YEAR IN REVIEW 2001: SPORTS-AND-GAMES

Skiing Alpine Skiing. Austria's Hermann Maier swept three individual men's Alpine World Cup titles and claimed a historic overall World Cup championship in 2000. The 1998 Olympic gold medalist had already sewn up the overall and supergiant slalom (super G) victories prior to the World Cup finale in Bormio, Italy, in March, and yet he won the final super G in astounding fashion, surpassing his nearest competitor by two seconds-a World Cup record. Having already destroyed Swiss skier Paul Accola's regular-season points record of 1,699, Maier rode the win to reach the magical 2,000-point mark.The previous day Maier had claimed his first World Cup downhill crown with a second-place finish behind teammate Hannes Trinkl. Austrians dominated the giant slalom (GS) and super G leader boards at the men's finals, finishing one-two-three in both events. Norwegian Kjetil Andr Aamodt, the men's overall champion in 1994, claimed the slalom championship on the strength of a sixth-place finish on the final day of the season. Daron Rahlves became the first American man since 1984 to win back-to-back World Cup downhills when he won two races in 24 hours on the 1994 Olympic course in Kvitfjell, Nor. Austria's Renate Gtschl already had won the World Cup super G crown before going to Bormio, but she clinched the title as overall women's champion when she won the final super G race of the winter. Gtschl's teammate Michaela Dorfmeister clinched the World Cup GS title. Slovenia's Spela Pretnar captured the women's slalom World Cup with four wins during the season. It was the first World Cup crown for Pretnar, who had considered retiring after the 1999 season. American Kristina Koznick won the last two World Cup slalom races, the only U.S. women's victories of the season. In the women's World Cup downhill standings, Gtschl was narrowly defeated by Germany's Regina Husl, who surpassed the Austrian by a scant five points. The World Cup win was bittersweet for Husl; as she crossed the finish line of the final race, she fell hard, broke her leg, and had to be evacuated to a hospital. Amazingly, Husl failed to claim a single downhill victory in 1999-2000, winning the World Cup on the strength of five second-place finishes. Nordic Skiing. Bente Martinsen of Norway retained the women's cross-country championship, dislodging Kristina Smigun of Estonia from the top ranking with a win in the 5-km classic race at the World Cup finals in Santa Caterina, Italy. German-born Johann Mhlegg of Spain earned the men's overall cross country championship. In ski jumping Martin Schmitt of Germany set a record with 11 World Cup victories-including four weekends in which he won both events-to capture his second consecutive World Cup title. On the final weekend of the season in Planica, Slovenia, the world distance record was reset twice during a ski-flying competition. Austria's Thomas Hrl set a world record in practice, with a 224.5-m (736-ft) leap. Two days later his teammate Andreas Goldberger soared 225 m (738 ft) in competition. Samppa Lajunen of Finland won the men's Nordic combined title, upending two-time champion Bjarte Engen Vik of Norway. Archery At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, archery provided two different stories-one of continuing domination by a women's team and another of a rising new star in his home country. Wind on the second day of the 70 m (1 m = 3.28 ft) qualifying rounds was the only negative during the six-day event, which ended on September 22. South Korea completely dominated the women's competition. Yun Mi Jin won the gold, besting her teammates Kim Nam Soon and Kim Soo Nyung by 107-106 and 107-105, respectively, on a 12-arrow match worth 120 points. The same three joined forces to defeat Ukraine 251-239 in the team final, and Germany won the women's team bronze. Australian Simon Fairweather rose above all comers to win the men's gold medal after having finished outside the top 10 in the two previous Olympics. In Sydney, Fairweather, who had worked with a South Korean coach since 1996, shot consistently throughout the qualifying and elimination rounds and defeated American Vic Wunderle 113-106 in the gold-medal round. Wietse Van Alten of The Netherlands downed Magnus Petersson of Sweden for the bronze. South Korea won more gold when its men's team beat Italy 255-247 for the gold medal. The American squad of Wunderle, Richard ("Butch") Johnson, and Rodney White tied with Russia for third and won the bronze medal in a shoot-off 29-26. In the U.S. the 116th National Archery Association national outdoor target championships were held in Canton, Mich. Johnson won the recurve title, with Wunderle and Jay Barrs finishing second and third, respectively. The men's compound winner was Dave Cousins, followed by Rich Freitas and Jeff McNail. In the ladies recurve division, Karen Scavotto won over Janet Dykman and Denise Parker. The women's compound victor was Christie Bisco; Mary Zorn took second place just one point ahead of Michelle Ragsdale. At the National Field Archery Association outdoor national championships in Darrington, Wash., Cousins was