Fat Chance They’ll Get That Through Customs

There are kinks to work out at any Olympic site and so too at Sydney, where customs officials acknowledge targeting athletes from certain sports and countries--read Chinese swimmers--searching for banned substances.

The revelation came as customs officers in Perth, Australia, seized a dietary “fat-burning� supplement from a South African Olympic swimming coach. The coach declared 14 tablets of the drug, commonly known as Ma Huang and advertised as “a favorite for those seeking to lose weight, gain energy and get ripped fast.� The tablets contained ephedrine, a banned import.

This raised the specter of canceling entire events, but the Olympic coordinator of Australian Customs Service, John Hawksworth, who will have a staff of 800 working at the Sydney airport, says the Games will go on.

“All our work is done on a risk-assessment basis,� Hawksworth said, “ . . . but the vast majority of [athletes] will go through smoothly without us interfering with them.�

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Trivia time: Who holds the NFL record for passing yards in a season?

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Reclamation project: Eric Lindros’ career has been slowed by concussions and tarnished by a contentious relationship with Philadelphia Flyer General Manager Bobby Clarke, but Boston’s Harry Sinden says if Philadelphia wants to trade him, look no further.

“If everything were right, he’d be the one player in hockey that I would absolutely pay the top dollar to get in a Boston uniform,� Sinden told the Boston Globe.

“To me, this guy is the closest thing to [Bobby] Orr I have ever seen. He has every skill, and he’s a tough, physical player.�

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Hardy: Michelle Akers, who played for the U.S. soccer team that won the Women’s World Cup, retired from international competition last week, but Olympic Coach April Heinrichs has nothing but admiration for the 34-year-old veteran.

“This woman has played with this team four or five years beyond what anyone thought she could,� Heinrichs said. “She’s played through injuries that other players would not be able to.�

Akers still hopes to play in the new U.S. women’s professional soccer league starting next spring.

“I’m really excited about the league, and I believe it will be a huge success,� Akers said. “So I definitely have that on my radar screen. I have some stuff to do before that. One is just resting, and two is fixing the broken body parts.�

Akers battled not only a series of injuries but chronic fatigue syndrome.

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We’re 4 U: The New York Mets consider themselves the underdogs’ representative, as opposed to that other team across town.

Says Met pitcher Al Leiter: “The typical Yankee fan is a Wall Street guy who’s just had dinner at The Palm.�

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Whoa: Black Ruby, a.k.a. Super Mule, won for the 28th time in 33 starts Saturday when she held off a familiar rival, Taz, in the $10,000 California State Fair Open Mule Challenge in Sacramento.

Earlier this summer, Black Ruby became the first mule to earn $100,000.

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Trivia answer: Miami’s Dan Marino, who threw for 5,084 in 1984.

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And finally: Toronto’s Vince Carter, on staying out of the Pacific Ocean at the Dream Team’s pre-Olympic camp in Hawaii: “They spotted a 15-foot shark, so that knocked out my jet-skiing. Then I walked out to the beach and saw some dolphins. But still, when I go out I want to be the only mammal in the ocean.