ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Paul Hamm fell onto the edge of the
judges' table while landing his vault, but recovered with two of
the most spectacular routines of his career to win the men's
all-around gymnastics title Wednesday night by the closest Olympic
margin ever.
Hamm was dazzling on the high bar, hitting three straight
release moves to perfection, soaring higher with each toss. He
became the first U.S. man to win gold in the all-around.
Kim Dae-eun of South Korea won silver and compatriot Yang
Tae-young won the bronze. Brett McClure of the United States was
ninth.
Hamm's margin of victory was .012. The previous closest margin
in the event was .017 by Leon Stukelj of Yugoslavia over Robert
Prazak of Czechoslovakia in 1924. The women also had .012, in 1992
when Ukraine's Tatyana Gutsu edged American Shannon Miller.
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Archery
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- South Korea's Park Sung-hyun defeated
countrywoman Lee Sung-jin in the final of the archery competition
at Panathinaiko stadium. Tied at 100 after 11 shots, Park scored a
10 with her final arrow. Lee scored 8.
Britain's Alison Williamson beat Taiwan's Yuan Shu Chi to win
the bronze.
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Athletics
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and
Katerina Thanou withdrew from the Athens Games on Wednesday, nearly
a week after missing a drug test and being hospitalized following a
suspicious motorcycle crash.
"I'm withdrawing from the Olympics," Kenteris said after
meeting with the International Olympic Committee's disciplinary
commission.
He also said he cut ties with his coach, Christos Tsekos --
suspended by the Greek Olympic Committee along with the two
runners.
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Shot Put
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) -- Ukrainian Yuriy Bilonog took a
flag-draped victory lap while American Adam Nelson stood in the
shot put ring for three minutes, pointing at officials and
pleading.
Nelson led the entire competition, but Bilonog's final throw
tied Nelson for the best of the day at 69 feet, 51/4 inches. Nelson
had one last chance to win and unleashed a great toss, but was
called for his fifth consecutive foul.
Since Nelson had no other good throws and Bilonog had several,
the Ukrainian won and left Nelson stunned. Denmark's Joachim Olsen
won the bronze at 69-11/2.
Russian Irina Korzhanenko won the women's event with a toss of
69-11/4. Yumileidi Cumba of Cuba won the silver and Nadine Kleinert
of Germany took bronze.
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Badminton
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Shon Seung-mo of South Korea rallied from
a set down to beat Chen Hong, ending China's hopes of a singles
badminton medal.
China's women fared a little better. The pair of Zhang Jiewen
and Yang Wei defeated Thailand's Thungthongkam Saralee and Sathinee
Chankrachangwong. In the other early quarterfinal, Zhao Tingting
and Wei Yili of China beat Lee Hyo-jung and Hwang Yu-mi of South
Korea.
In mixed doubles, Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms of Britain beat
Jonas Rasmussen and Rikke Olsen of Denmark.
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Baseball
Netherlands 10, Italy 4
Australia 9, Japan 4
Cuba 10, Taiwan 2
Canada 2, Greece 0
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Peter Orr went 2-for-3 and knocked in a
run, and Canada won its fourth straight game at the Olympic
baseball tournament, beating Greece.
Cuba recovered from its loss to Japan by beating Taiwan.
A Japanese league veteran helped Australia down Japan. The loss
came barely 12 hours after Japan's victory over Cuba.
Jeff Williams had the save for Australia, pitching three innings
and striking out three. The pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers has been
one of the best closers in Japanese baseball over the past two
years.
The Netherlands beat Italy to improve to 3-1. The Italians
remain winless.
------
Beach Volleyball
The U.S. team of Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak were perfect
through pool play with a 22-24, 21-17, 15-12 win over Swiss pair
Simone Kuhn and Nicole Schnyder.
The American men's team of Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard
suffered a 21-16, 13-21, 15-13 loss to Swiss pair Stefan Kobel and
Patrick Heuscher.
