MACAU, China — Loaded with star power but wary of complacency, the U.S. Olympic basketball team arrived in China on Monday with a word of caution from coach Mike Krzyzewski.
“We haven’t accomplished anything yet,” he said.
The team is taking its Olympic preparations to this southern Chinese casino enclave. LeBron James joined the squad’s first practice in Macau with his right ankle taped. He sat out the Americans’ first tuneup against Canada on Friday in Las Vegas with a sprain.
“Every time we step onto the court, we know we have the talent and we know we have the strength to go out and be the best team on the court,” James said. “The chemistry right now is really good.”
James said he will play in upcoming exhibition games in Macau and Shanghai.
In Macau, the U.S. will play Turkey on Thursday and Lithuania on Friday. In Shanghai, they will play Russia on Sunday and Australia on Tuesday.
The Americans open Aug. 10 against China, which features center Yao Ming and forward Yi Jianlian.
Jamaica dismisses athlete
KINGSTON, Jamaica — A Jamaican track and field athlete tested positive for a banned substance and will be removed from the country’s Olympic team, but officials said it was not one of Caribbean island’s high-profile competitors.
Mike Fennell, the president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, declined to name the athlete whose sample tested positive from Jamaica’s national athletics trials held last month.
Apparently, it does not involve sprinters Usain Bolt or Asafa Powell, nor does it involve a female athlete.
Fennell said the athlete will be identified in five days in accordance with rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Footnotes.
Cyclist Marta Bastianelli, who is scheduled to compete for Italy in the Olympics, tested positive for a banned stimulant during a screening conducted July 5 by the International Cycling Union during the under-23 European championships in northern Italy. The Italian Olympic Committee said that if the positive test is confirmed, she would be automatically excluded from the team.
• Danish mountain bike champion Peter Riis Andersen was barred from the Beijing Olympics for testing positive for EPO. Riis Andersen admitted during a televised news conference in Copenhagen he had taken the banned blood booster and said he would quit professional cycling.
• Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina and Stephanie Vogt of Liechtenstein withdrew from the Olympic tennis tournament because of injuries. Chela, who missed Wimbledon because of a shoulder problem, was replaced by countryman Agustin Calleri, while Vogt was replaced by Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn.
• Two female Chinese gymnasts, including a gold-medal favorite, might be too young to participate in the Olympics. Several online records and reports show He Kexin, the host nation’s top competitor on uneven bars, and Jiang Yuyuan might not be 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility. Both were chosen for China’s team last week.
The Associated Press
