Bomb Ruins Stockholm Olympic Bid

The fading hopes of Stockholm to hold the 2004 Olympics were dealt a devastating blow Friday when a bomb destroyed sections of the stadium left over from the Summer Games of 1912. The predawn blast at the Olympic Stadium was the latest in a series of attacks linked to the city’s Olympic bid.

Police said no one was hurt in the explosion, which sprayed glass, roof tiles and debris from the press section of the facility--the world’s oldest Olympic stadium still in regular use. It was there, 85 years ago, that Jim Thorpe was declared the world’s greatest athlete after winning the decathlon.

The bombing took place the same day that Mayor Mats Hulth was showing several International Olympics Committee members around the city.

Tennis

Top-seeded Pete Sampras needed only 53 minutes to defeat No. 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-2, 6-2, and second-seeded Michael Chang routed French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the ATP championship in Mason, Ohio. Fifth-seeded Thomas Muster needed 2 hours 43 minutes to oust unseeded Jan Siemerink, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), and 14th-seeded Albert Costa was leading No. 6 Sergi Bruguera, 4-6, 6-3, 5-2, when Bruguera was forced to retire because of cramps in his left leg.

Boxing

Terry Norris stopped Joaqin Velasquez 45 seconds into the second round at Kansas City, Mo., to retain his World Boxing Council junior middleweight championship and keep on track for a possible big-money fight against Oscar De La Hoya.

Norris, 46-6 with 29 knockouts, hadn’t fought in eight months.

Jurisprudence

Convicted sports fixer Richard Perry, whose hot-tub pictures with Nevada Las Vegas basketball players preceded Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s resignation, was sentenced in Las Vegas to 15 months in prison for income tax evasion. Perry was also fined $30,000 and ordered to pay retroactive taxes for $650,000 in gambling income he failed to report from 1989 to 1991.

Speaking publicly for the first time since his dismissal at Boston College last November, former football player Jamall Anderson told the Tampa Tribune that he and teammates had bet on sports, and that the coaching staff was aware of players’ gambling.

Motor Racing

Todd Bodine won his first NASCAR Winston Cup pole with a fast lap of 120.505 mph in qualifying for for Sunday’s Bud at the Glen road race in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Bryan Herta of Valencia broke the Mid-Ohio track record in the first day of qualifying for the Miller 200 CART Indy car race with a lap of 122.649 mph, bettering the mark of 122.100 set last year by Alex Zanardi.

Soccer

Jen Streifer’s goal in the 16th minute of overtime earned the United States’ under-20 women’s national team a 1-0 victory over Norway and the championship of the Nordic Cup tournament.

Napoli of Italy, the former club of Diego Maradona that recently signed his 10-year-old son, Diego Jr., to a contract, will play Chivas of Guadalajara as part of a doubleheader at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Wednesday night. The preliminary game pits Alianza FC of El Salvador against Comunicaciones of Guatemala.

Telstar of Amsterdam cut four players who allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old girl during a preseason training camp. The girl did not report the incident to police and there have been no criminal charges filed. The legal age of consent in the Netherlands is 16. . . . Zimbabwean goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was cleared in Winchester, England, of fixing games.

Basketball

The U.S. women’s team routed Canada, 85-66, in the world championship qualifying tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The victory gave the U.S. a 3-0 record and assured the women a berth in the world finals next year in Berlin. . . . The U.S. hopes of repeating as champion of the men’s 22-and-under world tournament were dashed when host Australia handed the Americans an 81-63 loss in Melbourne. . . . The Detroit Pistons re-signed guard Lindsey Hunter to a multiyear contract, one day after freeing money under the salary cap by trading forward Otis Thorpe to Vancouver. . . . Gary Bell has been kicked off Notre Dame for repeated violations of team rules.

Names in the News

Two days after breaking the American record for points on a single dive, Ventura’s Troy Dumais, 17, set another record by winning his 16th national junior title, the one-meter springboard, in the National Junior Diving Championships at Austin, Texas. . . . Joe Thornton, the NHL’s No. 1 overall draft pick, signed an incentive-laden deal with the Boston Bruins that could be worth as much as $3 million a year. . . . Center Derek Plante and defenseman Darryl Shannon, both restricted free agents, agreed to terms with the Buffalo Sabres.