OLYMPICSRIO DE JANEIRO -- The medal race at the Rio Olympics will likely remain close going into the final weekend.For second place, that is.The U.S. -- which has left the last five Summer Games with more medals than any other country -- is about to make it six in a row, and the Americans seem like theyll do so emphatically. Through Tuesday, the U.S. had 84 medals, 33 more than China and 34 more than Britain.Take away the games that dealt with boycotts in 1980 and 1984, and the Americans are on pace for the biggest medal-count romp since outdistancing Sweden by 40 medals at the 1948 London Games. Incidentally, the all-time medal-count-margin record is way out of reach, that being the U.S. win by 220 medals at the St. Louis Games of 1904.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Police investigating reports that American swimmer Ryan Lochte and three of his teammates were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi so far have found little evidence supporting the account, and say the swimmers were unable to provide key details in police interviews.A police official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that police cannot find their taxi driver or witnesses. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.Lochtes attorney, Jeff Ostrow, said there was no question the robbery happened and that Lochte had 24-hour security hired after the incident. He had been staying in his hotel room and intended to go back to the U.S. soon.According to statements from Lochte and the United States Olympic Committee, the swimmers were returning to the athletes village by taxi after a night out at the French Olympic teams hospitality house in the Rodrigo de Freitas area in the upscale south zone of the city. The outing was several hours after Olympic swimming ended Saturday night at the Rio Games.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Russia was stripped of a relay gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after one of its female runners tested positive for steroids in a reanalysis of her doping samples.Sprinter Yulia Chermoshanskaya tested positive for two drugs -- stanozolol and turinabol -- and has been retroactively disqualified and stripped of the gold in the womens 4x100-meter relay, along with her teammates, the International Olympic Committee said.Chermoshanskaya was also disqualified from the 200 meters, in which she finished eighth.Belgium stands to be upgraded to the relay gold, with Nigeria moving up to silver and Brazil to bronze.PRO FOOTBALLSAN DIEGO -- Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians has been hospitalized after complaining of stomach pain.Cardinals spokesman Mark Dalton said that, after arriving for the teams joint practice with the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium, Arians told his medical staff he was not feeling well and had stomach pain.Dalton said later that Arians had undergone tests and would remain hospitalized overnight. Dalton said there would be no further updates until Wednesday.The 63-year-old Arians, a two-time NFL Coach of the Year, is in his fourth season in Arizona. He led the Cardinals to a 13-3 record and a playoff victory over Green Bay in the playoffs last season before a blowout loss at Carolina in the NFC championship game.Dalton said Arians, one of the big personalities in the league as shown on Amazon.coms All or Nothing series, was evaluated by medical personnel at the stadium and taken to the hospital for further evaluation.CANTON, Ohio -- Four fans have sued the NFL over the Hall of Fame game in Canton that was canceled because of poor field conditions.The class-action lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in northern Ohio on behalf of all the ticket holders who lost out when the Aug. 7 game was canceled after paint congealed and hardened on portions of the field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. The Pro Football Hall of Fame also was named in the suit.Attorney Michael Avenatti, who represented ticket holders for the 2011 Super Bowl who wound up without seats in Dallas, filed the breach-of-contract lawsuit. He said the halls plan to only refund ticket prices was too little.LATROBE, Pa. -- Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison doesnt want to face a suspension. He is also not interested in talking to NFL representatives, either.The NFLs senior vice president of labor policy and league affairs, Adolpho Birch, sent a letter Monday to the NFL Players Association detailing a plan to indefinitely suspend Harrison, Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers and Mike Neal if they dont speak with the league by Aug. 25 as part of its investigation into an alleged link to performance-enhancing drugs.The players punishment would end at the discretion of Commissioner Roger Goodell once interviews are completed, according to the letter obtained by The Associated Press.Harrison said he doesnt want to be suspended, but he is prepared to take the situation as far as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who