Track Awards Go to Pappas, Drossin Kastor

Decathlete Tom Pappas and distance runner Deena Drossin Kastor will receive the 2003 Jesse Owens Award as the top U.S track and field athletes of the year.

The awards will be presented at USA Track & Field’s annual meeting Friday at Greensboro, N.C.

Pappas won the decathlon in the world outdoor championships and the heptathlon in the world indoor meet, where he beat world-record holder Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic.

“I was looking at the previous winners, and some of the names up there, to have my name up there with them is definitely exciting for me,” Pappas said.

Previous winners of the award include Edwin Moses, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Mary Decker, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith Joyner.

Drossin Kastor set the U.S. women’s marathon record with a third-place finish at London in April.

She won her second silver medal in a row in the world cross-country championships at Switzerland, and ran the year’s fastest times by a U.S. woman in the 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

Drossin Kastor won her third U.S. 10,000-meter title and was 12th in the world outdoor championships.

Baseball

Gary Sheffield met with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner on Monday, and New York finalized contracts with Aaron Boone and Enrique Wilson and reached an agreement with free-agent reliever Tom Gordon.

Sheffield and his agent, Rufus Williams, met with Steinbrenner for about an hour at the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. While Williams said the sides still haven’t reached an agreement, all signs point toward the outfielder signing with New York.

Olympics

Tennis star Kim Clijsters is pulling out of next summer’s Athens Olympics because she won’t be allowed to wear apparel from her sponsor.

Clijsters said on her Web site she won’t take part in the Games because the Belgian Olympic Committee prohibits its athletes from wearing apparel not made by team sponsor Adidas.

Clijsters’ deal with Fila stipulates she can play only in the company’s clothing.

Greece will continue during the Olympics its participation in Western Europe’s border-free travel agreement despite international concern after deadly suicide bombings in neighboring Turkey, police and government sources told Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Jurisprudence

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from an independent newspaper staffed by University of Florida students that wanted autopsy photos of race car driver Dale Earnhardt, who died Feb. 18, 2001, when his car hit the wall on the final turn at the Daytona 500.

The newspaper had challenged the constitutionality of a Florida law passed after Earnhardt’s death, barring public access to autopsy pictures.

Miscellany

Goaltender Sara DeCosta-Hayes, who won a gold medal with the U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team at Nagano in 1998 and a silver medal at Salt Lake City in 2002, has retired from the national team program.

CART officials have canceled the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla., citing schedule conflicts created by the proposed sale of the cash-strapped auto racing series.

The St. Petersburg race was set for Feb. 22. Instead, CART will try to open the season April 18 at Long Beach.

Cyclist Fabio Testi of Italy was suspended for two years and he and his team were fined a total of $4,500 after he tested positive for banned substances.