Sports in Brief | Olympic champion survives plane crash

Olympic wrestling champion

Rulon Gardner

and two other men were rescued by a fisherman on Lake Powell in Utah yesterday after surviving a small plane crash near Good Hope Bay the day before.

Gardner was a passenger in the Cirrus SR 22 along with pilot Randy Brooks and his brother, Leslie Brooks, according to a Garfield County news release. The plane was flying low when it struck the water, and all three men were able to get out of the plane before it sank.

The three men swam for more than an hour in 44-degree water before reaching shore and then spent the night without shelter, according to the release. None suffered life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Gardner, 35, pulled one of the most stunning upsets in Olympic history at the 2000 Games, winning the gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling by ending Alexander Karelin's 13-year international winning streak. He also won a bronze medal in 2004.

In 2002, Gardner became stranded while snowmobiling in the Wyoming wilderness and lost one of his toes to frostbite.

Tommy Haas

defended his title in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, beating

Andy Roddick

, 6-3, 6-2, in the final in Memphis.

The 28-year-old German won his sixth straight final and 11th title overall, becoming only the second three-time winner in Memphis. Combined with his 1999 title, he joins Jimmy Connors, now Roddick's coach, who won consecutive titles in 1978-1979 and 1983-1984.

Former U.S. Open semifinalist Joachim Johansson, 24, had shoulder surgery in Milan, Italy, and is expected to be out for at least three months.

New York Yankees pitcher

Carl Pavano

had an MRI exam and X-rays taken in Tampa, Fla., on his injured left foot. The team did not immediately release the results.

Pavano was hit on the instep by Alberto Gonzalez's line drive in batting practice Saturday. The righthander may not pitch in tomorrow's intrasquad game.

Levi Leipheimer

won the Amgen Tour of California in Long Beach, having never trailed in the eight-day race.

Leipheimer, a three-time top-10 Tour de France finisher, completed the 639.2-mile race with a 21-second advantage over Jens Voigt of Germany.

Afton Schrimpf won the women's Elite Division in the National Bicycle League's Lake Mead Nationals in Boulder City, Nev., earning 12 world ranking points for Team USA's BMX squad.

This was the second of six qualifying races to determine three male and two female riders to compete in the inaugural BMX competition in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The winner in the men's Elite race was Cristian Becerine.

Chelsea won the League Cup final with a 2-1 victory over Arsenal in Cardiff, Wales, getting two goals from

Didier Drogba

and overcoming a frightening head injury to captain

John Terry

.

Terry, also the captain of the English national team, was taken off the field on a stretcher after Arsenal defender Abou Diaby accidentally kicked him in the head in the 58th minute.

Marlies Schild

of Austria captured the World Cup slalom race in Sierra Nevada, Spain, to take the season title for the event with two races to spare. She has won six of the seven slaloms this season.

Mario Matt of Austria won the men's slalom over German Felix Neureuther in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Matt had a combined time of 1 minute, 35.66 seconds in posting his seventh World Cup victory.

Lennox Lewis, the former world heavyweight champion, dismissed speculation that he is planning to come out of retirement for a rematch with Vitali Klitschko. Lewis is 41.

Trotting Triple Crown winner Glidemaster, trained by Blair Burgess, was chosen harness racing's 2006 horse of the year, receiving 119 votes from the U.S. Harness Writers Association.

Glidemaster set a single-season record of $1.9 million in earnings.

Alan Webb of Reston, Va., ran to his first indoor title, taking the mile in 4 minutes, 1.07 seconds at the U.S. championships in Boston.