Sports Digest

Figueroa scored with heavy favorites Thursday, taking the sixth race with Fictional ($3.40) and the eighth race with Babu ($2.80). Figueroa's four victories has him in sole possession of first place in the jockey standings through two days of action at the fair.

Racing continues at the fair Friday with an eight-race program. Post time is 1:45 p.m. The first 3,000 fans in attendance Saturday will have a chance to pick up a Bay Meadows souvenir in a special "Grab Bag Giveaway" promotion. On Saturday, Aug. 16, patrons will receive a commemorative poster celebrating Bay Meadows.

The fair will offer $1 grandstand admission to the final day of racing at Bay Meadows, Sunday, Aug. 17. The $50,000-added Last Dance Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies, will headline the closing-day program.

Ex-Olympian gets 21 years

A former Olympic sprinter has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a woman in a New York park.

Prosecutors say 31-year-old Alvin Henry was dubbed the Lover's Lane Rapist for secretly recording a woman having sex in the park with her boyfriend. They say he followed the woman and threatened to show the video unless she had sex with him.

Henry was charged with attacking women in parks in Brooklyn and Queens. He pleaded guilty to a June 2007 attack on Wednesday.

Henry was a member of Trinidad and Tobago's 400-meter relay team in the 2000 Olympics.

A defense lawyer says Henry got caught up in a lot of things after someone introduced him to cocaine to give him an edge while training.

Other Hamm withdraws

Morgan Hamm is joining his brother on the sidelines for the Beijing Olympics.

The American withdrew from the U.S. men's team with an ankle injury Thursday, two days before competition is to begin. During the U.S. men's training session Wednesday, he appeared to crunch his left ankle on an awkward landing on floor and immediately began grimacing. He quickly climbed off the podium to talk to his coach. He went through the rest of the workout, but only did a few more simple moves on floor.

On May 2, his doctor gave him an injection of a glucocorticosteroid, a cortisone-like anti-inflammatory, to treat that sore and swollen left ankle. That resulted in a positive doping test at nationals; the drug is allowed if an athlete gets a therapeutic use exemption, which he failed to do.

Hamm's withdrawal comes just one day after he said his twin brother, Paul, was considering coming to Beijing to see him compete. Paul Hamm, the reigning Olympic champion, pulled out of the games July 28, two days before the American team left, because he wouldn't be healthy enough.

3 plead guilty in

online gambling case

Three men who helped promote the online gambling firm BetOnSports have pleaded guilty to federal charges.

William Hernan Lenis, his son, Will Lenis, and nephew Manny Lenis entered the pleas Wednesday in St. Louis. Attorneys for the Miami men said they were minor players caught up in a high-profile investigation.

The U.S. attorney's office in St. Louis in 2006 accused BetOnSports, its executives and others of illegally accepting bets online.

Later that year, the government settled civil charges against BetOnSports and permanently barred the company from accepting any bets from U.S. gamblers. The company itself pleaded guilty last year.

The case has been watched closely by the multibillion-dollar online gambling industry.

Officials with the U.S. attorney's office in St. Louis declined to comment on Wednesday's pleas, citing pending cases against BetOnSports founder Stephen Kaplan and former chief executive David Carruthers.

William Lenis, 55, pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of gambling paraphernalia. Authorities said his company, Mobile Promotions, sent motor homes to sporting events around the country to promote BetOnSports. Will Lenis, 28, and Manny Lenis, 29, worked with him in promoting BetOnSports, the government alleged.

William Lenis also admitted that his company, Direct Mail Expertise, mailed ads for BetOnSports from 2000 through 2006.

Will Lenis pleaded guilty to transmission of wagering information. Manny Lenis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of failing to pay a wagering tax.

Other charges against the men were dropped and the government agreed to drop charges against William Lenis' daughter, Monica Lenis.

William Lenis' attorney, Alan Ross, said the plea agreement avoided a long and costly trial.

"These are the marketing people that do direct mail, the advertising," Ross said. "They have nothing to do with the operation of the Web site, gaming -- nothing. The government has launched this campaign against Internet gambling. Unfortunately, they sometimes leave in the wake the people who were not necessarily involved."

Richard Sindel, the attorney for Manny Lenis, said his client was a bit player in the case. He said he was pleased with the deal, which could result in probation and no jail time.

Sentencing for all thr

Besides persistent pain from the right hand he broke 2 months ago, the reigning Olympic champion has a strained left rotator cuff, and said it was better that a healthy alternate take his place. Raj Bhavsar took Paul Hamm's place.

The Americans, once considered favorites to return to the medals podium, now have no one with Olympic experience.

The injury is the latest blow for Hamm, who has been plagued by injuries and bad luck the past year. He feared his gymnastics career might be over when a nerve injury left his left shoulder numb in the summer of 2001. Feeling eventually returned -- though the shoulder never will be as strong as the other -- and he and his brother led the Americans to the silver in Athens, their first Olympic medal in 20 years.

The Hamms took the next 2 1/2 years off after Athens to finish their educations at Ohio State, but decided in February 2007 to return in hopes of making their third Olympic team.

But at the beginning of October, Hamm tore a muscle in his chest, an injury that required a five-month rehab.

"After my injury with my chest, I didn't know if I was able to come back in time," Hamm said Wednesday. "I did, which was great."

Hamm made the Beijing team thanks to solid performances at the national championships and Olympic trials. He's one of the best in the world on floor exercise and is one of the best the Americans have on pommel horse, a traditional weakness.