which has never finished above China is about to…”

Rivals question Britain’s mystery cycling advantageRIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) Germany’s Olympic sprint gold winner Kristina Vogel has complained that her dominant British rivals have an unfair advantage though she is not sure what it is.

Rivals question Britain’s mystery cycling advantage

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) Germany’s Olympic sprint gold winner Kristina Vogel has complained that her dominant British rivals have an unfair advantage though she is not sure what it is.

Several riders in Rio have grumbled about Britain’s cycling hegemony for the past three Olympics.

Britain has won 20 of the 30 golds disputed going back to Beijing 2008. Although they won only six this time — one less than the previous two Games — Britain only had entrants in nine of the 10 events as the women’s sprint team didn’t qualify.

Just to highlight the level of Britain’s control, in the three events they did not win, they took silver.

“Of course I’m not saying that they took drugs or had an engine in the bikes,” said the 25-year-old, who won the team sprint gold in London.

“It’s just that it seems that they don’t train for three years, and then they start and at every Olympic Games they kill every nation!

“I just want to know what they’re riding and I’m not,” Vogel said.

DROUIN JOINS CANADIAN GREATS WITH HIGH JUMP GOLDRIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Canada’s Derek Drouin beat a quality field to add the Olympic high jump crown to his world title after a cliff-hanger of a final in Rio.

DROUIN JOINS CANADIAN GREATS WITH HIGH JUMP GOLD

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Canada’s Derek Drouin beat a quality field to add the Olympic high jump crown to his world title after a cliff-hanger of a final in Rio.

Drouin cleared 2.38 metres in Tuesday’s competition, edging Qatari Mutaz Barshim into the silver medal spot to become Canada’s first Olympic high jump champion since 1932.

“There was obviously some pressure but I’m very proud of the way I jumped,” Drouin told reporters.

“I didn’t feel anxious at all. I certainly was calm and I was hungry to come out here and win gold.

“I’m sure people are going pretty crazy back home,” added the 26-year-old, who won bronze in London four years ago,” Drouin said.