By wire sources
Canadian freestyle skier Burke dead at 29
SALT LAKE CITY — Sarah Burke was an X Games star with a grass-roots mentality — a daredevil superpipe skier who understood the risks inherent to her sport and the debt she owed to it for her success on the slopes.
The pioneering Canadian freestyler, who helped get superpipe accepted into the Olympics, died Thursday after a Jan. 10 crash during a training run in Park City, Utah.
Burke, who lived near Whistler, in British Columbia, was 29.
“Sarah was the one who, in a very positive way, stood in the face of adversity and asked, ‘Why not?”‘ said Peter Judge, the CEO of Canada’s freestyle team. “What she would have wanted was for her teammates and others in her sport to stand up and also say, ‘Why not?’ To benefit from the significant opportunities available to them, being able to compete in the Olympics and the X Games. Those were the things she wanted and cherished and fought for.”
A four-time Winter X Games champion, Burke crashed on the same halfpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce sustained a traumatic brain injury during a training accident on Dec. 31, 2009.
Tests revealed she sustained “irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest,” according to a statement released by her publicist, Nicole Wool, on behalf of the family.
Westbrook signs extension with Thunder
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder signed All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook to a multiyear contract extension on Thursday.
Westbrook was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, meaning the Thunder would have had to match any offer he received from another team. Instead, they locked him up with a new deal 15 games into this season. Terms were not disclosed but Yahoo Sports reported the deal was worth $80 million over five years.
Oklahoma City has the best record in the Western Conference, with Westbrook averaging 20.5 points, 5.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds. He was chosen as an All-Star for the first time last season.
Source: Braun
appeal begins
NEW YORK — Ryan Braun’s appeal of his positive drug test began Thursday before baseball arbitrator Shyam Das.
The start of the National League MVP’s appeal, first reported by the New York Daily News, was confirmed by a person familiar with the session who spoke on condition of anonymity because the proceeding was not to be made public.
Calls to Braun’s agent, Nez Balelo, and Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney were not returned.
When the positive drug test was first reported by ESPN.com last month, Braun had a spokesman issue a statement saying there were circumstances supporting “Ryan’s complete innocence.”
Under the joint drug agreement between baseball teams and the players’ association, Braun will have to prove “the presence of a prohibited substance in his urine was not due to his fault or negligence.”
As Braun tries to avoid a 50-game suspension, the burden is a heavy one to overcome. A baseball arbitrator has never ordered a suspension overturned following a grievance hearing.
Haiti GK hospitalized after collision
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Haiti goalkeeper Ednie Limage was hospitalized Thursday night with a possible spinal injury after colliding with a teammate during an Olympic qualifying game against Canada.
Limage was reaching for a high ball when she struck hard by midfielder Samantha Marie-Ann Brand in the second half of Haiti’s 6-0 loss. Limage fell to the ground in pain, still clutching the ball.
Limage was carried off the field on a hand-held stretcher and treated near the Haiti bench for much of the second half.
Then she was immobilized on a hospital stretcher and taken from the stadium.
Coach Ronald Luxieux said through a translator that the 26-year-old Limage was “suffering quite a bit” and that “it might be a spinal injury.”
By wire sources