WRESTLING

OLYMPIAN GARDNER SURVIVES SMALL-PLANE CRASH

Scrambling out of a downed, waterlogged airplane, swimming to shore through an icy cold lake spending the night exposed in the freezing, desert chill, then walking away with little more than bumps and bruises and the urgent need of a nice, warm bed. Harrowing close calls are becoming a habit for Rulon Gardner, Olympic wrestling champion-turned-escape artist.

There was the time he lost a toe to frostbite after being stranded in the wilderness. He also was involved in a serious motorcycle accident and way back in third grade, he impaled himself with an arrow.

Now this. Gardner’s weekend brush with death was the third since he unbelievably captured the gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. It happened when a small airplane he was riding in crashed into the aptly named Good Hope Bay, near the Arizona-Utah border.

“I should be dead,” Gardner told the Associated Press on Monday “I shouldn’t be on the earth today.”

CYCLING

FORMER TOUR DE FRANCE CHAMPION ULLRICH RETIRES

Former Tour De France champion Jan Ullrich ended his cycling career yesterday, still defending himself against lingering doping suspicions.

The 33-year-old German, who won the Tour in 1997 and was runner-up five times, announced his retirement eight months after being implicated in a Spanish doping scandal.

“I am ending my active career,” Ullrich said. “It’s not easy, but you have to listen to the voice inside you that the time is right. It was a good time and I would do it the same way again, even the bad times.”

He said he will stay in the sport as a consultant for the Austrian-based Volksbank team.

HOCKEY

CANUCKS ACQUIRE SMOLINSKI FROM BLACKHAWKS

The Vancouver Canucks acquired veteran center Bryan Smolinski from the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional second-round draft pick yesterday.

Smolinski, 36, will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. He had 37 points in 62 games with the Blackhawks this season.

BASEBALL

DELGADO, BELTRAN, REYES HOMER IN INTRASQUAD GAME

A trio of Mets stars got off to a powerful start yesterday.

Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Reyes all homered in the team’s first intrasquad game of the spring. Delgado finished 2-for-2, while David Wright, Jose Valentin and Ben Johnson also had two hits apiece.

Right-hander Jorge Sosa threw a perfect first inning with a strikeout, and left-hander Jason Vargas was impressive in his lone inning of work. Both pitchers are among the group competing for a spot at the back end of the rotation.

FOOTBALL

FAVRE HAS ANKLE SURGERY, FULL RECOVERY EXPECTED

Packers quarterback Brett Favre had minor ankle surgery yesterday and is expected to recover in time for off-season workouts.

Favre, who plans to return for his 17th NFL season, has been bothered for several years by a buildup of bone spurs in his left ankle. He kept putting off the procedure, and skipped out on a previously scheduled surgery January 1.

“The procedure went as expected and he is recovering at this time,” Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson said in a statement. “We expect no complications and that he will be cleared to participate in off-season workouts similar to his schedule in 2006.”