the winner in pro freestyle, Becky Pearson won in pro female freestyle, and Steve Gibbs prevailed in the pro freestyle limited division. Larry Wise Football Association Football (Soccer). Europe. France emphasized its domination of international association football (soccer) events by adding the 2000 European championship title to the World Cup success it had achieved in 1998. Euro 2000, which was held in Belgium and The Netherlands, was the sport's first major tournament to be staged in two countries, and there was a high standard of play from many of the finalists. Italy provided France's opposition in the final, staged in Rotterdam, Neth., on July 2, and proved a worthy adversary despite a contrasting style. While the French used one lone, mobile striker and relied on relentless waves of support from midfield, the Italians stuck to three central defenders and a reinforced blanket of five in midfield, leaving two attackers to forage up front. There was also a distinct difference in the composition of the two teams. While Italy had only home-based players in its lineup, France fielded no fewer than 9 "mercenaries" in its starting 11-players who plied their professional trade in other countries. In the semifinals France beat Portugal 2-1 with a penalty goal in sudden-death overtime. The Italians had to play for much of their semifinal game against The Netherlands with 10 men, following a dismissal just after half an hour's play. The Dutch missed two penalties during normal time, but Italy survived and won the subsequent penalty shoot-out 3-1. In the final the Italians were noticeably tired after their marathon with The Netherlands, but they coped well enough with the first-half onslaught from the French and took the lead in the 55th minute following the best move of the match. Francesco Totti, finding no space ahead of him, cleverly back-heeled the ball to Gianluca Pessotto, whose cross was side-footed in by Marco Delvecchio. The Italians then squandered several opportunities to add to the lead, and France's manager, Roger Lemerre, was forced to use his three substitutes in an effort to wrest the initiative from Italy. It proved an inspired decision. With the game in injury time, one of the replacements, Sylvain Wiltord, latched onto a misheaded clearance, cut in from the left, and fired into the far corner. In the 103rd minute the other two substitutes combined for the sudden-death winner in overtime as Robert Pires crossed the ball for David Trzguet to produce an unstoppable, spectacular volley. There was some consolation for Italy in winning the under-21 championship, but France was not to be denied another honour, taking the under-18 title. On May 24 Paris was the venue for the final of the Champions League European Cup. In an all-Spanish affair, Real Madrid convincingly beat Valencia 3-0 in front of 78,759 spectators. Fernando Morientes, who was playing only because of a slight injury to the Brazilian Savio (Savio Bortolini Pimentel), headed Real into a 39th-minute lead from a short right-wing cross by Michel Salgado. In the 67th minute the Valencia defense failed to clear the ball, and Steve McManaman volleyed the second goal. Eight minutes later Ral (Ral Gonzlez Blanco) ran unchallenged from the halfway line for the third score. It was Real's eighth championship in the competition. In contrast, in the Union des Associations Europennes de Football (UEFA) Cup final, held in Copenhagen a week earlier in front of 38,919 spectators, Galatasaray became the first Turkish team to win a major European trophy when it beat England's Arsenal 4-1 on penalties following a low-key goalless draw. The Turkish side played for all but two minutes of overtime without Gheorghe Hagi, the Romanian playmaker, who was sent off for punching Arsenal's Tony Adams. Galatasaray's first-leg semifinal against Leeds United had been marred by the death of two English supporters in rioting in Istanbul the day before the match. In domestic football the high and low points both came in Ukraine. Dynamo Kiev won its eighth consecutive Ukrainian national championship and was undefeated in the 30 games played, dropping just six points (in three draws), while Zirka Kirovograd finished at the bottom and failed to win one match. Spain's Real Club Deportivo of La Corua won its first national title in its 94-year history. Thanks to goal difference, Bayern Munich retained the Bundesliga crown in Germany on the last day of the season. In France there was a surprise in the cup tournament when Calais, a team composed entirely of amateur players with full-time occupations outside football, reached the final and then lost 2-1 to Nantes. In Scotland a 3-1 defeat on its own ground for Celtic in an early round against Inverness Caledonian Thistle (elected to the Scottish League as recently as 1994) produced immediate reaction. This sensational defeat cost the jobs of the entire Celtic coaching staff. Celtic's longtime Glasgow rivals, the Rangers, achieved that team's 49th championship and its 11th title in 12 years. The Rangers also won the Scottish Cup for the 29th time. Manchester United won the English Premier League for