BRIEFLY : FLOJO TESTED CLEAN, IOC OFFICIAL INSISTS.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Because of steroid rumors, Florence Griffith Joyner was singled out for rigorous drug testing during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, but she turned up clean, Prince Alexandre de Merode, chairman of the IOC's medical commission, said Wednesday in Brussels, Belgium.

``So there should not be the slightest suspicion,'' de Merode said. ``Let her rest in peace. The issue is closed.''

De Merode said Germany's Manfred Donike, considered the foremost expert on drugs and sports at the time of the '88 Games, failed to discover even minute traces of banned substances.

Griffith Joyner, who won three gold medals in Seoul and holds world records at 100 and 200 meters, died Monday at age 38. A coroner is attempting to determine the cause of death.

TENNIS: Monica Seles sent Naoko Sawamatsu into retirement with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory (for Seles) at Tokyo. It was the final match on the WTA Tour for Sawamatsu, 25.

Seles, the defending champion of the Toyota Princess Cup, was playing her opening match in the $450,000 event and earned a spot in the quarterfinals.

``It was really difficult going into the match because I have known Naoko for quite some time and I respect her so much as a person as well as a player,'' Seles said. ``I always have a tough time playing players who are retiring. . . . I lost to Chris (Evert) and I lost to Kumiko (Date).''

SOCCER: Nearly 100 current and former North Carolina women's soccer players, including Olympian Mia Hamm, have signed a letter supporting coach Anson Dorrance, who faces a $12 million sexual-harassment lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed last month by former players Debbie Keller and Melissa Jennings, who said Dorrance had subjected them to sexual harassment, including lewd comments and conversations about players' sexual activities.

In the lawsuit, Jennings said she was encouraged to drink alcohol as an underage recruit and Keller said Dorrance twice made uninvited sexual advances toward her.

ETC.: Over the past two years, ticket prices for major U.S. team sports increased at more than three times the rate of overall inflation. Average ticket prices for baseball, football, basketball and hockey rose 6-10 percent in each of the past two seasons, while the consumer price index averaged a 2 percent annual increase during the past two years. . . .

Bowing to public pressure, ESPN pulled ads for the muscle-building supplement Androstenedione off the air. The spots for the supplement used by the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire were part of a new national advertising campaign by MetRx Engineered Nutrition and first appeared Tuesday on ESPN's ``American Muscle.''