"America had better wake up to this likelihood, " said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at a green technology summit last month in Shanghai aimed primarily at foreign investors interested in entering China's burgeoning cleantech industry.

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Tommy Chaney, Gavin's amateur coach at the Hall Green boxing club in Birmingham, said Gavin's predicament should not be allowed to affect the rest of the British team.

BBC: Medal hope Gavin out of Olympics

Environmental groups balked last week when city mayor Gavin Newsom suggested he might ask for an exemption to certain green-stamping reviews.

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