the sixth time since the league's formation in 1992. The leading scorer in Europe was Mario Jardel of Porto in Portugal with 38 league goals. The Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world governing body, came under severe criticism after the voting to choose the host nation for the 2006 World Cup. South Africa, the favourite, was edged out in the final count in favour of Germany. The New Zealand representative, thought likely to be voting for the South Africans, abstained amid alleged offers of bribery and threats on his life. The African bloc blamed Asia and broke off relations with it. England, which had been convinced of the strength of its own bid, spent about $16 million of taxpayers' money on what was considered to be a poorly organized campaign and blamed fan violence by English hooligans at the start of the Euro 2000 championship for its failure. Meanwhile, FIFA membership continued to grow, with the admission of Bhutan bringing the total up to 204 countries. A record number of 198 members entered the 2002 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Japan and South Korea, but the possibility that two of the games would be staged in North Korea was not substantiated. More problems for the authorities came when the European Union (EU) insisted that the transfer system be severely restricted, with players over 24 years of age being allowed to move without payment of a fee. This represented the greatest threat yet to a professional sport for which the transfer system had been a cornerstone for more than a century. Thus, the record deal in Spain that took Portuguese midfielder Luis Figo from Barcelona to Real Madrid for about $56 million in July seemed likely to stay the record. His move came less than two weeks after Hernan Crespo's transfer in Italy from Parma to Lazio for about $55 million. Escalating salaries in Western Europe were chiefly sustained by money from television and other communications. The highest paid player, at about $130,000 a week, was reputed to be 1999 European and World Footballer of the Year Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira-Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder known simply as Rivaldo. (See Biographies.) If the EU's proposals went through, the principal beneficiaries would be players and their agents. Another contentious issue concerned FIFA's wish to introduce a coordinated international match calendar specifying dates upon which all first-class fixtures would be played. Four weeks would be set aside for holidays, with another four weeks for preseason training. On the basis of two matches per week, this would leave 76 match dates-46 for national league and cup matches, 16 for continental club competitions, and 12 for national team matches including friendlies, with a further two dates in reserve. Australian Football. Essendon-the invincibles. That was the cry at the finish of the 2000 Australian Football League (AFL) season as Essendon swept to its 16th premiership. It was a season that belonged to Essendon in every way as the Bombers maintained top position on the ladder after every round, lost only one of their 22 home and away games (in round 21), and then raced through the three finals. In the Grand Final Essendon beat Melbourne (which had failed to qualify for the play-offs in 1999) 19.21 (135) to 11.9 (75) before a crowd of 96,249 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy's fourth premiership since he started in the position in 1981. Essendon's chief goalkicker Matthew Lloyd kicked 94 goals in the home and away rounds to gain the Coleman Medal and then booted a further 15 goals in the finals to finish with a season total of 109. Shane Woewodin won the Brownlow Medal as the best and fairest player in the competition, while James Hird earned the Norm Smith Medal as best player in the Grand Final. Wayne Carey, the captain of the North Melbourne Kangaroos, was named captain of the All-Australian team, and Paul Hasleby of the Fremantle Dockers was voted the best rookie, winning the Norwich Union AFL Rising Star Award. Greg Hobbs Badminton Once again, Chinese badminton players-especially the women-captured most of the important events of the year. Although China had been the sport's powerhouse in recent years, its domination was raised to a new level in 2000. At the All-England Championships in March, Xia Xuanze of China posted four consecutive upsets to win the men's singles title. In the final Xia defeated Taufik Hidayat, an Indonesian teenager who was hoping to become the youngest men's singles champion of the open era. The women's singles final saw Gong Zhichao of China win her first title in two years with a final-round victory over compatriot Dai Yun. The Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup, team events for men and women, respectively, featured China in both finals. This event was the first time since 1990 that the Chinese men had advanced to the championship round; the Indonesian men's team beat China 3-0, however. The women's competition saw the appearance of Denmark in the final for the first time since 1960, but in the best-of-five match final, the Chinese women won easily 3-0. China's medal haul at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, paled its performances at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Ga. In Atlanta China won four medals, only one of which was gold. In Sydney, however, the tally was eight: four gold, one silver, and three bronze. Ji Xinpeng, seeded seventh, was the giant killer of the men's singles event, scoring numerous upsets on his way to victory. After eliminating the top-seeded Hidayat and the world top-ranked Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark, Ji beat the second-seeded Hendrawan of Indonesia for the gold medal. In the women's final China's Gong Zhichao rallied from behind to beat current world champion Camilla Martin of Denmark. The Chinese women's doubles team of Ge Fei and Gu Jun, virtually unbeatable over the past four years, defended the title they won in Atlanta. The women's doubles competition marked the first time a country had taken gold, silver, and bronze in an Olympic badminton event. Chinese players also won the mixed doubles title, while the remaining gold medal went to the Indonesian men's doubles team of Tony Gunawan and Chandra Wijaya. Donn Gobbie Baseball With the opening of new ballparks in Detroit, San Francisco, and Houston, Texas, in 2000 major league baseball established a single-season attendance record of 72,748,970, surpassing the previous record set in 1998. The season opened March 29 in Tokyo, with the Chicago Cubs defeating the New York Mets 5-3 at the Tokyo Dome; the Mets retaliated with a 5-1 victory the next day. The two-game series marked the first time regular-season competition had been staged outside North America. Bobsledding and Luge Bobsledding. The inaugural Winter Goodwill Games took place in February 2000 in Lake Placid, N.Y., and saw Sandis Prusis and Janis Ozols of Latvia take the two-man bobsled title with a combined time of 3 min 49.13 sec. Andre Lange and Lars Behrendt of Germany placed second, and Americans Brian Shimer and Pavle Jovanovic were third. American Jim Shea, Jr., the 1999 skeleton world champion, claimed the skeleton gold medal at the Games, followed by American Chris Soule and Kazuhiro Koshi of Japan. Alexandra Hamilton of Great Britain recorded the fastest time for the women (4 min 11.22 sec) to take the gold medal. Maya Bieri of Switzerland and Michelle Kelly of Canada won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. The 1999-2000 World Cup season consisted of seven stops in Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany. Drivers earned points in three categories: two-man, four-man, and combined standings. Switzerland took the top three spots in the two-man division, with Christian Reich and Urs Aeberhard leading the way with 224 points. Sleds piloted by Reto Gtschi (209) and Marcel Rohner (205) followed. Switzerland also captured the four-man title with Rohner's team on top with 224 points. Prusis was second with 192 points, followed by Pierre Lueders of Canada with 181 points. Steffi Hanzlik and Andy Bhme of Germany won the women's and men's titles at the world skeleton championships, which were held in Igls, Austria, in February. Gregor Sthl of Switzerland finished second to Bhme, while Canada's Melissa Hollingsworth took the silver in the ladies' event. The world junior bobsled championships were also held in February, at Olympic Park in Calgary, Alta. Switzerland's Martin Annen and Beat Hefti recorded the fastest combined time (1 min 52.65 sec). Annen later piloted his four-man team to victory with a time of 1 min 50.16 sec. Luge. International luge racing returned to Lake Placid at the Goodwill Games with a world-class field competing on a new $24 million track. Americans Mark Gimmette and Brian Martin captured the doubles gold medal, finishing five-thousandths of a second ahead of Germany's Steffen Skel and Steffen Woller. Italy's Armin Zoeggeler captured the men's singles gold medal. The women's crown went to Germany's Sylke Otto, with her teammate Silke Kraushaar taking second. Iluta Gaile of Latvia was third. In doubles competition Germany's Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch raced to titles in the 2000 European and world championships. Leitner and Resch also finished on top in the World Cup luge doubles. Ten points back in second place in the final World Cup standings were Skel and Woller. Women's singles continued to be dominated by Germans, who took the top three spots in the World Cup standings. Otto won four of the seven races and claimed the gold medal. Kraushaar, the 1998 Olympic gold medalist and defending World Cup overall winner, was second. Barbara Niedernhuber finished third. In men's singles Zoeggeler won the first five World Cup events to take the overall title. Jens Mller of Germany was four points back in second, followed by his teammate, the legendary three-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl. Boxing In 2000, problems outside the ring overshadowed what was an excellent year for boxing in terms of competitive matches. (See Sidebar.) The first in a series of outstanding bouts was between World Boxing