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The gold medal favourite in tonight's women's 800m World Athletics Championships race is today facing claims that she is really a man. South African Caster Semenya, 18, is set to race in tonight's final in Berlin after sailing through a semi-final on Monday in her first major international sporting competition. But the teenage sensation has sparked controversy over her strikingly muscular physique, and today insiders claimed she would be gender tested following the final in Berlin.

Boston's erstwhile slugging duo reportedly on list of 104 According to lawyers who spoke to the The New York Times, and whose names were not revealed, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are on the list of 104 players who tested positive in Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing for performance-enhancing drugs, testing that was agreed to and conducted only on the condition that the results would remain anonymous. Ortiz and Ramirez were members of the Boston Red Sox at the time and helped the club end an 86-year streak in which they hadn't won a World Series. Results from the...

According to a New York Times report, both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on the list of roughly 100 major leaguers to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. The report cites unidentified lawyers with knowledge of the results for the information

Roger Clemens made $121 million during his major league career. He earned tens of millions more in endorsements. He won seven Cy Youngs and an MVP. Clemens gets to keep all that, no matter what the fans, the media or a bunch of cranky old-timers have to say. Barry Bonds was paid some $188 million by the Pirates and the Giants for his 22 seasons in the big leagues. He won seven MVPs, eight Gold Gloves and 12 Silver Sluggers. He gets to keep all those, too, even if he someday loses his freedom and does a stretch in prison....

OAK RIDGE - Four security guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant were fired after testing positive for steroids, a spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services Inc., the government's security contractor, confirmed Friday. The guards' union, however, is challenging two of the cases, claiming that the positive readings were linked to use of over-the-counter supplements. News of the drug firings comes just a few days after Wackenhut confirmed that three Y-12 guards had been suspended without pay for bringing electronic game devices into the inner sanctum of the high-security weapons facility. Security police officers at Y-12 are subject to regular and random...

<p>SAN DIEGO (AP)—Manny Ramirez(notes) will be back in big leagues on Friday night after a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy. His return should be nothing short of a spectacle.</p> <p>It’ll be the start of the Fourth of July weekend, and thousands of blue-clad Los Angeles Dodgers fans are expected to be at sold-out Petco Park to support the dreadlocked slugger in the opener of a three-game series against the San Diego Padres.</p>

1.Nomar Garciaparra 2.Manny Ramirez 3.Johnny Damon 4.Trot Nixon 5.David Ortiz 6.Shea Hillenbrand 7.Derek Lowe 8.Pedro Martinez 9.Brian Roberts 10.Jay Gibbons 11.Melvin Mora 12.Jerry Hairston 13.Jason Giambi 14.Alfonso Soriano 15.Raul Mondesi 16. Aaron Boone 17.Andy Pettitte 18.Jose Contreras 19.Roger Clemens 20.Carlos Delgado 21.Vernon Wells 22.Frank Catalanotto 23.Kenny Rogers 24.Magglio Ordonez 25.Sandy Alomar 26.Bartolo Colon 27.Brent Abernathy 28.Jose Lima 29.Milton Bradley 30.Casey Blake 31.Danys Baez 32.Craig Monroe 33.Dmitri Young 34.Alex Sanchez 35.Eric Chavez 36.Miguel Tejada 37.Eric Byrnes 38.Jose Guillen 39.Keith Foulke 40.Ricardo Rincon 41.Bret Boone 42.Mike Cameron 43.Randy Winn 44.Ryan Franklin 45.Freddy Garcia 46.Rafael Soriano 47.Scott Spiezio 48.Troy Glaus 49.Francisco Rodriguez 50.Ben...

CHICAGO (AP)—When it comes to the electing players to the Baseball Hall of Fame, no new guidelines are needed to deal with the so-called Steroid Era because voters are already asked to consider a player’s integrity and character. That’s what the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America decided Friday. The chapter will not forward any measures or recommendations to the national chapter of the baseball writers group, which will meet at next month’s All-Star Game in St. Louis. While some Chicago writers said Friday they’re frustrated at the idea of voting for people who may or may...

Maybe the best way to explain Donald Fehr is that he was very good, maybe even too good, at his job. It's just that he could not or would not grasp what his job could have and should have been. If the union chief's sole responsibility was to pump up player salaries, then the brilliant and quick-witted Fehr was a smashing success. Clearly, that is how he evaluated himself. The fact that his own income was tied directly to the average player's salary may have had something to do with his point of view. But if the head of the...

