St. Louis native Taylor Twellman announced he was retiring from soccer because of the effects of a concussion suffered two years ago while he was playing for Major League Soccer's New England Revolution.
Twellman, 30, played eight seasons and scored 101 goals, sixth most in MLS history. He was a five-time All-Star and a former league MVP.
"It's unfortunate to lose your career to an injury. It's not a choice," he said. "When you're told that if you want to live your life and be healthy, then soccer needs to stop, the decision's made for me."
Twellman, a SLUH graduate, played his final game on June 7, 2009. He sat out the 2010 season. (AP)
Chilean miner will run NYC marathon • Edison Pena, one of the 33 miners who were trapped for 69 days inside a collapsed mine in Chile, will run in Sunday's New York City Marathon.
Pena, 34, trained during his confinement, running each morning and afternoon in steel-tipped electrician's boots that he cut down to ankle-high shoes. He ran back and forth along a 1,000-yard path inside the mine.
Pena hopes to spread a message about what he hopes will be the legacies of their ordeal: safer workplaces, closer families and more trust in God.
"If I had to run barefoot, I would have done it," Pena told Associated Press Television News after his rescue. "I would like things to change. It was for something that I ran inside the mine. I think that things can be done. I think we suffered too much, that this too has to be worth something."
Marathon organizers who learned of Pena's subterranean exercise routine had invited him to come to New York to watch the race. They were shocked when he asked to run instead. (AP)
Foul play ruled out in surfer's death • A Texas county medical examiner ruled out trauma and foul play in the death of surfing champion Andy Irons, who was found dead Tuesday in his hotel bed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport during a layover en route to his home in Hawaii. A police report released Wednesday said the prescription drug Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication, and the sleeping aid Ambien were found in the room. (AP)
Transgender player wants to stay on women's team • Junior Kye Allums, a transgender member of the George Washington women's basketball team, says he thought about starting drug treatments and playing on a men's team. But he decided instead to put off beginning testosterone treatments or having surgery so he could stay with the women's team.
Allums, a former Minnesota Miss Basketball candidate, remains anatomically a woman but wants to be referred to as "he."
Allums says he disclosed his transgender status because "it got too tough to not be me." (AP)
Tennis roundup • Juan Monaco of Argentina ousted defending champion Andy Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round of the Valencia Open in Spain. ... Andy Roddick defeated Sam Querrey 7-5, 7-6 (6), while Roger Federer cruised into the quarterfinals at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, beating Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-4. (AP)
Armstrong teammate appears at grand jury • Yaroslav Popovych, a Ukrainian cyclist and teammate of Lance Armstrong, testified for about two hours in Los Angeles before a federal grand jury that is investigating doping in the sport. (AP)
