USADA chief gets death threats

PARIS — The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency tightened security within his organization after receiving several death threats during his investigation of Lance Armstrong.

In an interview published Monday in French sports daily L'Equipe, USADA chief executive Travis Tygart said he has felt obliged to take stronger security measures since opening investigations into Armstrong and members of the former U.S. Postal team.

"The Armstrong affair has prompted death threats against me. I received three of them, individual initiatives, in my opinion. Once again, the FBI dealt with that," Tygart was quoted as saying in L'Equipe's interview from USADA offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado, adding that he had previously received a similar threat.

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Ex-IOC chief resigns amid allegations

Geneva — After nearly a half century in the Olympic movement, former FIFA President Joao Havelange has left the IOC under a cloud of corruption allegations.

The 95-year-old Brazilian's resignation from the IOC was confirmed by the Olympic body and FIFA on Monday, three days before he faced possible suspension for allegedly taking kickbacks as president of FIFA.

Havelange led the soccer group from 1974-98. He joined the IOC in 1963 and was its longest-standing member.

The IOC's executive board was preparing to rule Thursday on claims that Havelange took a $1 million kickback from World Cup marketing deals while FIFA president. FIFA said in a statement to the AP on Monday that the IOC closed its ethics case against Havelange, having "taken note" of the resignation.

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FIFA clears Blatter, suspends Asia chief

ZURICH — FIFA suspended senior executives Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner over bribery allegations Sunday, while exonerating President Sepp Blatter in the gravest corruption crisis facing soccer's world governing body.

Blatter now is in line to be re-elected unopposed to a fourth term Wednesday after his only challenger, bin Hammam, withdrew his candidacy just hours before being provisionally excluded from all soccer activities by FIFA's ethics committee.

The ethics panel said there was sufficient evidence to further investigate allegations that bin Hammam and Warner, the CONCACAF President, offered $40,000 bribes to delegates at a Caribbean soccer association meeting on May 10-11 in Trinidad.

The payments were allegedly made to secure votes for bin Hammam, a Qatari who heads Asia's soccer confederation, in his campaign to unseat Blatter. The evidence was compiled by American executive committee member Chuck Blazer.

FIFA said bin Hammam and Warner, a FIFA vice president from Trinidad, will now face a full FIFA inquiry. If found guilty, they could be expelled from FIFA and banned for life from all soccer activity.

"We are satisfied that there is a case to be answered," Petrus Damaseb, deputy chairman of the ethics committee, said at a news conference.

Bin Hammam told reporters the suspension is "unfortunate but this is where we are — this is FIFA."

"I should have been given the benefit of doubt, but instead, I have been banned from all football activities," he later wrote on his official website.

Bin Hammam also criticized FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke for introducing new evidence — an email from Puerto Rican officials admitting they received $40,000 and had now returned it — at the post-hearing news conference.

Two officials from the Caribbean Football Union, Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester, were also suspended over the bribery allegations.

With FIFA's reputation severely tarnished by repeated allegations of vote-buying and financial wrongdoing, Blatter responded Sunday by saying he regrets "what has happened in the last few days and weeks."

"FIFA's image has suffered a great deal as a result, much to the disappointment of FIFA itself and all football fans," the Swiss official said.

Bin Hammam, who denied any wrongdoing, had asked the ethics panel to investigate Blatter on grounds that he knew of alleged bribe attempts and did nothing about it.

But Damaseb said the five-man panel received "lots of confirmation from every individual conceivable" that there was no evidence to take action against Blatter, who has been in office since 1998.

"Is there a reason I should not believe him?" Damaseb, a Namibian judge, told reporters. "You can disagree with the decision I have taken. I can just give you the reasoning behind our decision."

FIFA stressed that the election will go ahead as scheduled on Wednesday during the congress of 208 national members.

"It's sad — definitely there is a need for change," Valcke said. "FIFA must make the necessary changes so that the institution has systems in place to avoid that something like this happens again."

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FIFA chief slated for visit to Japan?

FIFA president Sepp Blatter will arrive in Japan next Monday to guarantee the nation's safety with the Club World Cup returning in December.

JFA president Junji Ogura hopes Blatter's one-day visit will ease the worries of the international soccer community over Japan's safety standards following the March 11 earthquake and the nuclear power plant crisis in Fukushima Prefecture.

"The Club World Cup is the only competition on the calendar that hasn't been officially approved," Ogura said of the tournament which returns to Japan after two years in the United Arab Emirates.

He added: "It will make a huge difference if someone of his stature actually comes to Japan and lets the rest of the world know it's safe here."

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