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Boxing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- American super heavyweight Jason Estrada
and heavyweight Devin Vargas advanced to the quarterfinals, capping
an impressive 6-1 run through the preliminaries for a lightly
regarded U.S. team.
The eight remaining Americans will fight in the next three days.
Estrada moved on to fight Cuba's Michel Lopez Nunez, whom
Estrada for a gold medal in last year's Pan American Games.
Najah Ali, Iraq's 4-foot-11 light heavyweight and the country's
sole boxer in Athens, outpointed Kwak Hyok Ju of North Korea 21-7
to advance to a second-round match.
Light flyweight Rau'Shee Warren was the only American eliminated
in the first round. Warren, a 17-year-old from Cincinnati,
struggled against Chinese veteran Zou Shiming, losing 22-9.
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Cycling
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Tyler Hamilton won the men's time trial
gold medal and teammate Bobby Julich took the bronze, hours after
Dede Barry won a silver in the women's time trial. No other nation
in the Olympics won more than two medals in the four road
competitions.
Hamilton edged defending men's time trial gold medalist
Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia by about 19 seconds. It was the first
American road gold since the boycotted Los Angeles Olympics in
1984.
In the women's race, Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel of the
Netherlands -- who suffered hip and shoulder injuries in a fall late
in Sunday's road race -- defended her gold medal. Barry was 24.09
seconds back. Switzerland's Karin Thuerig won bronze.
------
Canoe-Kayak
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Rebecca Giddens of Green Bay, Wis., took
the silver in the women's kayaking singles slalom, while Elena
Kaliska of Slovakia won the gold.
Slovakia had a chance for a second gold in men's single canoe,
but Michael Martikan was denied despite the best time when it was
judged that he touched a gate during his run. The ensuing penalty
dropped him to second.
The gold medal went to Frenchman Tony Estanguet.
------
Equestrian
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The Olympic three-day team event
degenerated into an unprecedented free-for-all before Germany ended
up with the gold -- twice.
First, the judges gave Germany the gold and France the silver,
while Britain took bronze. Then they stepped in to investigate
whether the clock was running when Bettina Hoy of Germany, riding
Ringwood Cockatoo, crossed the start line.
The judges ended up awarding France the gold and docking Germany
12 points, dropping it from first place to fourth in a decision
that lifted the United States to third.
Germany responded by asking for a review by an appeals
committee, which reversed the judges, and that helped the Germans
reclaim their gold.
In the individual three-day event, Hoy won gold, again aboard
Ringwood Cockatoo. Leslie Law of Britain won silver with Shear
l'Eau and Kimberly Severson of the United States won bronze aboard
Winsome Adante.
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Fencing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Valentina Vezzali beat longtime teammate
Giovanna Trillini 15-11 to win the gold medal in foil in a matchup
of two Italian greats.
Vezzali won her fourth Olympic fencing gold, equaling the most
won by a woman. The silver was Trillini's seventh Olympic medal,
tying her for tops among women's fencers. Trillini also has four
golds.
Sylwia Gruchala of Poland beat Aida Mohamed of Hungary 15-9 to
win the bronze.
------
Field Hockey
China 3, Spain 0
Netherlands 4, Germany 1,
South Korea 3, South Africa 0
Japan 2, New Zealand 0
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- China and the Netherlands clinched spots
in the semifinals of the women's field hockey tournament after
Wednesday's victories. The Netherlands defeated Germany after
scoring twice on penalty corners in the first 20 minutes. China
shut out Spain, with goals from Tang Chunling, Fu Baorong, Gao
Lihua. The Chinese are the only team yet to concede a goal in the
tournament.
The Japanese women's field hockey team won its first ever game
at the Olympics by beating New Zealand, which has yet to score in
the tournament. Rie Terazono made nine saves for Japan.
------
Judo
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Two-time defending champion Masae Ueno
earned Japan's fifth gold in 10 judo events, extending her
three-year undefeated streak in major international competition.
Edith Bosch of the Netherlands won silver and the bronze was shared
by Annett Boehm of Germany and Qin Dongya of China.