Council (WBC) junior featherweight (super bantamweight) champion Erik Morales (Mex.) and challenger Marco Antonio Barrera (Mex.) on February 19 in Las Vegas, Nev. After 12 rounds of virtually nonstop punching, Morales won a controversial split decision. The next exceptional bout came on March 3, when former International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight champion Felix Trinidad (P.R.) successfully moved up in weight to the junior middleweight (super welterweight) division by winning the World Boxing Association (WBA) title with a unanimous 12-round decision over 1996 Olympic gold medalist David Reid (U.S.) in Las Vegas. In another top-notch bout, held on April 15 in Las Vegas, IBF junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas (U.S.) scored the most impressive victory of his career, winning a 12-round decision over former WBA welterweight champion Ike Quartey (Ghana). The hard-fought unification bout between Trinidad and Vargas took place on December 2 in Las Vegas. Trinidad knocked down his previously unbeaten opponent twice in the first round and three times in the 12th to add the IBF belt to his WBA title. Oscar de la Hoya (U.S.), boxing's biggest attraction outside the heavyweight division, continued to have difficulties both inside and outside the ring. He won his first match of the year, scoring a seventh-round knockout of Derrell Coley (U.S.) on February 26 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In his only other match, de la Hoya lost a 12-round decision to Shane Mosley (U.S.) for the vacant WBC welterweight title on June 17 in Los Angeles. It was a superb, hard-fought fight, with approximately 580,000 households purchasing the television pay-per-view. Shortly after the loss to Mosley, de la Hoya brought a lawsuit against his longtime promoter, Bob Arum, seeking to break their contract. Arum filed a countersuit. By beating de la Hoya, the undefeated Mosley, a former IBF lightweight champion, gained recognition as one of the sport's very best fighters. In his first WBC welterweight title defense, Mosley stopped challenger Antonio Diaz (U.S.) with a sixth-round knockout. WBC and IBF heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (U.K.) bolstered his recognition as the best heavyweight in the world with a trio of successful title defenses. On April 29 he knocked out previously undefeated Michael Grant (U.S.) in the second round of a bout held in Madison Square Garden; on July 15 in London he scored a second-round knockout of Francois Botha (S.Af.); and on November 11 in Las Vegas he punctuated his excellent year by defeating David Tua (N.Z.) with a 12-round unanimous decision. The vacant WBA heavyweight title, which had been stripped from Lewis because he refused to defend against little-known John Ruiz (U.S.), was won by former WBA and IBF champion Evander Holyfield (U.S.), who scored an unpopular 12-round decision over Ruiz on August 12 in Las Vegas. Advised by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to take his act elsewhere following a series of controversial performances in Las Vegas, former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (U.S.) had his first two bouts of the year overseas. On January 29 he tallied a second-round knockout of Julius Francis (U.K.) in Manchester, Eng., and on June 24 he scored a first-round technical knockout over Lou Savarese (U.S.) in Glasgow, Scot. The latter fight was highlighted by Tyson's refusal to stop punching after referee John Coyle (U.K.) stopped the fight. Tyson pushed Coyle to the floor and kept hitting Savarese until the referee regained his feet and restored order. Tyson was subsequently fined $187,500 by the British Boxing Board of Control for his misconduct. Tyson returned to the United States for his third fight of the year, scoring a third-round technical knockout of Andrew Golota (Pol.) on October 20 in Auburn Hills, Mich., near Detroit. Roy Jones, Jr. (U.S.), boxing's only unified champion, defended the WBC, WBA, and IBF light heavyweight title belts three times. On January 15, in the first boxing show ever held at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, he won a 12-round decision over David Telesco (U.S.). On May 13 he scored an 11th-round technical knockout of Richard Hall (Jam.) in a bout held in Indianapolis, Ind. In his final bout of the year, Jones scored an 11th-round technical knockout of Eric Harding (U.S.) in New Orleans. In a rematch of 1999's best action fight, Paulie Ayala (U.S.) again won a 12-round decision over Johnny Tapia (U.S.). While highly competitive, the featherweight bout, which took place on October 7 in Las Vegas, was not quite as exciting as their first encounter, but the close decision was more controversial than the first. After both fights Tapia accused the judges of being influenced by the fact that Ayala was under contract to promoter Bob Arum, whose company, Top Rank, Inc., was accused of corruption in Nevada and New Jersey. Tapia's charges, however, were not substantiated. The most significant occurrence in women's boxing took place on February 6 in Scranton, Pa., when Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, the