‘Thorpedo’ decides on early retirement

Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe retired from competitive swimming today at the age of 24, saying breaking records “wasn’t as inspiring as it should have been.”

Thorpe, who held a news conference at a Sydney hotel, said he decided at “2:53 on Sunday afternoon” not to swim at next year’s world championships in Melbourne and to end his pro swimming career.

Plagued by illness, injury and a lack of motivation, Thorpe hasn’t competed in a major international event since the Athens Olympics.

He burst onto the swimming scene as a teenager and swam to 13 world records between 1999-2002, becoming an international star after dominating at the Sydney Olympics.

Football

BYU accepts bid

Mountain West Conference champion BYU will return to the Las Vegas Bowl, where the 21st-ranked Cougars will play a team from the Pacific-10 Conference on Dec. 21.

BYU (9-2, 7-0 MWC) lost to California 35-28 in last year’s game. This year, the Pac-10 will send its fourth- or fifth-place finisher under a contract signed last year.

•Bo Schembechler’s family, friends and fans will have one more chance to pay respects to the revered coach with a ceremony at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor today called “A Celebration of Bo’s Life.”

Schembechler died Friday at age 77, ending a long battle with heart disease and diabetes.

Soccer

Adu goes overseas

American teenager Freddy Adu began a two-week trial with English Premier League club Manchester United in Manchester, England.

The 17-year-old took part in training with players from the club’s youth academy, but because he doesn’t have a British work permit, he is not able to play in a competitive match.

•In the most expensive television rights deal in club soccer, Real Madrid sold its TV broadcast rights to a Spanish production company for $1.41 billion over seven years.

Tennis

Williams sisters sued

The father of Venus and Serena Williams testified in West Palm Beach Fla., that he never served as their manager and had no authority to commit the tennis stars to play in a 2001 “Battle of the Sexes” match.

Richard Williams and his daughters are accused of reneging on a deal to play in the event, prompting a breach- of-contract lawsuit against the family.

The sisters did not sign any contract with CCKR. They contend their father could not make such a commitment because he did not have the authority.

•Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond told the World Anti-Doping Agency from Montreal that athletes who confess or come forward with information that could undo doping networks should receive more lenient punishment.

•Edvinas Krungolcas of Lithuania won the men’s gold medal at the modern pentathlon world championships in Guatemala City.

Modern pentathlon includes shooting, fencing, swimming, horse jumping and running.