On the men's side, Ueno's teammate Hiroshi Izumi wound up with
silver when he lost in the 90kg title match to Zurab Zviadauri of
Georgia. Khasanbi Taov of Russia won bronze with Mark Huizinga of
Netherlands.
------
Rowing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Americans Aquil Abdullah of Washington,
D.C., and Henry Nuzum of Chapel Hill, N.C., overtook Norway in a
photo finish, winning a spot in the double scull finals.
At the halfway point of the 2,000-meter race, Nuzum and Abdullah
-- the U.S. men's crew team's first black Olympian -- trailed both
Australia and Norway.
At the finish line, the time clock initially showed both the
Americans and Norwegians with 6:14.70. Officials took more than a
minute to study a photo before posting the official result.
Meanwhile, Britain's Matthew Pinsent remained on track for his
fourth gold medal as his four boat won its semifinal. And the
Canadian eight, upset in their preliminary heat by the world
record-setting American crew earlier this week, won its repechage --
or second-chance race -- to get another crack at their North
American rivals in Sunday's eights final.
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Sailing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Skipper Tim Wadlow of Boston shot the
starting line in race No. 4 of the 49er class and was over early,
forcing him out.
In the 470 class, Paul Foerster of Rockwall, Texas, and Kevin
Burnham of Miami remained in second place but trailed Great
Britain's Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield by six points with three
races to go.
Laser sailor Mark Mendelblatt dropped from third to fifth
overall after finishing sixth and 10th in his races. He had been
one point out of the bronze medal chase but is now nine points out
of third with five races left.
Yngling skipper Carol Cronin of Jamestown, R.I., won the seventh
of her 11-race series, but finished next-to-last in 16-boat fleet
to drop into 12th overall.
On the Europe course, Meg Galliard of Pelham, N.Y., ranks eighth
overall after six of 11 races. Kevin Hall of Bowie, Md., was 13th
and ninth in the Finn class to drop to 15th.
Finn leader Ben Ainslie of Great Britain continued his comeback
from a protest loss in Race 2 by finishing second and third to open
an eight-point lead with three races left.
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Shooting
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- American Kim Rhode won the gold medal in
double trap shooting, staking a unique claim as the first and last
winner of the Olympic event.
Rhode won the 1996 gold when double trap was introduced at the
Atlanta Olympics, and she now owns the 2004 medal in the event,
which is being eliminated. She also won the bronze in 2000.
Lee Bo Na of South Korea took the silver, finishing one point
behind Rhode. Gao E of China defeated countrywoman Li Qingnian in a
shoot-off to win the bronze.
In women's 25-meter pistol, Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria won the
gold medal, while Lenka Hykova of the Czech Republic won the silver
and Irada Ashumova of Azerbaijan took the bronze.
------
Soccer
Costa Rica 4, Portugal 2
Morocco 2, Iraq 1
Japan 1, Ghana 0
Paraguay 1, Italy 0
VOLOS, Greece (AP) -- Costa Rica scored its first four goals of
the Olympic soccer tournament to knock Portugal out of the
competition with a 4-2 win, setting up a meeting with Argentina in
the quarterfinals.
Jose Villalobos, Alvaro Saborio and Pablo Brenes scored for
Costa Rica, as did Portugal's Fernando Meira, whose own goal in the
68th minute tied the game at 2.
Iraq won its group despite losing 2-1 to Morocco. After Salih
Sadir had given Iraq a second half lead, Morocco hit back through a
Bouabid Bouden penalty kick and the game-winner from Salaheddine
Aqqal.
In Group B, Italy advanced on goals scored despite losing 1-0 to
Paraguay. Ghana, which lost 1-0 to Japan, finished with the same
points and goal differential as the Italians, but scored four goals
to Italy's five.
------
Softball
Thursday's results
China 1, Taiwan 0
Lixia Zhang and Wei Lu combined on a one-hitter and Jia Guo hit
an RBI single in the fifth inning as China (3-3) stayed in the hunt
to make the semifinals. Taiwan (2-4) plays the United States in its
final preliminary game Friday.
