Okafor, Duncan suffering from ailments

Emeka Okafor sprained his right ankle Tuesday and Tim Duncan missed a morning practice because of an upset stomach, depriving the already undersized U.S. Olympic team of two big men on the second day of practice.

Okafor landed awkwardly and turned his ankle during a drill about an hour into practice. The ankle did not immediately swell up, and Okafor was taken for precautionary X-rays, which came back negative.

“Yeah, I worry, but hopefully it’s not anything real bad,” coach Larry Brown said. “If it is, we’ve got to go to the (selection) pool.”

Duncan felt ill and had a slight fever, prompting team trainers to have him skip the morning session of the team’s two-a-day practices. He participated in the entire evening practice, a team spokesman said.

The absence of the two big men left power forwards Carlos Boozer and Amare Stoudemire as the only big men. Okafor is the U.S. team’s only true center, although Duncan is expected to man that position for long stretches during the Games.

Changes can be made to the roster until 72 hours before the start of Olympic competition.

“We don’t have anybody on hold or waiting in the wings,” said Stu Jackson, chairman of the USA Basketball selection committee. “It would be unfair to the team to even speculate on (a possible replacement for Okafor if his injury is serious).”

Even at full strength, the Americans will be at a disadvantage in terms of size and bulk against several opponents, a deficiency that should be exposed over the next two weeks in exhibition games against Puerto Rico, Italy, Germany, Serbia and Montenegro.

The U.S. has several versatile players and may have to use Lamar Odom and/or Shawn Marion at power forward.

Army shooters have medal chance

Dale Parker won’t have to waste much time bonding with some of the other shooters on the U.S. Olympic rifle team.

That’s because Sgt. 1st Class Parker and a number of his fellow Olympians already know each other as members of the Army’s elite Marksmanship Unit. Seven of the Olympic shooting team’s 28 members are full-time marksmen with the Army unit based at Fort Benning, Ga.

“Some of the best shooters America has ever produced have come through the Marksmanship Unit,” said John Robbins, spokesman for the National Rifle Association.

Shooters from the Marksmanship Unit – founded by President Eisenhower in 1956 – have won 20 Olympic medals and more than 40 world championships. Shooting methods and skills developed in the unit are passed on to soldiers in the field.

The unit’s experts teach shooting techniques to drill sergeants, special operations troops, police departments and even civilians at the annual National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, which are going on now with about 4,500 shooters.

Some of the Army marksmen recently traveled to Iraq to teach soldiers how to shoot from moving tanks and trucks.

The U.S. Olympic team’s Army shooters and gunsmith, Sgt. 1st Class Chuck Gartland, also from the Marksmanship Unit, will depart for Athens on Saturday.

May says she’s a go for Athens

U.S. beach volleyball star Misty May said the abdominal strain she has struggled with for nearly two months will not keep her from competing with partner Kerri Walsh in the upcoming Olympics.

May and Walsh forfeited the final of the AVP’s Hermosa Beach Open Saturday – “as a precaution,” May said – to the other U.S. Olympic duo, Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs.

Walsh said afterward she was concerned about May’s health and that she even had contacted another player, Annett Davis, about replacing May.

But May insisted Tuesday she will be ready to play in Athens.

“Everybody’s making a bigger deal about it than it really is,” she said. “I’ll be ready to go. I’m able to train. I’m doing exercises every day.”

Athens bolsters Olympic security

Athens will impose a no-fly zone over the city a week before the Olympics and has drawn up contingency plans to shoot down hijacked planes that could be used in a Sept. 11-style attack, a senior Greek air defense official said, as authorities received U.S. scanners to check cars and trucks.

“The threats we’re considering include renegade aircraft, missiles … gliders, kites, remote-controlled planes, unmanned craft and others,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Dimitris Mandilis told the Associated Press. “Any order to engage and shoot these down rests with the government and a committee headed by the prime minister.”

Haywood challenges ruling

Sue Haywood filed a formal challenge to an arbiter’s ruling that gave Mary McConneloug the lone position on the U.S. women’s Olympic mountain bike team for the Athens Games.

McConneloug was awarded the position last week when the arbiter overturned USA Cycling’s decision to add 15 points to Haywood’s total in international rankings.

The arbiter said the award of the additional points wasn’t justified.