Olympic Briefs - Phelps Loses Big Sponsor, Suspended by USA Swimming

USA Swimming Suspends Phelps

USA Swimming announced Thursday evening that Michael Phelps would face a three-month suspension after a photo was published in a British tabloid showing the swimmer with drug paraphernalia.

In a statement, the sport's national governing organization explained that while anti-doping rules were not violated, they had decided to send a strong message to Phelps because "he had disappointed so many people."

The swimmer's coach, Bob Bowman, told the Associated Press that he understood the decision.

"I certainly understand USA Swimming needed to take action," Bowman said in the interview. "We will certainly abide by everything they've put down."

USA Swimming has cut Phelps' funding for the length of the punishment. He will also be prohibited from entering any competitions during that time. The suspension should end on May 5. The qualifying meet for world championships is July 7-11 in Indianapolis.

"Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust," the Colorado-based federation stated.

Kellogg Ends Sponsorship

The repercussions grow for Michael Phelps in the wake of the bong photo scandal. Cereal-make Kellogg is dropping its sponsorship of the prodigious gold medalist, a lucrative deal that included the swimmer’s visage on a box of cornflakes.

"Michael's most recent behavior is not consistent with the image of Kellogg. His contract expires at the end of February and we have made a decision not to extend his contract," says a statement from the company.

Kellogg is the first of sponsor involved with Phelps to drop its deal with the swimmer since the photo of him smoking a bong appeared in a London tabloid last weekend.

Visa, Omega and Speedo say they plan to keep Phelps under contract.

"It's something I am going to have to live with and something I'll have to grow from," Phelps said in a brief interview with a Baltimore TV station Thursday, his first on camera reaction to the controversy.

Visa Reports Increased Profit

TOP sponsor Visa, Inc. says its first-quarter profit increased by 35 percent due to the increased number of electronic payments by consumers.

Visa reported net income of $574 million, or 74 cents a share, for the three-month period that concluded on Dec. 31, 2008, an improvement from the $424 million it recorded the previous year before the company's initial public offering last March.

Not including one-time charges and gains, Visa earned $599 million, or 78 cents a share, in the most recent quarter.

Visa says its revenues increased 17 percent from $1.49 billion to $1.74 billion, while its operating expenses decreased five percent from $810 million to $773 million.

Luge World Championships Begin

The best luge athletes in the world will contest for medals at the 41st FIL Luge World Championships, which will be held in Lake Placid, N.Y. Friday through Sunday.

It will be the second time that Lake Placid is hosting the artificial track event. The city also held the competition in 1983, which was the first time it took place outside of Europe.

Athletes from 21 countries are scheduled to compete in men’s singles, women’s singles and double's luge. It will be the last major international artificial track event before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The competition will conclude with the team relay event on Sunday.

USA Luge will unveil its 2010 Olympic Team helmet on Saturday during its Alumni and Volunteer party. Helmet designer Jon Wooten will present the U.S. luge team with two helmet designs, from which it will pick one.

Armin Zoeggler of Italy and Germans David Moeller, Felix Loch and Tatjana Huefner are among the top contenders in the event.

Universal Sports will provide one hour of television coverage each day of the event from 6-7 p.m. EST.

Economic Downturn Hits WinSport Canada

The global economic downturn has hit WinSport Canada hard. The former Calgary Olympic Development Association has lost $40 million on its legacy fund from the 1988 Winter Olympics since March 2007 and is experiencing a 20 percent loss of its total value.

The financial setback by WinSport Canada has led to a reduction in the funding of its training facilities for high-performance athletes.

The organization has been unable to draw on any interest and take out the $7 million required annually to pay for daily operations at facilities such as Canada Olympic Park and the Olympic Oval in Calgary.

"We're down and there is no doubt our budget has taken a hit," WinSport president and chief executive Guy Huntingford said. "We've got issues in terms of getting the funds we need to run our operations on a day-to-day basis."

Briefs...

...USA Swimming has selected Catherine Vogt as its open water coach for the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome in July. Vogt, currently an assistant swim coach at the University of Southern California, joins Bob Bowman (men’s coach), better known as Michael Phelps’ coach, and Sean Hutchinson (women’s coach) on the U.S. coaching staff for the worlds.

...New Zealand NOC official Susie Simcock and Kiwi squash legend Ross Norman were honored at the Halberg Awards dinner in Auckland, New Zealand. Simcock, a former president of the World Squash Federation and currently on the WSF’s Olympic Affairs Committee, received the Leadership award, while Norman, a standout squash player in the 1980s, was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

...Sega has reached an agreement with the IOC to become the official video game publisher of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. "Sega is extremely excited to once again work with ISM on a series of multi-platform games celebrating the Olympic Games," Sega chief executive Okitane Usui said.

...Sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe, the silver-medal winner in the 200-meter dash at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, has announced her retirement from competition.

Written by Greg Oshust.