Head of the players' union Donald Fehr is planning to step down, SI.com has confirmed. Michael Weiner will take over as the chief of the union. The reasons aren't immediately clear. Weiner has served as general counsel (the union's third-ranking executive). He leaps over Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer. The union has come under fire in recent years for stonewalling MLB over steroid testing, with Orza enduring much of the criticism. Weiner is better liked by the central office at MLB, so this could be a positive for future negotiations (maybe).

NEW YORK — Jose Canseco plans to file a class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the players’ association, saying he’s been ostracized for going public with tales of steroids use in the sport. Canseco said Wednesday that he has discussed the suit with lawyers and intends to enlist Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro to join in the suit. Canseco said the basis of the suit would be “lost wages—in some cases, defamation of character.” “Because I used steroids and I came out with a book, I was kicked out of the game, but I have not been inducted into...

A congressional committee will look into former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa’s denial that he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs in light of a report that he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003. The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York, says that the committee takes seriously suggestions that a witness had been misleading.

Give David Wells credit. He makes the world an interesting place. At Yankee Stadium today as a TBS analyst for the YanksNew York Yankees -Twins game - on the 11th anniversary of his perfect game against the Twins, Wells held nothing back before the game in a chat with the media. In a nutshell: steroid users should be banned immediately on a permanent basis once uncovered; Alex RodriguezAlex Rodriguez home runs that he hit while using steroids should not count; and abusers could be banned from the Hall of Fame. And Boomer related he saw Clemens at a golf tournament...

It's hard to say when the Steroid Era began. And it's hard to say who was clean and who was dirty. Take Clark, for instance. As a 22-year-old with the Giants in 1978, Clark proved he was an emerging young star, belting 25 home runs and 46 doubles, knocking in 98 runs and batting .306. For fun, do a Google images search on Clark. You quickly will find baseball cards from his early days with the Giants. In the same way we can look at the rookie cards of Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds -- all skinny kids...

http://crosshairs.archangelsandwitticism.com/2009/05/10/we-shall-reap-what-we-sow.aspx

The best and brightest neighborhood in the Los Angeles sports landscape is a very different place today. Mannywood has officially gone to hell. The giddy streets are lined in shadows. The colorful houses are painted in lies. The friendly shops are stocked with juice. The mayor is a drug cheat. Manny Ramirez dropped a bomb on Mannywood on Thursday, leveling the Dodgers' spirit, stripping the Dodgers' psyche, and blowing up the Dodgers' safe. He has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a banned substance, but it could be 500 games for all I care. "You have to...

CALIFORNIA CITY - In an effort to curb vicious dog attacks, the city council will consider an ordinance aimed at regulating ownership of pit bulls and Rottweilers during its regular meeting Tuesday. The meting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall, 21000 Hacienda Blvd. The proposed breed-specific ordinance will require owners of pit bulls and Rottweilers to register their dogs under a special breed registration, in addition to the regular dog license. This registration will have an additional fee of $100 and require owners to provide a recent photograph of the dog. No more than two...

A-Rod should be banned for life from baseball for steroid use. Alex Rodriguez has done irreparable damage to the sport of baseball. Pete Rose was banned from the game for life for gambling on baseball. Do you think Pete Rose's gambling or A-Rod's steroid use had a larger impact on the outcome of any particular game of baseball? There is no proof that Pete Rose's bad habit ever affected a baseball game. We know what kind of effect steroid use has on an athlete's performance. When you correlate Alex Rodriguez's steroid use with his records and outstanding seasons, you can...

Alex Rodriguez's admission of steroid use has unleashed a new round of debate in yet another fantasy game. Where to put asterisks? Which are the corrupted numbers? A-Rod steroid shake-up The Alex Rodriguez steroid controversy took another twist Monday when the three-time AL MVP admitted taking steroids during a three-year span while with Texas. Will Rodriguez's eventual tally for hits and home runs warrant the mark of eternal shame? Will Barry Bonds' 762, or 73? How about 354, Roger Clemens' career win total? Or maybe, 6?

Every time I imagine baseball with more bunts and 1-0 "pitching duels," my blood goes cold. If intolerable tedium interested me, I would have turned my attention to soccer or golf years ago. Baseball's singular purpose, some seem to have forgotten, is to entertain us. So the moral panic surrounding Alex Rodriguez's steroid use is unquestionably counterproductive. If an athlete decides to sacrifice his testicles to the gods of baseball, who am I to object?