Olympian Shea facing sexual abuse charges
SALT LAKE CITY — A gold medalist in skeleton at the 2002 Winter Olympics has been charged with sexual abuse of a child in Utah, authorities said.
James “Jimmy” Shea made his first court appearance Monday on one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two counts of sexual battery. The incidents occurred in 2020, court documents show. Shea’s attorney, Rudy Bautista, said Tuesday that the charges are a result of a family dispute. Shea, 52, plans to plead not guilty to the charges, Bautista said.
Shea won gold at the Salt Lake Games and is a thirdgeneration Olympian.
Colleges: A Uconn men’s soccer player, already facing domestic violence charges, was arrested Monday night in Elmsford, New
York, and will be charged with sexual assault when he is returned to Connecticut, authorities said. The Tolland State’s Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that Ziyad Fekri, a native of Morocco, was responsible for a number of violent assaults against a woman at Uconn over the course of a month, including two sexual assaults at knifepoint.
Soccer: Belgium and the Netherlands scored 15 goals combined in big routs in World Cup qualifying, while Portugal got one from Cristiano Ronaldo in its 3-1 victory against Luxembourg. Belgium beat Belarus 8-0 to stay at the top in Group E, while the Dutch trashed Gibraltar 7-0 to go second behind Turkey in Group G. Luxembourg, which opened with a win against Ireland, looked on its way to pulling off another upset after it took the lead, but Portugal came from behind to stay at the top of Group A along with Serbia, which earlier defeated Azerbaijan behind two goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Tennis: World No. 1 Ash Barty of Australia won the final nine points to finish off No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set women’s quarterfinal Tuesday, while men’s top-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia reached the quarters with a straight-set win over Frances Tiafoe.