Around the Olympics

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This article was published 31/07/2012 (4834 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rider suffers concussion

LONDON — Canadian rider Hawley Bennett-Awad is in a London hospital for treatment of a concussion and a back injury after being thrown from her horse during the cross-country portion of Olympic equestrian eventing on Monday.

The 35-year-old from Murrayville, B.C., fell from her horse, Gin & Juice, and was taken to the Royal London Hospital for further examination, according to a team spokesperson.

Michael Gallagher of Equine Canada said Bennett-Awad’s concussion is improving significantly and she is receiving pain management for a “stable sacral fracture.”

Peter Barry of Dunham, Que., also fell from his horse, Kilrodan Abbott, and did not finish. He was not hurt in the fall.

The cross-country portion of the three-discipline eventing competition is designed to test horse and rider’s endurance and guts. There were razor-sharp turns, blind two-metre drops and tricky combination jumps.

Player booted for tweet

LONDON — Switzerland soccer player Michel Morganella has been expelled from the London Olympics for posting a racist message on Twitter.

Swiss Olympic team chief Gian Gilli says Morganella is being stripped of his Olympic accreditation ahead of Switzerland’s final group match against Mexico on Wednesday.

Morganella posted an offensive and threatening message aimed at South Korean people after the Swiss team lost 2-1 to South Korea on Sunday.

Twitter suspends reporter

LONDON — Twitter has suspended the account of a Los Angeles-based reporter for a British newspaper who included the email address of the NBC Olympics president and asked his followers to write him to complain about the network’s coverage.

Guy Adams, a correspondent for The Independent, was upset with the network’s decision to broadcast the opening ceremony on tape delay when he sent his critical tweet Friday afternoon.

“The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven’t started yet is Gary Zenkel. Tell him what u think!” it read, before going on to provide his corporate email listing.

Parent penalizes kayaker

LONDON — Talk about strict parenting.

New Zealand kayaker Mike Dawson made the semifinals of the kayak slalom at the Olympics despite being given a two-second penalty by his mother Kay — who is a judge at the Games.

Dawson touched the fifth gate when going down the 18-gate Olympic course on Sunday, and his mother didn’t hesitate to penalize her son. It was one of two two-second penalties Dawson received, but he still advanced to the semifinals.

Dawson joked in an email to The Associated Press on Monday that he was tempted to get his coach to put in a protest. That would have made dinner time at the Dawsons even more awkward. His coach is his father, Les.

Judoka breaks medal

LONDON — A Brazilian judoka accidentally broke his Olympic bronze medal when he brought it into the shower. Now he’s fighting to have it replaced.

Felipe Kitadai said he was carrying the medal everywhere. He took it with him to the shower as a joke, then dropped it while trying to keep it from getting wet.

Kitadai told Brazil’s GloboEsporte.com that the part holding the medal’s string broke, and now he can’t wear it around his neck. He said there’s also a small dent on it.

Kitadai won the bronze in the men’s 60-kilogram division Saturday.

The Brazilian Olympic Committee says it will request a new medal even though it knows the International Olympic Committee has no obligation to give Kitadai another one.

— from the news services