daughter of former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, turned pro with a first-round knockout of Teela Reese. Frazier-Lyde, a practicing attorney, hoped to procure a match with one of Muhammad Ali's daughters, Laila Ali, who had turned pro in 1999. At the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Cuban boxers won 4 of the 12 gold medals at stake. Six-time amateur heavyweight world champion Flix Savn Fabr of Cuba collected his third consecutive Olympic gold. (See Biographies.) Nigel Collins Canadian Football. The British Columbia Lions won the 2000 Canadian Football League (CFL) championship by defeating the Montreal Alouettes 28-26 in the Grey Cup on November 26 at Calgary, Alta., becoming the first champion in the Cup's 88 years with a losing won-lost-tied record in the regular season (8-10-0). The Lions led all CFL offenses with averages of 139.2 yd rushing, 316.8 yd passing, and 436.7 total net yd per game, and then won play-off games against Western Division champion Calgary (12-5-1) and Eastern Division champion Montreal (12-6). Lions quarterback Damon Allen led the league with 4,840 yd passing and finished the season with career CFL records of 3,588 completions, 6,480 attempts, and 50,789 yd. Kicker Lui Passaglia set a field-goal percentage record of .909 (40 for 44) in the last of his 25 seasons with British Columbia, retiring at age 46 with CFL records for points (3,984), field goals (875), and punting and kickoff yardage. Calgary quarterback Dave Dickenson was the league's Most Outstanding Player with a record of 114.1 passing efficiency points and league highs of 36 touchdown passes and a .643 completion percentage. His teammate, receiver Allen Pitts, set career records of 966 catches, 14,891 yd, and 117 touchdowns. Montreal running back Mike Pringle led the league with 1,778 yd rushing and 19 touchdowns, another record. Curtis Marsh of Saskatchewan had league highs of 102 catches and 1,560 yd receiving. Most Outstanding Defensive Player Joe Montford of Hamilton had 20 quarterback sacks. Kevin M. Lamb Billiard Games Carom Billiards. The Billiards Worldcup Association (BWA) World Cup final standings for 1999 saw Dick Jaspers of The Netherlands on top with 200 points. South Korean-born Sang Chun Lee of New York City was second with 190 points. In January 2000 the carom specialists headed to The Netherlands for the International Dutch Open, where Jaspers defeated 1999 world champion Torbjrn Blomdahl of Sweden 3-1 in the final. Jaspers amassed 290 points in 156 innings and averaged 1.859 points per inning, with a high run of 14. Jaspers also picked up 36 world ranking points. Blomdahl scored 226 points in 155 innings, with an average of 1.458. Spotted balls were used for the first time in the Dutch Open. For better viewing, the white and yellow balls were provided with six red dots. A time clock was also introduced. Both players had a starting time of 150 seconds, with another 30 seconds per shot added. The time a player used was then subtracted, and if a player used up all of his or her time he or she lost the set. In a final-16 match, Jaspers lost his first set to countryman Ad Koorevarr when he used up all of his time. The first World Cup event of 2000 was held in Bogot, Colom., in May. Blomdahl once again was a bridesmaid, losing to Turkish star Semih Sayginer 3-2 in the final. Sayginer averaged 1.404, with a high run of 7. Jaspers finished ninth, while Sang Chun Lee, who had captured his 11th consecutive U.S. three-cushion championship one month earlier, lost in the final 16. Pocket Billiards. Team U.S.A., led by Johnny Archer, defended its title in the Mosconi Cup in London. The American squad trounced Team Europe 12-7 to capture its fifth title in six years. Archer, the 1999 U.S. Open champion, sealed the match with a 5-2 victory over six-time world snooker champion Steve Davis of England. Billiards Digest named the 50 greatest players of the century. The top five were Willie Hoppe, Willie Mosconi, Ralph Greenleaf, Alfredo de Oro, and Mike Sigel. Current stars Allison Fisher of England and Archer were ranked 18th and 31st, respectively. A jury in North Carolina awarded the Professional Billiards Tour (PBT) $886,000 for breach of contract in its lawsuit against the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Two other charges of fraud and unfair trade practices were earlier thrown out for lack of evidence. Don Mackey, PBT commissioner, announced that plans were under way for an "active" 2001 pool season. A German player captured the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) U.S. Open straight pool championship for the third time in four years. Ralf Souquet pocketed $15,000 for his 150-95 victory over Ch'ien Ming-wei of Taiwan. Fisher trounced Loree Jon Jones 100-37 in the ladies' section to also cash out for $15,000. The Steve Mizerak Senior Tour attracted 69 players to Tampa, Fla., in March for the Senior Masters. Nick Varner prevailed over Jim Rempe 13-11 to claim top honours. The tour later announced that the Senior Tour championship scheduled for October had been canceled. Russel Stuart of Canada announced that he had set up the USA Billiards Tour and the Challenger Circuit to qualify pocket billiard players for several large purse events in 2001. Dan Basovich defeated Buddy Hall in the first event, held in Florida. Two events were canceled-one in Tulsa, Okla., and the other in Atlanta, Ga.