Glenn “Jeep” Davis, and eight-time Big Ten champion in hurdles with Ohio State and three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, died this week at the age of 74. Davis won Gold in the 400m hurdles in the 1956 Melbourne Games as well as the 400m hurdles and 1600m relay in Rome in 1960. He also holds the Ohio State records for the outdoor 50-yard hurdles (6.1 seconds).

After the Olympics, Davis settled in Barberton, just outside of Akron, Ohio, where he was a high school teacher and coach for 33 years.

(photo © Newscom)

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Three-Time Gold Medalist, Davis Dies

Jamaican Olympic sprinter and “fastest man on earth,” Usain Bolt picked up another honor this past weekend when he was named the “Caribbean Man of the Year” for 2008. Organizers cited the worldwide attention that Bolt brought to the islands after his victories in Beijing last August.

Bolt wowed Olympic viewers with his easy victories in the 100m and 200m events. He also helped the Jamaica relay team earn Gold in the 400m relay.

The “Caribbean Woman of the Year” honor went to pop singer, Rihanna, who hails from Barbados.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

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Another Award for Bolt

Presumably not content to hold the world records in the men’s 100m and 200m events, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt told the Associated Press this week that he is considering vying for the world record in the 400m, set by Michael Johnson at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain. Said Bolt,

“There are no major championships in 2010, so I could go for the 400-meter record that year,” Bolt said in a BBC interview. “The training for 400 meters is so much harder, but I’m thinking about it.”

Bolt won three Gold Medals at the Beijing Games–in the 200m, 100m, and the 4×400m relay.

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Bolt Eyes 400m World Record

The Silver and Bronze Medalists in the Hammer Throw event at the Beijing Games have been stripped of their medals for testing positive for high levels of testosterone on August 17. Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan of Belraus will forfeit their medals and Devyatovskiy, for whom this was a second offense, was hit with a lifetime Olympic ban.

The silver will now go to Krisztian Pars of Hungary and the bronze to Koji Murofushi of Japan. Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia won the gold medal.

In total, nine athletes were found guilty of doping during the Beijing Games.

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Hammer Throw Olympians Stripped of Medals

Liu Xiang, the Chinese Gold-Medal hurdler who had to withdraw from the competition in Beijing due to an injured Achilles tendon had surgery to repair the injury last week and the procedure has been declared a success. Dr. Tom Clanton (above center), who operated on Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming’s injured foot earlier this year, led the surgery team. The operation started at 930pm Beijing Time on Friday, December 5 and lasted about two hours and fifty minutes at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Centre in Houston. According to Clanton, all indications are that Liu will fully recover. He will need four months in the United States post-surgery and about six months to return to the track.

Liu won the Gold Medal in the 110m hurdles at the 2004 Games in Athens.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

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Liu Xiang Surgery a Success

The Modern Pentathlon, the five-event sport created by Modern Olympics founder, Baron Pierre de Coubertin as a test of the perfect soldier’s skills, will combine the shooting and running segments of the sport in an effort to streamline the event and make it more enjoyable for spectators.

The Modern Pentathlon involves shooting, fencing, swimming, riding an unfamiliar horse around the jumping track, and running. In Beijing the event took place in three venues over a span of 12 hours, making it cumbersome for the media to cover and for spectators to follow. The new format, which will take effect January 1, will reduce the necessary venues to two and also reduce the time.

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Modern Pentathlon Reduces to Four Events

Liu Xiang of China, the 2007 world champion and 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 110m hurdles event, will be having surgery to remove calcifications around his Achilles tendon in the United States, his coach announced on Friday. The 24-year-old was forced to withdraw from the 110m hurdles event in Beijing and hobbled off of the track in obvious pain. He has been in the United States for a week consulting with physicians. No date was given for the surgery, but the coach indicated the prognosis was very good.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

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Liu Xiang to Have Surgery in US

Four-time Olympian, Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain was the fastest female finisher at this weekend’s New York Marathon, a 26.2 mile race that snakes through all of the city’s five boroughs. Radcliffe is one of just two women to win the race three times. She won in 2007 and in 2004.

Radcliffe has competed in four Olympic Games. She finished 5th in the 5000m event in 1996 and 4th in the 10,000m in 2000. Her best finish in the Olympic marathon was 23rd in 2008 in Beijing.

Russian Ludmila Petrova, 40, finished second in New York. She was followed by Kara Goucher of the US.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

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Olympian Radcliffe Wins New York Marathon

Bolt won three Gold Medals at the Beijing Olympic Games this summer in the 100m, 200m, and 4×100m events.

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Usain Bolt on Letterman

Season seven of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” debuts this evening at 8pm with the first night of the three-night premiere. This season’s contestants include two Olympians: Misty May-Treanor, who won her season beach volleyball Gold Medal in Beijing, and Maurice Greene (pictured above), a sprinter who won two Gold Medals in Sydney in 2000. Treanor is paired with DWTS hearthrob, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Greene will be dancing with two-time DWTS champion, Cheryl Burke.

Olympians have traditionally done very well on the show. Speed skater, Apolo Anton Ohno won the contest in the fourth season and figure skater, Kristi Yamaguchi won the sixth season.

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Dancing with the Stars Debuts with Two Olympians