Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Sports briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001

Gretzky to choose team for Canada

Wayne Gretzky failed to win an Olympic gold medal for Canada in 1998. He hopes to succeed in 2002 as executive director of the Canadian national team.

Gretzky will help select the players going to Salt Lake City.

"It's a great job with a lot of tough decisions because there are a lot of great Canadian players," he told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It will be tough to pick the right 20 to mesh and commit to each other."

AUTO RACING: Tommy Johnson Jr. took the lead in Funny Car qualifying with a career-best performance in the NHRA's season-opening Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. Johnson had a quarter-mile run of 4.838 seconds at 310.98 mph. Doug Kalitta, Bruce Allen and Randy Daniels also were qualifying leaders in their respective categories at the $1.9-million race. Kalitta led Top Fuel, Allen led Pro Stock, and Daniels led Pro Stock Truck.

TRACK AND FIELD: Stacey Dragila, the Olympic champion in the women's pole vault, smashed her world indoor record, clearing 15 feet, 21/4 inches at the Millrose Games in New York. Four-time Olympian Johnny Gray won his fifth title in the 800 meters in 1 minute, 50.4 seconds and Merlene Ottey won the women's 60 meters in 7.20 seconds.

SOCCER: Tom Neale was promoted from interim general manger to the full-time position with the MLS' San Jose Earthquakes. Former D.C. United coach Frank Yallop was hired as coach. Also, former defender of the year John Doyle retired. ... Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger will not have to serve a 12-game suspension and instead will be fined $15,000 and reprimanded. The English Football Association had issued the suspension after Wenger made contact with an official last summer. ... World ruling body FIFA said it postponed the latest round of talks on reform of the transfer system after players' representatives said they needed more time to study its proposals.

OLYMPICS: Anita DeFrantz, 48, a former Olympic rower and the highest-ranking American on the IOC, is expected to announce that she will be a candidate for president of the committee. She would be the first woman and first black to seek the IOC presidency. The announcement could come Sunday in Dakar, Senegal.

HORSE RACING: Captain Steve will open as the 8-5 favorite in today's Grade 1 $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

COLLEGES: Florida men's tennis player Nathan Overholser lost his consolation round match 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) to Alexis Rudzinski of SMU at the Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in suburban Dallas. Florida's Jessica Lehnhoff and Lindsay Dawaf lost in the second round of their singles draws on the women's side. ... USF's softball team lost 2-1 to Northwestern and 2-1 to Hawaii in the opening games of the Louisville Slugger tournament in Tampa. ... The host Florida gymnastics team scored 196.225 to beat Michigan (194.925) and Auburn (189.925).

SKIING: Kirsten Clark of the United States led after the downhill leg of the women's combined event at the world championships in St. Anton, Austria, with Janica Kostelic in good position for the gold medal after the two slalom runs. In the final practice for the men's downhill, Daron Rahlves of the United States, the super-G winner, led Hermann Maier.

SPEEDSKATING: Hiroyasu Shimizu won a 500-meter speedskating race in Heerenveen, Netherlands, moving closer to Jeremy Wotherspoon in the battle for the World Cup sprint title. Shimizu, timed in 35.02 seconds, has 562 points to Wotherspoon's 570 with three races left.

BOWLING: Steve Jaros averaged 219 in the first round to take a six-pin lead in the PBA National Championship in Toledo, Ohio.

OBITUARY: Canadian Olympic Association Chief Executive Carol Anne Letheren died in Toronto at age 58.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright