Schultz, du Pont Reach Out-of-Court Settlement

A wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the widow of Olympic wrestler David Schultz against eccentric millionaire and convicted murderer John du Pont has been settled out of court.

Lawyers for both sides would not release the amount of the settlement. But the Philadelphia Inquirer, citing anonymous sources, reported Saturday that du Pont, 61, is to pay Nancy Schultz at least $35 million. According to a trade journal that examines wrongful-death cases, it would be the largest award resulting from a wrongful-death suit paid directly by one person.

In 1997, du Pont was found guilty but mentally ill in connection with Schultz’s January 1996 shooting death and sentenced to 13 to 30 years. A week later, Nancy Schultz sued du Pont.

During the criminal trial, defense lawyers didn’t deny du Pont shot and killed Schultz, but said du Pont suffered from delusions, rendering him unable to see that what he did was wrong.

David Schultz, 36, had been training at the world-class wrestling training area on the compound where du Pont lived. While Schultz was there, du Pont, a diagnosed schizophrenic, fired three bullets from a .44-caliber Magnum into Schultz as Nancy Schultz looked on in horror.

Du Pont was arrested after a two-day standoff.

Tennis

The last men’s singles final of the year will pit world No. 1 Andre Agassi against former No. 1 Pete Sampras after they cruised through the semifinals of the ATP Tour championship at Hanover, Germany. Agassi overcame Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), and Sampras knocked out local favorite Nicolas Kiefer, 6-3, 6-3.

Winter Sports

Austrian star Hermann Maier devastated the rest of the men’s World Cup field to easily win the opening downhill ski race of the season at Beaver Creek, Colo., finishing nearly a full second faster than anyone in the field of 66 with a time of 1 minute 43.77 seconds. . . . Italy’s Isolde Kostner narrowly won the first downhill of the women’s World Cup season with a time of 1:36.92 at Lake Louise, Alberta. . . . Alexandra Meissnitzer, women’s World Cup overall champion last season, will begin rehabilitation of her injured knee as soon as she is discharged from a Vienna hospital Monday or Tuessay. She was injured after falling at Lake Louise, Alberta, and underwent a 90-minute operation Friday to repair torn ligaments in her left knee.

Olympic champion Silke Kraushaar led a 1-2-3 German sweep at the women’s singles at a World Cup luge competition at Altenberg, Germany. Also, world champions Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany took the men’s doubles. . . . Norwegian men and women finished 1-2 in the season’s first Nordic cross-country World Cup ski races at Kiruna, Sweden, with Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset winning the men’s 10-kilometer competition and Bente Martinsen taking the women’s 5K event. Hjelmeset was timed in 26:23.3, 12 seconds ahead of compatriot Tomas Alsgaard and Slovakia’s Ivan Batory. Martinsen won the women’s race in 14:22, nearly half a minute ahead of compatriot Anita Moen. . . . World Cup ski jumping champion Martin Schmitt of Germany won the opening event of the season, which was limited to one jump because of bad weather at Kuopio, Finland. Schmitt jumped last and soared 125.5 meters for 123.9 points, 2.9 meters ahead of Andreas Goldberger of Austria. . . . Olympic champion Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan used a late surge to defeat Canada’s Jeremy Wotherspoon, 35.67 seconds to 35.69, in the 500 meters at the Speedskating World Cup at Berlin.

Miscellany

After 120 scoreless minutes, Brazil defeated Australia, 8-7, in a penalty kick shootout at Auckland, New Zealand, to win its second consecutive under-17 world soccer championship. Ghana, defeated the United States, 2-0, in the third-place game. . . . Sweden’s Armand Krajnc stopped World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Jason Matthews of Britain in the eighth round at Luebeck, Germany. . . . Jeremy McGrath won the third and final round of the World Supercross Championships and France’s David Vullemin finished fourth to win the $100,000 championship prize at Leipzig, Germany. . . . Russian Nina Jivanevskaia won two gold medals in the opening day of the FINA World Cup swimming meet at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. . . . Cuba, last year’s World League champion, defeated winless Tunisia, improving to 7-0 in the men’s volleyball World Cup. Russia improved to 6-1, but the United States fell to 5-2.

Ding Meiyuan set two world records and won three gold medals as China completed its domination of the women’s competition at the World Weightlifting Championships at Piraeus, Greece. Ding, competing in the over 165-pound class, hoisted 347 pounds, breaking the world record in the clean-and-jerk, and broke another lifting 281 in the snatch. She helped China finish with 18 women’s medals, followed by Taiwan, Bulgaria, Thailand, Nigeria and the United States, all earning places for four lifters in the 2000 Olympics. In the men’s side, Akakios Kakiashvilis of Greece set a world record in the snatch at 414 pounds and won all three gold medals in the men’s 207-pound class.