fought his four-game Deflategate suspension for 18 months -- nearly to the U.S. Supreme Court -- before deciding to no longer proceed with the legal process. His suspension begins next month.BASEBALLPHILADELPHIA -- Chase Utley got curtain calls after each of his two home runs -- including a grand slam -- in his first game in Philadelphia since a trade last season to the Los Angeles Dodgers.Those cheers came after fans greeted him with a 1 1/2-minute ovation before he struck out leading off the game.Utley was a six-time All-Star in 13 seasons as Philadelphias second baseman, helping the team win five straight NL East titles and the 2008 World Series. Fans showed their appreciation with a long cheer before he struck out in the first inning at Citizens Bank Park.In the fifth, Utley hit a two-out solo homer and raced around the bases in customary fashion. Fans clamored for a rare curtain call by a visiting player, and Utley obliged to another standing ovation.In the seventh, Utley hit a grand slam off Michael Mariot, and fans again cheered him back out of the dugout. It was Utleys seventh career grand slam. His first career hit was a grand slam at Veterans Stadium.Cheap Nike Sb Trainers . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Cheap Nike Dunk Mid . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. http://www.cheapwholesalenikesb.com/ .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Nike Sb Clearance Sale . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. Nike Sb Shoes Near Me .C. -- When North Carolina freshman Ryan Switzer reported to training camp in August he was a little miffed to learn he was third on the depth chart at punt returner.ST. LOUIS -- Vladimir Tarasenko was never worried.The right wing simply took the St. Louis Blues early season offensive woes in stride.I heard the words that everyone was saying our offense was not so good, Tarasenko said. But, we believed in each other and we believed in our game.That patience has paid off of late.Tarasenko scored three goals and Kevin Shattenkirk added two to lead the Blues to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.The Blues have won three in a row and six straight at home.Tampa Bay lost its season-high fourth consecutive game.Jake Allen made 22 saves in improving to 12-3-3.St. Louis has scored three goals or more in each of its last nine games after an earlier string of six successive games with one goal or less.Weve been simplifying things and getting a lot of chances, Shattenkirk said. Everything is just kind of going our way.Tarasenko, who leads the team with 13 goals, recorded his fourth career hat trick. He scored twice in the games opening 9:37 to stake his team to a 2-0 lead.His early game outburst set the tone for the rest of the contest.We shot the puck at the right times, people were in position, St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. It was great to see.Tarasenko, known for his speed and puck-handling skills, scored his second goal on a rare one-timer off a perfect pass from Alexander Steen, who added three assists in his return after missing six games with a shoulder injury.The soft-spoken, Russian-born Tarasenko has nine goals and eight assists in his last 13 games.Its good to see him playing like this, Steen said. Hes been lethal for us. His hat trick goal was big, a timely goal.Shattenkirk, who also had two assists, addded two power-play goals, the second coming just 1:44 into second period for a 4-1 lead.ddddddddddddCedric Paquette scored twice for the Lightning, who have been outscored 19-9 during the four-game skid.Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay. Paquettes second goal trimmed the deficit to 5-4 with 8:02 remaining in the third period.I thought we deserved points, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. Im not going to sit here and say we deserved to win the game. But we definitely deserved points.St. Louis has won its last five at home against the Lightning, who last won in St. Louis on Dec. 18, 2009.The Blues are 9-0-2 in their last 11 home games.Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up four goals on 16 shots and was replaced by St. Louis native Ben Bishop early in the second period.I thought we gave it an honest effort, Paquette said. It was a pretty good game. But (to lose), its disappointing.Game notesThe Lightning recalled RW Joel Vermin and LW Michael Bournival from Syracuse of the AHL. ... St. Louis leads the overall series with Tampa Bay 21-11-3. ... Tampa Bay D Anton Stralman returned to the lineup after missing nine games due to an upper body injury. ... Blues LW David Perron had a career-best eight-game point streak snapped. ... Bishop did not start in back-to-back games for the first time this season. ... St. Louis C Paul Stastny played in his 700th NHL game.UP NEXT:Lightning: Return home after three-game trip to host Washington on Saturday.Blues: Host Winnipeg on Saturday in the fourth of five straight games at home.Cheap JerseysChina NFL Jerseys [urlSaturday in the fourth of five straight aseball Jerseys[/url] ' ' '