Athletics: World 5,000 metres champion Olga Yegorova, who failed a drugs test in July, has been voted Russia's athlete of the year, the country's athletics federation (VFLA) said yesterday.
The controversial Yegorova beat triple jumper Tatyana Lebedeva and heptathlete Yelena Prokhorova, who also won gold medals at the Edmonton world athletics championships, according to a nationwide poll conducted by the VFLA.
The 29-year-old Russian created a huge media storm after testing positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO (erythropoietin) at the Paris Golden League meeting in July. She was initially suspended from the World Championships, but was later cleared to compete because the test did not conform to International Olympic Committee (IOC) standards.
Yegorova, who always denied using the stamina-boosting drug, passed another test for the substance at the championships.
Nikolai Anisimov, Yegorova's long-time trainer, was voted Russia's Coach of the Year by the VFLA.
Motor Racing: Formula One champions Ferrari have beaten off the French Davis Cup-winning tennis team and Gerard Houllier's Liverpool to top a readers' poll in L'Equipe newspaper for world team of the year.
Ferrari, with Frenchman Jean Todt as their sporting director, secured 27.8 per cent of the vote, compared to 18.8 for the tennis team and 16.9 for Liverpool, in the voting published yesterday.
European club champions Bayern Munich managed only fifth place with 9.1 per cent, behind the French handball team on 13.7.
Ferrari have won the Formula One constructors' title for the past three seasons and, with Michael Schumacher, the drivers' championship for the past two.
Cricket: Heavy rain forced play to be abandoned without a ball being bowled in the second day of New Zealand's second Test with Bangladesh in Wellington. New Zealand, who easily won the first Test, bowled Bangladesh out for 132 on Wednesday, with only Aminul Islam putting up any resistance with 42.
Rallying: The Dakar rally, one of the toughest tests in world motorsport, hits the road today. Reports say the Polisario Front independence movement has authorised the rally to cross the disputed Western Sahara from Morocco into Mauritania following meetings with organisers.
Last year, the Polisario threatened to disrupt the event when it reached the region claimed by Morocco.
Bike riders make up the biggest category at the rally, with 170 entries compared to 119 cars.
Germany's Jutta Kleinschmidt, the first woman winner, will be out to show Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser, winner in 1999 and 2000, that she deserved her 2001 win.
"I cannot give Kleinschmidt any credit for her victory as she didn't win a single special and doesn't even deserve to be on the podium," Schlesser said, and later tried unsuccessfully to have the result overturned.