-almost immediately. Finnish champion Mika Immonen prevailed in the Nashville, Tenn., stop, while Efren Reyes of the Philippines came out on top at the Baltimore, Md., event. On May 2, USA Billiards announced that the remainder of the tour was being postponed pending "a complete review of the tour, including sponsorship and player participation." In the Women's Professional Billiard Association (WPBA), Fisher was elected president of the players' association and continued to show her influence on the table as well. In the first four tournaments of the year, Fisher was victorious in two-the WPBA nationals and the San Diego Classic-and reached the finals in the other two, losing to former world snooker champion Karen Corr in Valley Forge, Pa., and being edged by Gerda Hofstatter in the BCA Open event in Las Vegas, Nev. Corr defeated Helena Thornfeldt to capture the Baltimore stop on the WPBA tour in August. Ninety-six players from 23 countries descended on Cardiff, Wales, in July for the World Pool-Billiard Association world nine-ball championships. Chao Fong-pang of Taiwan trounced the Mexican Ismael Paez 17-6 to take the title and a check for $60,000-the largest prize in pool. Paez received $30,000. The champion also received a reported $90,000 bonus from the Taiwanese government. Americans Earl Strickland and Cory Duel finished third and fourth, respectively, and pocketed $15,000 each. Former snooker champion Davis was the story of the weeklong tournament. After barely advancing out of his round-robin bracket, Davis knocked out three former world pool champions before Duel sent him packing in the final-eight bracket. The 10th annual International Challenge of Champions followed on the heels of the world championships, with eight invited players dueling it out for the sole prize of $50,000. In a reversal of the previous year's final, German Oliver Ortmann defeated defending champion Francisco Bustamante in a one-game tiebreaker. Ortmann became the only two-time winner of this prestigious event. Reyes pocketed $30,000 with his victory in the Camel Pro 8-Ball Championship in August; Immonen earned $20,000 for his second-place finish. Strickland captured his fifth U.S. Open nine-ball title and $50,000 in winnings in September with an 11-5 victory over Takeshi Okumura of Japan. A record field of 286 players entered the tournament, with defending champion Archer ending up in a 7th place tie. Chess The parallel but entirely separate realms of the Fdration Internationale des checs (FIDE), the world ruling body founded in 1924, and former FIDE champion Garry Kasparov of Russia continued in 2000. FIDE made further attempts to come closer to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in what looked like an attempt to reinforce its legitimacy and its right to organize the world individual championship. Kasparov, who split with FIDE in 1993, spent many months anticipating a title match with the Indian star Viswanathan Anand, then agreed to entrust the arrangement of such a contest to yet another new organization, the Brain Games Network (BGN). Anand, however, would not agree to such a match. So there was no repeat of the Kasparov-Anand match held in New York City in 1995. In its place London-based backers of BGN arranged a 16-game match between Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik for October and November 2000. Kramnik's midyear displacement of Anand in second place on the ratings list made this a logical step, but the gap of five years between Kasparov's matches was reminiscent of pre-1945 when Emanuel Lasker, Jos Ral Capablanca, and Alexander Alekhine were reluctant to play matches against logical contenders. Kramnik pulled off a great surprise by beating Kasparov, who had dominated world chess for 15 years. Kramnik, a 25-year-old from the Russian town of Tuapse, wedged between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, came out the winner on November 2 by scoring 2 wins, no losses, and 13 draws. Kasparov, at age 37, seemed almost unrecognizable. After the match he pointed to Kramnik's adoption of a new opening repertoire as the reason for his failure. Kasparov had felt obliged to work 10 hours a day on rest days in an attempt to counter such innovations as the Berlin Defense to the dreaded Ruy Lopez opening and suffered from a sort of burnout after the first few games. It certainly was unprecedented for Kasparov to offer to call it a draw after only 11 and 14 moves as he did in the 7th and 13th games, respectively. It was the first time since the Lasker-Capablanca match of 1921 that a defending champion had failed to win a single game. These developments took place against the background of fewer international tournaments and the financial strains that induced FIDE to set up a commercial arm, the initial business plan of which seemed rather