COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The attorney for a woman who accused two Florida football players of sexual assault informed the university that she would not attend a code of conduct hearing because a Gators sports booster was assigned to adjudicate the case.
Boulder, Colorado-based attorney John Clune wrote in email to the university’s general counsel that the woman, her family members and five witnesses were boycotting the hearing that was scheduled for Friday. The email, first reported by ESPN and provided to The Associated Press, was dated Aug. 5.
Receiver Antonio Callaway and quarterback Treon Harris were suspended by the university in January for conduct code violations. There are no police records of a complaint against Callaway and Harris.
LOGAN – The Utah State athletic director vows to fully cooperate with a university investigation of how the school handled sexual assault allegations against a former player who was cut this week by the Atlanta Falcons.
John Hartwell said in a statement Friday that his department takes sexual assault allegations seriously. Hartwell says football coach Matt Wells has a proven track record of disciplining players when necessary. Wells said Thursday he found out this week about the allegations.
The allegations became public Thursday when the Falcons cut linebacker Torrey Green because they found out Utah authorities had investigated four allegations of sexual assault made against Green last year.
CYCLING
NICE – The European road cycling championships in the French city of Nice is canceled for security reasons.
Nice mayor Philippe Pradal says the Sept. 14-18 event required a large police presence but that city officials had not received “any guarantee” about their deployment.
The news came hours after Nice officials said the July 14 truck attack on the famed Promenade des Anglais has claimed an 85th victim.
MLB
NEW YORK – Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira plans to retire at the end of the season.
Slowed by injuries, the 36-year-old switch-hitting first baseman is batting .198 with 10 homers and 27 RBIs. A three-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner, he is in the final season of a $180 million, eight-year contract. His 404 home runs are fifth among switch-hitters, trailing only Mickey Mantle (536), Eddie Murray (504), Chipper Jones (468) and Carlos Beltran (415).
OLYMPICS
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.
Associated Press
