First Youth Olympics to Be Held in 2010

Olympic leaders voted yesterday to create a Youth Olympics meant to drag kids from computer screens and onto the playing fields. The first is planned for summer 2010 for 3,200 athletes ages 14-18.

It would be the first major global sports festival created by the International Olympic Committee since the advent of the Winter Games in 1924. The program was approved unanimously by a show of hands in Guatemala City.

IOC President Jacques Rogge said the games would inspire young people around the world to take up sports. All Olympic sports would be represented, but with fewer events, and some new, youth-oriented sports might be introduced. There also would be anti-doping controls.

Details still must be worked out, but the first Youth Olympics probably would be played in August 2010, and the site will be chosen in February 2008. It would have just 3,200 athletes, down from 10,000 at the Summer Olympics, and Rogge said the smaller scope would make it possible for smaller countries to host the competition.

Meantime, Rogge and 26 other members were reelected as a group by their colleagues in a process instituted after the Salt Lake City bidding scandal.

The 27 members were put to a vote in one bloc at the IOC assembly. They were reelected to eight-year terms in a secret ballot by a vote of 90 to 5, with four abstentions. . . .

Germany passed the nation's first anti-doping law, making it a criminal offense to possess and deal in performance-enhancing drugs.

Producing and dealing with doping substances will be considered a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

· HOCKEY: The Washington Capitals signed free agents Kyle Wilson and Jame Pollock to two- and one-year contracts, respectively, the club announced. Wilson, a 22-year-old center, and Pollock, a 28-year-old defenseman, are expected to play for Washington's American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey, Pa., next season.

Meantime, Capitals defenseman Milan Jurcina and forward Brooks Laich filed for salary arbitration. Jurcina (four goals, eight assists) earned $500,000 last season while Laich (eight goals, 10 assists) made $606,000. Hearings will be held July 20-Aug. 4; the deadline for decisions is Aug. 6. . . .

The New York Islanders finally found a couple of free agents, inking all-star forward Bill Guerin to a two-year contract. Guerin scored 36 goals last season while splitting time with the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks.

The team also signed center Mike Comrie, who had 20 goals with the Ottawa Senators last season. . . .

Six-time Vezina Trophy winner Dominik Hasek and the Detroit Red Wings agreed to terms on a one-year contract that is worth more than $2 million in base salary and gives the 42-year-old goalie a chance to earn an additional $2 million in bonuses.

· PRO FOOTBALL: Former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson will not face charges connected to his June 22 arrest in Gilbert, Ariz., on suspicion of drunken driving. Police said the case would be closed with no request for prosecution. The 25-year-old player was released by the Bears three days after his arrest.

· ROWING: In the second round of the Henley Royal Regatta's Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights in Henley-on-Thames, England, Jefferson High School of Alexandria beat England's Winchester College. Today, Jefferson will row against Brentwood College School, Canada's national champion. The winner advances to the semifinals. The Colonials are one of two remaining U.S. schools.

-- From News Services and Staff Reports