August 22 2009
Sports Bites

The IAAF has asked the South African athletics federation to conduct a gender verification test on 800-meter runner Caster Semenya amid concerns she does not meet the requirements to compete as a woman. The 18-year-old Semenya won the 800 final on Wednesday at the world championships in a world leading 1 minute, 55.45 seconds, beating defending champion Janeth Jepkosgei by a massive 2.45 seconds. Jennifer Meadows of Britain took bronze. Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo was eliminated in qualifying. The IAAF requested the gender test about three weeks ago, after Semenya burst onto the scene by slicing her personal bests in the 800 and 1,500 by huge margins. IAAF spokesman Nick Davies stressed that "it's a medical issue, not an issue of cheating.

President Barack Obama will appear in a back-to-school television special with singer Kelly Clarkson and basketball star LeBron James next month. Obama is appearing in a 30-minute documentary that will air at 8 p.m. Sept. 8 on BET, MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike TV and Nickelodeon, all of them Viacom networks. In the program, the president says education is the key to people living out their dreams.

Greek police say two Spanish fans of Atletico Madrid have been briefly hospitalized after a clash with home Panathinaikos supporters ahead of a Champions League match. The father and son were treated for cuts and bruises and discharged. Police said Wednesday's fist fight broke out in the central Athens Plaka tourist district between four Spaniards and a group of Panathinaikos fans. There were no arrests and police did not identify the two injured Spaniards. Panathinaikos hosts Atletico later Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs.

South Africans will get 120,000 free tickets to next year's World Cup, organizers said Friday, insisting that the poor should share in the excitement as their country becomes the first in Africa to host the world's most popular sporting event. FIFA said its 2010 World Cup Ticket Fund is the first of its kind in the 80 years of the tournament. FIFA had already set low ticket prices for South African residents, starting at 140 rand (about $17), compared to $80 for international tickets. But with more than a quarter of the work force unemployed, and many of those who do have jobs earning $10 a day or less, even cheap seats are out of reach.