Implicated IOC Member Is Dead at 76

Louis Guirandou-N’Diaye, an International Olympic Committee member implicated in the recent Salt Lake City bidding scandal, has died at 76.

The death was announced Friday by the IOC in a brief statement, which gave no details surrounding cause of death.

Guirandou-N’Diaye of the Ivory Coast was one of 10 IOC members issued warnings in the recent scandal. Six were expelled and four resigned. Another died before the corruption allegations surfaced last year.

Guirandou-N’Diaye was given a “serious warning” by the IOC in March for accepting an airline ticket and gifts worth more than $4,200 from Salt Lake bidders.

Guirandou-N’Diaye, appointed to the IOC in 1969, was a former member of the powerful IOC Executive Board and a former IOC first vice-president. He was also president of the Ivory Coast Judo Federation and a vice president of the International Judo Federation.

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Pal Schmitt, an IOC vice president, said personal notes compiled by Australian IOC member Phil Coles “are against the dignity, the pride” of IOC members.

Schmitt told The Weekend Australian that there was “no doubt” Coles was involved in writing material that broke “unwritten ethical rules.”

He said it was obvious Coles and partner Patricia Rosenbrock had written personal dossiers on the habits and tastes of IOC members “to help their friends in Salt Lake City.”

An IOC investigating panel’s recommendation on Coles’ fate will be forwarded to the IOC executive board at its June 14 meeting in Seoul, South Korea.

Auto Racing

A Baja 500 desert racer crashed into a crowd of spectators after losing control of his vehicle, killing a man and injuring eight other people, according to broadcast reports.

Luis Alberto Valdez died shortly after he was struck by the car during the 30th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 Desert Race, KFMB-TV reported in San Diego.

Jim Baldwin of Laguna Beach lost control of his vehicle less than 10 miles into the race, his father told television station KGTV. Baldwin was taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in San Diego, where he was listed in serious condition.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got his long-awaited first victory of the season in a rout at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del.

The victory in the MBNA Platinum 200 gave Earnhardt the lead in the driver standings.

Earnhardt started 15th and worked his way through the field before passing pole-sitter Dick Trickle on the 89th of 200 laps at the Monster Mile.

Earnhardt’s average speed was held to 91.324 mph by cautions that slowed the field for 50 laps.

Helio Castro-Neves of Brazil won the pole for today’s Miller Lite 225 CART race at West Allis, Wis., with a lap of 169.404 mph on the Milwaukee Mile.

Jimmy Vasser, the defending race champion, earned the spot outside of the front row with a lap of 168.200.

Jack Sprague pulled away in the final laps to win the Coca-Cola Family 200 at Bristol, Tenn., his second consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory. Sprague averaged 75.380 mph in a race slowed six times for 47 laps of caution.

Brazilian veteran Felipe Giaffone earned his second pole of the year in qualifying for the fourth round of today’s PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship at the Milwaukee Mile. Giaffone averaged 149.097 mph around the one-mile oval.

John Force continued his domination of NHRA funny car competition, earning his fifth No. 1 qualifying position of the season in the FRAM Route 66 Nationals at Joliet, Ill.

Force covered a quarter-mile in a track-record 4.856 seconds at 313.44 mph in a Ford Mustang.

Cycling

Spain’s Roberto Hernandez Heras won the 21st and next-to-last stage while Italy’s Ivan Gotti grabbed the overall lead at the Tour of Italy.

Gotti took advantage of race leader Marco Pantani’s ban because of anti-doping tests before the start of Saturday’s leg at Aprica, Italy.

Tests showed unusually high levels of red blood cells. The high counts can signal the use of the banned growth hormone EPO, but also can occur naturally.

Pantani, who had virtually clinched the Tour of Italy on Friday by winning his fourth stage, said he was bitterly surprised by the test results.

College Sports

Nine Duquesne University students, including three basketball players, have been charged in Pittsburgh in a federal indictment with taking part in an elaborate scheme to defraud PNC Bank of nearly $36,000.

Another suspect who did not attend the school was also named in the indictment and helped orchestrate the scheme along with basketball players Simon Ogunlesi and Jamal Hunter, U.S. Attorney Harry Litman’s office said.

The scheme involved buying bank credit cards and unused personal checks from students, then using them to make $35,961 in fraudulent withdrawals and money orders between Feb. 22 and April 12, prosecutors said.

Ogunlesi and Hunter are suspended from the university pending the outcome of the case.

Sports agent Tank Black purchased a $133,500 Mercedes-Benz for former Florida linebacker Jevon Kearse on Dec. 31, 1998, two days before the Orange Bowl, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

Kearse, a first-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans, drove the car to a Jan. 5 news conference to announce he would forgo his senior season.

Miscellany

Receiver Torry Holt signed a five-year, $10-million contract with the St. Louis Rams. The first-round draft pick caught 88 passes for 1,604 yards and 11 touchdowns his senior season at North Carolina State.

Bowler Parker Bohn III defeated Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli, 241-220, to win the PBA Tour’s Showboat Invitational at Las Vegas, his 20th career title.

Yale’s crew rowed to a comeback victory in the four-mile Yale-Harvard Regatta at New London, Conn., finishing six seconds ahead of favored Harvard in the nation’s oldest intercollegiate athletic event.