U.S. rowing, ex-Cal coach Teti officially steps down
Former Cal coach and longtime U.S. rowing coach Mike Teti, who has been criticized by some of his former athletes as being emotionally abusive and using physical intimidation, has resigned but immediately accepted a position funded by a large donor leading a new high-performance training club that still has ties to the national program.
The Associated Press in July reported that American rowers under Teti feared his intense and intimidating style. An announcement from US Rowing CEO Amanda Kraus on restructuring within the program did not address the allegations but rather the need for immediate change after the U.S. team failed to win any medals at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Kraus, who took over in November 2020, said there will no longer be a formal relationship with Teti and she accepted his resignation last week. She expressed the sport’s commitment to new leadership and direction for the build up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We are thinking about a culture that focuses more on athlete wellness, athlete care and communication, all of those things,” Kraus said Thursday in a phone interview, later adding that US Rowing “won’t have any contracts with any of the high-performance clubs.”
She posted a letter on the governing body’s website last Friday addressed to “national team athletes, hopefuls, partners, supporters and friends” that stated “meaningful changes need to be made in order to create an athlete-focused approach” going forward.
Nine rowers who spoke for the AP story described Teti’s intimidation — all but one discussing the situation on condition of anonymity because they either want to continue in the sport or feared retaliation — and said they have direct knowledge of the coach physically threatening athletes or verbally attacking them if they challenged him in any way.
Teti, meanwhile, was announced as head coach of elite rowers and prospects for California Rowing Club — at the same boathouse where he trained Olympians and other hopefuls in recent years ahead of the Tokyo Games.
Golf
ALKER LEADS IN VIRGINIA >> New Zealand’s Steven Alker posted a bogeyfree, 9-under 63 to take the firstround lead at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Va.
It marked the PGA Tour Champions rookie’s lowest round since beginning to play the circuit in August, shortly after his 50th birthday. He leads Steve Flesch by one shot at the first leg of the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.
Bernhard Langer of Germany, Stephen Ames of Canada, Bob Estes, Doug Barron and Matt Gogel opened with rounds of 6-under 66 to form a tie for third.
Fan favorite John Daly withdrew midway through his round, with no reason made public.
Gymnastics
CHINA’S ZHANG WINS ALL-AROUND AT WORLDS >> Zhang Boheng of China edged Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto to win the gold medal in the men’s all-around at the gymnastics world championships in Kitakyushu, Japan.
Zhang, who didn’t qualify for China’s team for this summer’s Olympics,
held a slim lead over local favorite Hashimoto heading into the final apparatus, the horizontal bar — an event Hashimoto won at the Tokyo Games.
Zhang scored 14.800 points while Hashimoto received 15.133 but it wasn’t enough to erase the deficit and Zhang, 21, finished with 87.981 overall points to 87.964 for Hashimoto.
Tennis
SABALENKA OUSTED FROM KREMLIN CUP >> Aryna Sabalenka’s first tournament since testing positive for COVID-19 ended after two matches.
The second-ranked Belarusian lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Alexandrova will face Maria Sakkari in the semifinals.
Sabalenka was playing in her first tournament since reaching the semifinals of the U.S. Open last month. She then missed the tournament in Indian Wells after testing positive for COVID.
Soccer
UAE IMPRISONS JOURNALIST OVER REMARKS >> Prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates announced they had imprisoned a television journalist over apparently leaked pre-match comments made before the Emirates’ tie with Iraq during a World Cup qualifier earlier this month.
Authorities did not identify the journalist from the state-run Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, nor the others fired from the broadcaster. However, they described the comments made as “harming the public interest and provoking hate speech.”
The journalist faces charges that carry up to five years in prison and a fine from $1,360 up to $136,000, according to the state-linked newspaper The National in Abu Dhabi.