CYCLING
Stybar wins 6th Tour stage
Czech rider Zdenek Stybar won the sixth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday, while defending champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy was caught in a crash near the finish at Le Havre, France, caused by race leader Tony Martin. Martin lost control of his bike with just over 1/2 mile to go. It swerved to the right, clipped another bike and then brought down some eight other riders, including Nibali and Colombian climbing ace Nairo Quintana. In the ensuing confusion, with bikes piled up and riders slowing down, Stybar rode ahead unchallenged to clinch the victory, while Martin sat up on the side of the road and clutched his shoulder. Martin's team doctor said later that his collarbone was broken into several pieces. Slovak Peter Sagan, chasing a fourth consecutive green jersey as the best sprinter, finished in second place, two seconds behind Stybar. Nibali got back up and finished the stage, as did Quintana, who had blood dripping from his hand. Unable to hold his handlebar, with his left arm in a sling position, Martin rolled slowly over the line with several teammates alongside him. Martin retained the yellow jersey because the crash happened inside the last 2 miles, at which point those who fall are given the same time as the riders crossing the line in the main pack.
TRACK AND FIELD
Gatlin tops opponents
Justin Gatlin easily beat two big-name rivals by clocking 9.75 seconds in the 100 meters at the Athletissima Diamond League meet Thursday in Lausanne, Switzerland. The in-form Gatlin left runner-up Asafa Powell of Jamaica trailing in 9.92, the same time as his fellow American Tyson Gay (Arkansas Razorbacks) in third. The time was 0.01 outside Gatlin's world-leading season-best. Gatlin is increasingly looking like the man to beat at the world championships in Beijing next month as title holder Usain Bolt struggles with a leg injury. Also Thursday, Olympic champion Mo Farah of Britain won the 5,000. Farah's readiness was seriously tested when he was passed with 250 meters left by Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia. Fighting back in the home stretch, Farah went clear and crossed in 13:11.77. Olympic champion Allyson Felix of the U.S. won the women's 200 in 22.09. Shaunae Miller of Bahamas clocked a personal best 49.92 in the 400 to become the second-fastest woman in the world this year. Only American Francena McCorory has run quicker. With the injured Bolt having withdrawn last week, Zharnel Hughes, 19, of Britain won the men's 200 in a personal best 20.13. Christian Taylor of the U.S. won a high-class triple jump with 18.06 meters. Anna Chicherova of Russia cleared a world-leading 2.03 meters in the high jump. Virginia Nyambura of Kenya set a meet record of 9:16.99 in the women's 3,000 steeplechase.
NCAA
S.C. events ban off
The NCAA will end a nearly 15-year ban on South Carolina hosting sanctioned championship events following the decision to remove the Confederate flag from the state's capitol grounds. Gov. Nikki Haley signed the legislation Thursday. Within minutes of the announcement, NCAA Board of Governors Chairman Kirk Schulz issued a statement commending South Carolina's lawmakers for taking the action. The ban applied to all championship events with pre-determined host sites, such as the men's basketball tournament. Events that were assigned to home teams, such as the baseball tournament, were exempt from the ban. Schulz said bidding to host NCAA tournament events can resume as soon as the Confederate flag comes down.
FOOTBALL
Brady decision 'soon'
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said a decision on Tom Brady's appeal of his four-game suspension "is coming soon" and could happen as soon as next week, according to CNBC. Goodell made his comments to CNBC on Thursday while attending a tech and business conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. Goodell will decide Brady's fate after declining a request in May by the NFL Players Association to recuse himself and appoint a neutral arbitrator to hear the case. The Patriots quarterback's appeal of his suspension took place on June 23 at the league's headquarters in New York and went deep into the night. Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney representing the NFLPA, told Newsday that Brady was "there to the bitter end" of the 11-hour hearing. Kessler also said he believed the Brady camp "put in a very compelling case." Brady, the four-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, was suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season after being implicated in the Wells Report that found the Patriots had used underinflated balls in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts in January. Brady is hoping to have his suspension erased or reduced.
BASKETBALL
NBA to track hustle
The NBA is going to try to measure hustle. For the first time, all 67 games in the NBA Summer League at Las Vegas will have so-called "hustle stats" tracked. The league will chart two-pointers contested, three-pointers contested, deflections, loose balls recovered and charges taken. Those numbers will all go into a formula to determine which players hustled most in any given game, and will be available in real time. Much like referees using headsets to talk with one another -- and in some cases, the NBA's office in Secaucus, N.J. -- in games this summer, the hustle-stat-tracking project is a pilot program and likely wouldn't be added to the regular-season repertoire until at least the 2016-17 season.
MEDIA
Olbermann off again
Keith Olbermann, who returned to ESPN two years ago to host a late-night show on ESPN2 that was eventually shifted to the afternoon, will leave the network later this month. The news was first reported on Twitter by James Andrew Miller, author of an oral history of ESPN, Those Guys Have All the Fun. He had previously reported that ESPN had sought the end of commentaries by Olbermann, a trademark element of the program. In a statement, ESPN characterized the parting as a business decision. Earlier this year, ESPN chose not to renew the contract of another high-profile personality, Bill Simmons, who was editor-in-chief of the Grantland website and a founder and executive producer of the 30 for 30 documentary series.
Sports on 07/10/2015