Edwin Moses

Olympic hurdles champion Edwin Moses pleaded not guilty today to soliciting sex for money from an undercover female police officer. Moses, 29, who was not present at the Municipal Court arraignment, had the plea entered by his attorney, Edward Medvene. The hearing before Judge David Doi was one week earlier than had been announced. Deputy City Atty. Mike Wilkinson said California law permits a defendant's absence at such hearings in misdemeanor cases. Trial was scheduled for Feb. 8.

He stepped to the podium, nervous in front of the tens of thousands at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the millions watching on television. Awestruck, halting at times, he spoke these words: "In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams." This was 25 years ago, the opening ceremony at the Olympics.

He stepped to the podium, nervous in front of the tens of thousands at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the millions watching on television. Awestruck, halting at times, he spoke these words: "In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams." This was 25 years ago, the opening ceremony at the Olympics.

Like the parabolic mirror that ignites the flame in Olympia every two years, the avenging spirit of sport recently has focused its heat upon yellow jerseys and ski boots. Now I want to add my own fire to the mix. Since May 23: Doping confessions on the part of Danish cycling champion Bjarne Riis. Telenovela-like EPO-related arbitration hearings of American cyclist Floyd Landis.

Edwin Moses, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the intermediate hurdles, was named Tuesday to serve as the brakeman for the No. 1 U.S. bobsled team in today's two-man competition at a World Cup event in Calgary, Canada. It will be Moses' first competition over a regulation 1,500-meter course. He will share a sled with driver Brian Shimer of Naples, Fla. They were third last month in a two-man 50-meter push competition at Konigssee, Germany. "Edwin's performance has been fantastic," U.S.

Edwin Moses said Monday he has decided to pass up a second chance to make the U.S. Olympic bobsled team and instead will concentrate on training for the hurdles in the Summer Olympics. Moses and football players Willie Gault and Greg Harrell had filed a protest against the U.S. Bobsled Federation after they failed to make the U.S. team last year. An arbitrator ruled during the weekend that the U.S. team had not been chosen fairly and ordered a new round of tryouts.

The only people more curious than track coaches, a man once said, are field coaches. International track and field officials this week might have eclipsed them both. In the World Championships at Rome two years ago, the long jump competition was fixed so that an Italian, Giovanni Evangelisti, would win a bronze medal. The official alleged to have been the fixer was Luciano Barra, a special assistant to Primo Nebiolo, the president of the Italian federation.

Nine years, nine months and nine days after it began, Edwin Moses' 107-race winning streak in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, ended June 4 in Madrid. Moses, 31, ran a respectable 47.69 but, for the first time since Aug. 26, 1977, his time was not good enough. Danny Harris, 23, of Perris, Calif., and Iowa State, won in 47.56. Moses' wife, Myrella, was at their home in Newport Beach on the day of the race, but she said she could feel the defeat coming.

Someone had hinted about a week before the 1984 Olympics that I might either carry the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies or say the Olympic oath for the athletes, and I didn't want to carry the flag because I thought it would wear me out. Aside from the competition, the highlight was being chosen to say the oath. In addition to being prepared for the competition, I had to memorize these 44 or 46 words.

NFL players Herschel Walker and Willie Gault and three champion hurdlers will try to make the U.S. bobsled team for the 1992 Winter Olympics, according to a published report. In today's editions of The National, Gault said he, Walker, Edwin Moses, Roger Kingdom and Renaldo Nehemiah will begin serious bobsled training after the 1990 NFL season. Gault, a former hurdler who plays for the Los Angeles Raiders, made the U.S.

Edwin Moses, who turned 48 Sunday, announced his comeback in the 400-meter hurdles. On the 20th anniversary of his last world record, 47.02 seconds in Koblenz, Germany, Moses said in a news conference here that he has a goal of qualifying for next year's U.S. Olympic trials. That would require him to run the event no slower than 50.05 seconds before July 1, 2004.

Edwin Moses, a four-time Olympic intermediate hurdler, was not at Montjuic Stadium Thursday night when Kevin Young of Los Angeles broke Moses' nine-year-old world record. But the next day in Barcelona, Moses, now retired, was excited for Young. "I feel like a father watching his sons grow up and take over the business," said Moses, who lives in Newport Beach. "I can't complain at all." Moses said he was surprised that his record of 47.

Kevin Young, who like everyone else in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles has long lived in the shadow of Edwin Moses, believed that it was possible he could emerge from it Thursday. The handwriting, in fact, was on the wall. When he arrived last week in his room at the athletes' village, he wrote "46.89" on a sheet of paper and taped it to the wall. That was the time he believed he was capable of running in the Olympic Games. That would not only break Moses' nine-year-old world record of 47.

Edwin Moses, a two-time gold medalist in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, will not attempt to earn a berth on his fifth U.S. Olympic team because of an ankle injury, he said Tuesday. He would have had to qualify for the June 19-28 U.S. Olympic track and field trials by Saturday, but he said that he will not enter a meet today at Indianapolis because he has been unable to train at full speed since April.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses, the world record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles, will compete in the UC Irvine Elite Invitational on Sunday in what will probably be his only attempt to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trials. Moses, 36, who has competed infrequently since winning a bronze medal in the 1988 Olympics, needs to run a time of 50.30 seconds to qualify for the trials.

An 11th-hour decision by a New York state appeals court Friday will give professional football players Willie Gault and Greg Harrell a second chance to make the U.S. Olympic bobsled team. The Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that ordered a halt to new push trials for the team this weekend.

The scene at UC Irvine's track stadium last week was as it usually is each summer morning--tranquil, serene, unhurried, and amid these quiet surroundings world-class hurdler Danny Harris focuses on his world-class intentions. "I want to be ranked No. 1 in the world this year," said Harris, 24. "And I want it bad." Six years ago at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Harris became an Olympic silver medalist at 18 when he finished second to Edwin Moses in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

In a unanimous vote by its board of directors, The Athletics Congress approved a year-round, out-of-competition drug testing program Sunday at Indianapolis. TAC, the national governing body for track and field, previously tested only at competitions. Beginning July 1, the top 25 U.S. athletes in each event will be subject to testing any time during the year.

Edwin Moses said Monday he has decided to pass up a second chance to make the U.S. Olympic bobsled team and instead will concentrate on training for the hurdles in the Summer Olympics. Moses and football players Willie Gault and Greg Harrell had filed a protest against the U.S. Bobsled Federation after they failed to make the U.S. team last year. An arbitrator ruled during the weekend that the U.S. team had not been chosen fairly and ordered a new round of tryouts.

Edwin Moses, the world record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles, filed for an uncontested divorce Tuesday from Myrella Moses, his wife of nine years. The pending divorce is an amicable one to both parties, a spokesperson for Moses said. The couple cited irreconcilable differences in their marriage as reason for the divorce.