Doctor for Woods is linked to PEDs

A Canadian doctor who has treated golfer Tiger Woods, swimmer Dara Torres and NFL players is suspected of providing athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, according to a newspaper report.

The New York Times reported on its website Monday night that Dr. Anthony Galea was found with human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood, in his bag at the U.S.-Canada border in September. He was arrested Oct. 15 in Toronto by Canadian police.

Using, selling or importing Actovegin is illegal in the United States.

The FBI has opened an investigation based in part on medical records found on Galea's computer relating to several professional athletes, people briefed on the inquiry told the Times on condition of anonymity.

Galea visited Woods' home in Florida at least four times in February and March, the newspaper reported, to provide that platelet therapy after his agents were concerned by his slow recovery from June 2008 knee surgery.

Asked about Woods' involvement with Galea, agent Mark Steinberg told the newspaper in an e-mail: "I would really ask that you guys don't write this? If Tiger is NOT implicated, and won't be, let's please give the kid a break."

D-III athletes lagging in classroom They play for the love of the game, not with the hope of landing a pro contract. Without athletic scholarships, many pay their own way to school.

The mounting data is forcing the NCAA to consider such steps as tracking graduation rates and other measures of academic performance -- a task now left up to individual schools. A pilot academic-reporting program could be approved at the association's annual meeting next month.

"There's this image that Division I is really serious [about sports], and Division III doesn't have these issues," said Robert Malekoff, an assistant professor of sport studies at Guilford College in North Carolina.

Former Princeton president and author William Bowen sounded the alarm about academic underperformance at smaller colleges earlier this decade. His research led to the formation of the College Sports Project, which is spending five years tracking academic performance at 88 of the most intellectually rigorous schools in D-III.

For CSP researchers, the early results are discouraging. After one year in college, male athletes entering school in 2006-07 had average class ranks 9 percentile points lower than non-athletes. Recruited male athletes had class ranks 6 percentile points lower than non-recruited male athletes.

The gap was only slightly lower for students who had finished two years of college.

While NCAA officials caution that the research is preliminary, Division III members will consider setting up a pilot academic- reporting program as soon as 2010-11.

Speedskating: Dutch Olympic and speedskating authorities will investigate claims by Polish speedskater Katarzyna Wojcicka that she was offered nearly $75,000 for her starting spot in the 5,000-meter race at the 2006 Turin Olympics. Wojcicka told Dutch national broadcaster NOS she was offered the money to withdraw so that Dutch skater Gretha Smit could compete. ... Dutch three-time Olympic gold medalist Marianne Timmer said she could be back on the ice in two weeks after tests showed the bones she broke in her heel last month have already fused back together.

Tennis: A Belgian court suspended the one-year doping bans given to players Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse. Wickmayer's lawyers hope the injunction will make the U.S. Open semifinalist eligible to play as soon as possible, as she hopes to receive a wild card for the Australian Open.

Soccer: Former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a match-fixing scandal that shook Italian soccer.

Bobsledding: Three-time U.S. Olympian Todd Hays, 40, was forced to retire because of a head injury suffered in a crash in Germany that was more serious than originally expected.