Sydney will be affected by illegal substances and methods, including EPO. The drug’s introduction in 1987 was followed by a series of mysterious heart attacks among Dutch cyclists.

It isn’t cheating if everybody else is doing it.” So declared Canadian track coach Charlie Francis in 1988 when his sprinter Ben Johnson became the Olympics’ highest-profile disqualification ever by testing positive for steroids. But of 8,465 competitors at Seoul, only Johnson and nine others were booted for drugs. What’s…

EPO doping is well known in the Netherlands: several cyclists have died from its complications in recent years. Dutch discus champion Erik de Bruin, is under a four-year ban for doping.

Amy Van Dyken went shopping a few weeks ago and ran into some old high school classmates. The very girls, it happened, who once tried to keep her off the school’s relay swim team by complaining to the coach, throwing her clothes in the pool and spitting in her…

In the 1970s the Dutch played in two Cup championship games, losing both times. This year the Netherlands hopes to put an end to its also-ran reputation during the World Cup 94.

Everything is just about ready. in Orlando, Florida, painters have finished the massive black and white panels that have transformed the copper dome of the new city hall into a giant soccer ball. Near Detroit, agronomists from Michigan State University have covered the synthetic turf in the Pontiac Silverdome with…

At the FIDE World Chess Championship in Zwolle, former world champion Karpov faced Dutch grandmaster Timman. However Kasparov was absent because of resentments against FIDE.

Amid the noise of jostling photographers and clacking shutters, the two combatants finally squared off last Tuesday on the stage of the Savoy Theater in London. In one corner, the challenger and clear crowd favorite, a pink- cheeked, brush-cut 28-year-old and the first native-born Briton ever to contend for the…

American boxer Banks, who fought against Regilio Tuur of the Netherlands, ran into a hard right hand and suffered a one-punch knockout that left him unconscious for a full three minutes.

It was a dazed and daffy week in boxing. Typical of the confusion to come was the fate of Canadian featherweight Jamie Pagendam. On Sunday he was declared a loser on a technical knockout. On Monday he won a reversal because the Ivory Coast referee had miscounted knockdowns that should…

At the ‘84 Olympic Games, the Dutch women may have deserved an award for the most medals from the smallest country: a total of six, incl. Van Staveren’s gold and Verstappen’s bronze.

U.S. swimmers, men and women, left opponents in their wake

The shape of a swimming race, when form holds, begins as a shallow V, swept back from Lane 4, where the fastest qualifier starts, to the humble wing positions of Lanes 1 and 8. The V sharpens until, if…

This week the aggressive voetballers of Amsterdam’s Ajax club against the graceful giocatori di calcio of Turin’s Juventus team in the European Cup final.

Advice to visitors planning to be in Europe this Wednesday night: Don’t try to get an audience with Pope Paul VI or Queen Juliana of The Netherlands.

Forget about possible talks with President Tito of Yugoslavia, Premier Andreotti of Italy or Chancellor Brandt of West Germany. Put off plans for…

Bobby Fisher caught a jet to Reykjavik and arrived just five hours before the deadline set by F.I.D.E., the governing body of world chess, headed by Max Euwe who condemned his behavior.

“If he doesn’t come,” said World Chess Champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, “then we will all go home. It’s as simple as that.” But nothing is ever simple when U.S. Grand Master Bobby Fischer is involved. After winning the right to play Spassky for the world title in…

At the the world championship of chess between Fischer and Russia’s Boris Spassky in Reykjavík, president of F.I.D.E. Max Euwe is not amused about Fisher not showing up.

Where was he? Nobody in Reykjavík, Iceland, knew, and the tension last week was palpable. Teams of reporters roamed the airport, waiting, watching, checking. Icelandic Airlines officials in New York kept two seats open on every flight—just in case. But where was he? Meanwhile, carpenters put the finishing touches…

As expected, The Netherlands’ strapping speed skater, Ard Schenk, won the 5,000 meters handily. Next day, though, the flying Dutchman fell at the start of the 500 meters.

Trumpets blared. Fireworks exploded. Drums and cannons thundered. A 700-voice chorus sang hallelujah. A band played The Ballad of Rainbow and Snow. Eight hundred Japanese children on ice skates released 18,000 multicolored balloons into the air. More than 1,000 athletes from 35 countries paraded in their winter finery. And right…

Figure skater Sjoukje Dijkstra put on a dazzling performance in Cortina, Italy. Sjoukje: “It’s just working hard that makes you good.”

The lilting strains of Johann Strauss’s Graduation Ball wafted through Cortina, Italy, as a sturdy blonde girl glided around the open-air rink. The music leaped, and the girl leaped too—a twisting “double axel” that sent her hurtling through the air until she glided back on the ice. The music…

In Judo, The Netherlands’ hulking (6 ft. 5 in. 238 lbs.) Anton Geesink fought Japan’s smaller (6 ft. 1 in. 198 lbs.) Koji Sone, and won.

The two barefoot, kimono-clad contestants bowed, gripped sleeves, and stared at each other with furious concentration. The silent S.R.O. crowd in Paris’ Pierre de Coubertin Stadium strained to catch the first muscular move. With The Netherlands’ hulking (6 ft. 5 in. 238 lbs.) Anton Geesink fighting Japan’s smaller (6 ft….

Swimmer Tineke Lageberg clipped a whopping 11.4 sec. off the official world’s record for the women’s 220-yd butterfly and firmly established herself as one of history’s greatest swimmers.

¶5printing the last quarter at Melbourne 0:58.4, Australia’s Mervyn Lincoln flashed through the mile in 3:59, one second off the world record held by Countryman John Landy, became the eleventh runner in history to crack the rapidly disintegrating four-minute-mile barrier.

¶While his rivals tacked over the longer blue-water route, Cuba’s…

After Dutch baseball player “Hannie” Urbanus got home, he lost control over his his fancy new repertory of curves and fireballs, but regained control and won the Dutch championship.

Not long after Johannes Hendrikus Urbanus got back to The Netherlands last spring, a Dutch baseball official said sadly: “I wish Hannie had stayed home.” The star pitcher of the Dutch Honkbal champions, Amsterdam’s Op Volharding Volgt Overwinning (perseverance leads to victory) team, Hannie, 25, had just spent a month…

A Dutch baseball pitcher Johannes “Hannie” Urbanus was invited to spend a month of training with the NY Giants. A report on ‘honkbal’ in the Netherlands made famous by U.S. soldiers.

In The Netherlands, sport fans know Johannes Hendrikus Urbanus as well as Americans know Urbanus’ hero, Bob Feller. Like Feller, 24-year-old Urbanus is a pitcher. He plays on Amsterdam’s Op Volharding Volgt Overwinning (Perseverance Leads to Victory) team. The O.V.V.O. nine, behind Urbanus’ consistent pitching, has won three straight Dutch…