optimistic. The IOC connection brought in the spectre of drug tests, which many leading players resented. Jan Timman, the leading Dutch player of the past 25 years, stated his intention not to cooperate. Grandmasters were generally skeptical about the availability of performance-enhancing drugs for chess, but the drinking of a cup of coffee during play, a traditional feature of the game at all levels, seemed threatened should the proposed testing program go ahead. Meanwhile, many local clubs and short tournaments played at a rate of more than one game a day found their popularity diminished by the spread of Internet play. The controversial aspect of computer development was crystallized at the Dutch Championship on May 7-19 when Paul van der Sterren announced in advance that he would lose by default rather than meet the computer, and some other competitors played far below their best against it. Loek van Wely defeated it, however, using the slow buildup of a close game, which exploited one of the few remaining advantages human players had over computers, and took the Dutch title with 8.5 points from 11 games. The computer program Fritz SSS scored seven points to share third-fifth place, though van der Sterren came in third on a tiebreaker. Meanwhile, FIDE announced that it would not in the future rate events in which computers took part, placing a barrier in the path of such mixed contests. The controversy over inflated ratings achieved in Myanmar (Burma) by results attained within too small a pool of players to be valid was mitigated. Every player from that country had 100 rating points deducted in the July 1 list-rough justice but long overdue. Kasparov repeated his feat of 1999 by winning the three strongest tournaments of the year at Wijk aan Zee, Neth.; Linares, Spain (jointly with Kramnik); and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, before coming in second to Anand at the Frankfurt (Ger.) Chess Classic on June 22-25. This was a double-round contest played at the quick time limit of 25 minutes per player per game. Anand took the official FIDE world title in December, beating Aleksey Shirov of Spain 31/2-1/2 in the six-game final. Xie Jun of China retained her FIDE title with a win over compatriot Qin Kanying. Bernard Cafferty U.S. Football. College. The University of Oklahoma won its seventh national championship of U.S. college football and its first since 1985 by defeating Florida State University 13-2 in the Orange Bowl at Miami, Fla., on Jan. 3, 2001. Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma, with a 13-0 record, held scoreless a Florida State offense that led Division I-A of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the regular season with 384 yd passing and 549 total yards per game while ranking third with 42.4 points. The two teams' quarterbacks each won Player of the Year awards, with Chris Weinke of Florida State winning the prestigious Heisman Trophy and Josh Heupel of Oklahoma winning the Associated Press (AP) and Walter Camp Foundation awards. Purdue quarterback Drew Brees won the Maxwell Award. Oklahoma, the only undefeated I-A team in the regular season, was the third consecutive undisputed champion under the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) format, which determined the championship game's opponents on the basis of two established news media polls and eight computerized rankings. Identifying the title game's contenders, however, generated controversy for the second time in three BCS seasons. The polls' second-ranked team, Big East champion University of Miami (11-1), had defeated Atlantic Coast champion Florida State (11-2) during the regular season, which prompted BCS chairman John Swofford to propose that future computer rankings give more value to head-to-head games and less value to high margins of victory. The final writers' and coaches' polls agreed only through three places, with Miami second after its 37-20 Sugar Bowl victory over Southeastern Conference champion Florida (10-3), and Pacific-10 cochampion Washington (11-1) third after its 34-24 Rose Bowl victory over Big Ten cochampion Purdue (8-4). The coaches ranked Florida State fourth, but the writers ended Florida State's 13-year streak of top-four finishes in their AP poll by selecting Oregon State, which defeated Notre Dame (9-3) by a score of 41-9 in the Fiesta Bowl. The writers' 6th through 10th spots went to Virginia Tech (11-1), Oregon (10-2), Nebraska (10-2), Cotton Bowl winner Kansas State (11-3), and Florida. The coaches' poll dropped Oregon from 7th to 9th and replaced Florida with Michigan (9-3) at 10th. Oregon and Oregon State were the other Pacific-10 cochampions, and Northwestern and Michigan the others in the Big Ten. Other I-A conference winners were Colorado State (10-2) in the Mountain West, Louisville (9-3) in Conference USA, Boise State (10-2) in the Big West, and Marshall(8-5) in the Mid-American, while Texas Christian (10-2) and Texas-El Paso (8-4) tied for the Western Athletic championship. Weinke, Heupel, and Brees each led Division I-A in quarterbacking categories, Weinke with 4,167 yd passing, Heupel with a .647 completion