Beijing

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Visa Inc. popped out ads almost as quickly as he swam his laps. Pizza Hut is giving Michael Phelps free pizza and pasta for a year -- his teammates, too -- for beating Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in one Olympics. The makers of a new sports drink are embarking on their first national advertising campaign, banking on his most recent swimming glories. Phelps -- the biggest Olympic athlete in years, if not ever -- is everywhere this summer. And companies want to share in his fame.

If you're a lover of trivia, Brain Games might be your March Madness. The 12th annual Brain Games trivia competition will be held today at Shepherd University. You can still register a team today to participate. But if you'd rather be challenged in the comfort of your own home, here's a short Brain Games-esque quiz. 1. Which country won the most medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics? 2. Who is New York's current governor? 3. Who won the 2008 NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament?

BEIJING (AP) -- Ukrainian athlete Lyudmila Blonska was stripped of her Olympic heptathlon silver medal Friday, the highest-profile athlete kicked out of the Beijing Games so far for doping. The International Olympic Committee said Blonska tested positive for the steroid methyltestosterone after finishing second in the heptathlon last Saturday behind teammate Nataliia Dobrynska. Blonska was temporarily suspended by the IOC on Thursday, and her medal was officially removed Friday by the IOC executive board.

KEEDYSVILLE -- The evidence of Rocky Rutherford's interest in basketball is obvious as visitors pull up to a hoop in his parents' driveway. Rocky said he plays basketball a lot, and his skill was demonstrated when he and other youths played against a team last month in China. The American kids won. Rocky, a 15-year-old sophomore at Boonsboro High School, was in China as part of the People to People Ambassador Programs. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who founded the program in 1956, said it was important for ordinary citizens to interact, believing that could promote cultural understanding and world peace, according to the organization's Web site.

Frederick, Md., unveils new park FREDERICK, Md. - The City of Frederick's Parks & Recreation Department announces the opening of Lake Coventry Park, 1321 Schaffer Drive. The park has a basketball court, 60-foot baseball diamond, playground equipment with swings, slide and tiny tot area, a pavilion with picnic tables, restrooms, electricity, seven benches, a drinking fountain, 16-space parking lot, handicap accessibility and walking and biking paths. For rental information, call the Recreation Department at 301-600-1493 or 301-600-1492.

BEIJING (AP) -- It was Jamaica Night again at the Bird's Nest, and this time Veronica Campbell-Brown did the honors. The defending Olympic champion capped a Jamaican sweep of the four men's and women's Olympic sprint races Thursday night, routing Allyson Felix of the United States to the finish line in 21.74 seconds to win by 0.19 second. Reggae music filled the stadium -- is the CD worn out yet? -- as Campbell-Brown celebrated with her country's flag, much the way Usain Bolt did with his world record-setting wins in the 100 and 200 and the way the Jamaican women did when they swept the 100. Fittingly, a few moments later, Bolt accepted the gold medal he won the night before in a ceremony that was postponed a day because of protests over the second- and third-place finishers.

BEIJING (AP) -- Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor were prepared for the downpour, just as they were for a young Chinese team that was the latest to challenge their four-year reign over women's beach volleyball. "This is just another reason why we play in bathing suits," May-Treanor said. Ignoring the rain that drenched their uniforms and left them squinting into the sky where the sun should be, Walsh and May-Treanor won their second consecutive gold medal Thursday by beating China in straight sets.

BEIJING (AP) _ When it was all over, Hugh McCutcheon didn't have to tell his wife that his U.S. men's volleyball team had beaten the odds -- and overcome tragedy -- to win the Olympic gold medal. "She said it first," the coach recalled. "She said, 'You won, you won, you won!' Nothing else to say there, just listening to each other smile on the phone. " The men's team claimed the gold with a 3-1 victory over defending champion Brazil on Sunday. The victory capped a stunning run by the U.S. team over the two weeks after Elisabeth McCutcheon's father was stabbed to death in Beijing.

BEIJING (AP) -- The volleyball players huddled, had a moment of silence, and then set out on their mission -- to do what little they could to ease the pain of their grieving coach and his shattered family. Volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon and his wife, 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman, would miss this game. They spent the day at Beijing hospital; a day before, her father was killed and her mother critically injured by a suicidal, knife-wielding attacker at a Beijing landmark.

BEIJING (AP) -- Head on over to the futuristic-looking Water Cube and wriggle into your high-tech suit Michael Phelps, it's time to hit the pool. Swimming is perhaps the most highly anticipated sport at the Beijing Games, beginning Saturday night with preliminaries in six events. Yes, that's right, swimmers will qualify in the evening and swim finals in the morning, a change from the traditional Olympic format made to accommodate U.S. television audiences who'll be watching in primetime.