Agassi Withdraws From Tennis Team

Defending gold medalist Andre Agassi officially pulled out of the Sydney Olympics Wednesday because of concern for his mother and sister, who have breast cancer.

Agassi cited “personal reasons” for quitting the team a little more than a week before the opening ceremony. No replacement was announced. Agassi’s spot will be offered to Pete Sampras and Jan-Michael Gambill, who earlier turned down invitations. The next highest ranking player is Chris Woodruff.

Meanwhile, Gustavo Kuerten has left Brazil’s team after a dispute over what uniform he would wear. Brazil’s Olympic committee insisted Kuerten wear a uniform provided by the team’s sponsor--sportswear manufacturer Olympikus. But the player’s sponsor, sportswear manufacturer Diadora, insisted Kuerten use their uniform at the Games.

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Airport customs officials in Sydney seized banned performance-enhancing drugs from a member of Uzbekistan’s Olympic delegation, IOC official Jacques Rogge said.

No further details were available on the person’s identity, but Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio said a sports trainer was carrying human growth hormone.

In a press statement, the Australian Customs Service said it seized “what appears to be a small quantity of human growth hormone” in the baggage of an Olympic team official.

The seizure was the first since teams began arriving for the Sydney Olympics.

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World shotput champion C.J. Hunter has undergone arthroscopic surgery for torn knee cartilage at Raleigh, N.C., jeopardizing his participation in the Games.

“It’s day-to-day,” Hunter, the husband of Marion Jones, said. “I’ll be there Sydney, but the question is, how much can I do.”

Hunter, one of the Sydney favorites, said he suffered a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee while lifting weights in London in early August.

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Sheryl Swoopes was helped from the court with a left ankle sprain with only a minute to play in the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team’s 62-45 exhibition victory over Slovakia at Adelaide, Australia. . . . A hand injury kept Kevin Garnett out of the U.S. Olympic team’s game at Saitama, Japan. The U.S. beat Japan, 105-49.

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Rejecting an emergency request by the U.S. Olympic Committee, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens refused to keep Greco-Roman wrestler Matt Lindland off the U.S. team.

USOC sought to keep Keith Sieracki on the team instead.

Lindland dropped a 2-1 referee’s decision to Sieracki at the Olympic trials in Dallas on June 23. But Lindland contended he was illegally tripped by Sieracki and took the case to arbitration. The arbitrator ordered a rematch, in which Lindland defeated Sieracki, 8-0. When the USOC balked at making a roster change, Lindland took his case to court.

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A second athlete in as many days has been kicked off the Canadian Olympic team after a positive drug test. A director for the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which performed the test, said that equestrian rider Eric Lamaze has tested positive for cocaine.

On Tuesday, hammer thrower Robin Lyons was removed from the team after testing positive for an anabolic steroid. She has appealed.