BRIEFLY : OLYMPIC ATHLETES TOLD TO WAIVE LEGAL RIGHTS.

Olympic athletes have started receiving entry forms for the Atlanta Games. The document includes a clause they will want to read closely.

Competitors are being asked to waive their legal rights and agree to take any Olympic disputes - including those over drug tests - to a special arbitration panel for a binding ruling.

If athletes refuse to sign, they will be excluded from the Games.

The clause was drawn up by the International Olympic Committee with an eye toward avoiding costly and disruptive court battles in the United States.

The initiative has provoked furious reaction from some British athletes and officials, who view the waiver as an infringement of fundamental rights.

But Olympic officials and legal experts say the arbitration system will provide athletes with a fair, fast, independent and inexpensive way of resolving disputes.

By signing the form, athletes agree to submit any dispute to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for ``final and binding arbitration.''

Vicente Modahl, husband and coach of British runner Diane Modahl, called the initiative ``very, very dangerous'' and a ``gross violation of human rights.''

Diane Modahl, the former Commonwealth 800-meter champion, took 21 months to clear her name after being banned for four years in 1994 over a positive drug test.

``If Diane had signed a document like this before the Commonwealth Games of 1994, she would have been found guilty within the premises of the Commonwealth Games and she would have had no chance of challenging the verdict later,'' her husband said.

FOOTBALL

Miami Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson has shown that he wants to be aggressive in practice. Too aggressive, according to the NFL Players Association.

The Dolphins, Kansas City and Minnesota were among a half-dozen teams that received warnings this week from the players' union complaining that recent practices were too rough. NFLPA assistant executive director Doug Allen said the union received calls from several Dolphins, including defensive end Trace Armstrong, who was elected president of the NFLPA this year.

``The language in the collective bargaining agreement makes it clear that live hitting is not allowed during the offseason program and minicamps,'' Allen said. Allen added that the problem was corrected.

The NCAA has certified 19 football bowl games, including the first one to be played on foreign soil.

The third-place finisher in the Pacific-10 Conference will play an at-large team in Auckland, New Zealand, in the Haka Bowl on Dec. 26.

The Pac-10 plans to alternate the conference's third- and fifth-place finishers between the Haka Bowl and the Sun Bowl.

A onetime associate of Michael Irvin, whose clandestine tape purports to show Irvin in possession of cocaine, was sworn in as a potential witness in the Dallas Cowboys star's pending drug case.

State District Judge Manny Alvarez swore in Dennis Pedini, 31, at the request of Irvin's attorney and instructed him to abide by a gag order in the case.

BASKETBALL

Jason Hart, one of the nation's top high school point guards, has decided not to attend Syracuse next fall, according to a published report.

Hart signed a letter of intent with Syracuse in November.

TENNIS

Steffi Graf's return to the Italian Open after nine years proved bumpier than expected, with the world's top female player struggling at times before ousting a low-ranked French opponent.

Playing her first match on clay since the 1995 French Open, and looking rusty in doing so, Graf defeated Alexia Dechaume-Balleret 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) in 1 hour, 20 minutes.

In her only other Italian Open appearance, Graf won the title in 1987.

Top-seeded Boris Becker had a difficult time at the German Open in Hamburg, needing three sets before outlasting Spanish qualifier Emilio Alvarez, who is ranked 187th in the world, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Goran Ivanisevic, seeded No. 2, was upset by Carl-Uwe Steeb of Germany 6-3, 6-4.

CAPTION(S):

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PHOTO JIMMY JOHNSON

The new Miami Dolphins coach has been r unning offseason practices that are too rough, says the NFLPA.