Wednesday's sports briefs

Federal prosecutors have obtained a telephone conversation secretly recorded six years ago by three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond in which he and a woman close to Lance Armstrong discuss her being present in 1996 when Armstrong told his cancer doctors about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The tape recording and transcript of that conversation are expected to be presented to a federal grand jury in Los Angeles looking into charges of widespread drug use in professional cycling.

Prosecutors have subpoenaed the woman, who sources say is Stephanie McIlvain, a liaison to Armstrong for one of his sponsors, eyewear company Oakley Inc.

About 10 minutes into the tape, LeMond says, "I know what I heard from a source outside of the group here of what, um, happened at the hospital. ... If I did get down where it was ... a lawsuit ... would you be willing to testify?"

McIlvain answered: "If I was subpoenaed, I would. ... I'm not going to lie. ... I was in that room. I heard it."

Armstrong, who has a record seven consecutive Tour de France victories, has repeatedly said he has never used performance-enhancing drugs or participated in blood doping.

Storm pushing for finals sweep The Atlanta Dream chose to waste no time getting back to work. Down to its last loss in the WNBA Finals, the Dream took a redeye flight from Seattle after Tuesday night's 87-84 loss, then drove straight from the Atlanta airport to the practice court early Wednesday for a short workout.

"We just have to make her work and if she makes it, she's a great player," Atlanta's Iziane Castro Marques said. "Nothing we can do about that."

Russia probes Vancouver spending Russia's top investigative body has opened a criminal probe into alleged misspending of millions of dollars at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. At least $7.5 million is involved.

Sports minister Vitaly Mutko told the ITAR-Tass news agency not much will come of the investigation. However, he was involved in one example of misspending that was revealed. He billed taxpayers for 97 breakfasts over his 20-day stay at the Games, a total of $4,500. "Believe me, there won't be a single criminal case over preparations for Vancouver," he said.

It's an especially intense issue in Russia because the country will host the 2014 Winter Games and because athletic failure by Russians was rampant in Vancouver. Russia spent five times as much on Vancouver as on Turin in 2006 but won only three gold medals.

Skiing: Olympic downhill champion Didier Defago of Switzerland is expected to miss the entire Alpine season after injuring his left knee in training. He has a torn ligament.

NBA: The New Jersey Nets signed free-agent forward Stephen Graham, who has career averages of 4.3 points and 1.7 rebounds in 180 career games with Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Portland, Indiana and Charlotte. He appeared in a career-high 70 games with the Bobcats last season. ... The Utah Jazz signed free-agent center Francisco Elson, who has averaged 3.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in seven seasons.

Cycling: Peter Velits of Slovakia won a time trial stage in the Spanish Vuelta, and Vincenzo Nibali regained the overall lead from Joaquin Rodriguez. The 21-stage race ends Sunday.

Tennis: Roger Federer will skip Switzerland's Davis Cup match in Kazakhstan this weekend to stay fresh for the rest of the season, he announced on his website.