Ferrari Formula 1 team "nailed down" its '18 driver lineup by announcing on Saturday that F1 championship leader SEBASTIAN VETTEL has "signed a new three-year deal." The news follows Thursday’s announcement that KIMI RÄIKKONEN had been "retained on a single-season contract" (AUTOWEEK 8/26). ... The Court of Arbitration for Sport "dismissed the appeals" filed by two Chinese women weightlifters who were stripped of the Gold Medals they won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics "after failing doping tests conducted eight years later." In January, the IOC ordered CAO LEI and LIU CHUNHONG to "return their medals from the Beijing Games after re-tests of samples tested positive for prohibited substances" (REUTERS, 8/28). ... Former Olympic hurdler and current BBC pundit COLIN JACKSON has "come out as gay." Jackson said that he had not spoken about it previously in public because of fears the media would "sensationalise" the story (London TELEGRAPH, 8/28). ... Former Ireland int'l rugby player WILLIE DUGGAN died, aged 76. Duggan "passed away at his home" in Ireland following a "suspected heart attack." He won 41 caps as an Ireland int'l from '75-84 (BBC, 8/28). ... Japanese tennis player KIMIKO DATE said that she will "retire from competitive tennis after next month's Japan Women's Open in Tokyo." The 46-year-old, who retired in '96 and made a comeback in '08, wrote on her official blog that she has been "far from top form and playing with pain in her knee and shoulders" (KYDO NEWS, 8/28).
