DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson will
be welcomed home to Iowa this week.
Johnson and her gymnastics coach Liang Chow will answer
questions and talk about their Beijing Olympics experience during a
free public event tomorrow night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des
Moines.
Johnson, from West Des Moines, won one gold and three silver
medals at the Olympics.
BIG TEN-MEDIACOM:
Mediacom-Big Ten agreement could come this week
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Officials say an agreement between
Mediacom and the Big Ten Network could be announced early this
week.
Reports circulated over the weekend that an agreement had been
reached, but officials wouldn't confirm on the record whether that
was the case.
A vice president of communications for the Big Ten Network says
Mediacom could start airing the network in time for Iowa's season
opener against Maine on August 30th if an announcement is made this
week.
Iowa's first three games are on the Big Ten Network, including
the season opener, a matchup against Florida International on
September 6th and the intrastate rivalry against Iowa State on
September 13th.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Phillies have moved within
a half-game of the National League East-leading New York Mets.
Pedro Feliz entered last night's game in the seventh inning, tied
the game with a hit in the ninth and then gave the Phils a 5-2 win
over Los Angeles with a three-run homer in the bottom of the 11th
inning.
BEIJING (AP) - International Olympic Committee president Jacques
Rogge (ROH'-guh) is calling the Beijing Olympics 16 glorious days
which he will cherish forever. The IOC head praised the decision to
hand the Olympics to China even though he admits it won't solve
"all the ills of the world" or hasten political change in the
Communist state of China.
BEIJING (AP) - IOC head Jacques Rogge (ROH'-guh) says there
probably won't be any changes in four of China's gymnastics gold
medals despite protests that the Chinese were employing underage
athletes. Rogge says "at first sight" the paperwork records
submitted by the Chinese appear to be OK, although the formal IOC
investigation continues.
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) - Helio Castroneves (kas-troh-NEH'-ves)
finally broke through for a victory at Infineon Raceway, winning
for the first time in 30 races. Castroneves kept alive his hopes
for an IndyCar Series championship as points leader Scott Dixon ran
12th and saw his lead shrink from 78 to 43 points heading into next
weekend's race at Detroit's Belle Isle, the next-to-last race of
the IRL season.
NEW YORK (AP) - Roger Federer has lost the last two Grand Slam
events to Rafael Nadal and also has surrendered his Number-1
ranking to the Spaniard. But Federer takes a string of four
straight U.S. Open titles into today's first day of the U.S. Open,
the final Grand Slam event of the tennis season.