Wednesday's results
United States 7, Canada 0
Taiwan 1, Italy 0
Australia 5, China 0
Japan 6, Greece 0
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Jennie Finch pitched a one-hitter with
eight strikeouts and Lisa Fernandez went 3-for-4 with a home run as
the United States won its fifth straight shutout, beating Canada
7-0 to clinch a spot in this weekend's semifinals.
Crystl Bustos and Lisa Fernandez homered for the two-time
defending gold medal-winning U.S. squad, which has outscored its
opponents 31-0.
Hua Su Lin pitched a five-hitter to lead Taiwan to its second
straight win after three opening losses. Fen Yan Weng drove in the
game's only run while Italy lost for the fourth time in five games.
Australia won its fourth game in five tries, with the only loss
to the unbeaten United States. The Australians scored all their
runs in the eighth.
Japan's Hiroko Sakai shut out Greece allowing just two hits and
striking out three in seven innings.
------
Swimming
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The United States women swept the
800-meter freestyle relay, taking down the oldest world record in
swimming while leaving Australia in the wake.
Kaitlin Sandeno swam the final leg and touched the wall in a
time of 7 minutes, 53.42 seconds, easily beating the mark of
7:55.47 set exactly 17 years earlier by East Germany. The other
members were Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper and Dana Vollmer.
China, more than 21/2 seconds behind, took silver while Germany
edged Australia for bronze by just five-hundredths of a second.
Meanwhile, Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands repeated
as the Olympic champion in the 100 freestyle, Japan's Kosuke
Kitajima completed a sweep of the men's breaststroke events by
winning the men's 200 meters, and Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland won
her third medal of the games with a victory in the 200 butterfly.
American Michael Phelps set an Olympic record in the semifinals
of the 200 individual medley.
Another world record was set in the semifinals of the women's
100 freestyle. Australia's Jodie Henry won her heat in 53.52,
lowering the mark of 53.66 set by Lisbeth Lenton at the Australian
trials in March.
The fall of Communism brought to light evidence of massive
cheating by the East Germans and tarnished that country's numerous
athletic achievements -- including the women's 800 relay record set
Aug. 18, 1987.
------
Table Tennis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden, gold medalist
at Barcelona in 1992, upset second-seeded Ma Lin of China 4-1 in
the fourth round of men's singles.
Top-seeded Wang Liqin beat Joo Sae-hyuk 4-1.
World champion Werner Schlager of Austria lost to Timo Boll of
Germany.
------
Team Handball
Croatia 29, South Korea 26
Iceland 30, Slovenia 25
France 26, Hungary 23
Greece 26, Egypt 25
Spain 29, Russia 26
Germany 34, Brazil 21
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Savvas Karypidis scored five-straight
goals in the first half, and scored 10 overall as Greece won its
first men's handball game of these Olympics. Egypt trailed by eight
at halftime but nearly pulled off the win.
Spain won its third game and clinched a place in the
quarterfinals by beating Russia, avenging a loss in the gold-medal
game in Sydney in 2000. Croatia, the 2003 world champion, beat
South Korea and also clinched s port in the next round.
France advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to a balanced attack
led by Michael Guigou, who scored six goals.
Germany, the 2004 European champion, knocked of Brazil, which
qualified by winning the Pan American Games title last year.
------
Tennis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- In back-to-back tennis stunners,
second-seeded Andy Roddick was upset by No. 16 Fernando Gonzalez of
Chile 6-4, 6-4, and defending gold medalist Venus Williams lost to
Mary Pierce of France 6-4, 6-4.
For the first time since tennis returned to the Olympics as a
medal sport in 1988, no U.S. woman will win a singles medal.
In addition to Williams' exit, No. 16 Chanda Rubin lost to No. 2
Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-3, 6-1, and Lisa Raymond was eliminated
by Alicia Molik of Australia 6-4, 6-4.
Martina Navratilova, in her first Olympics at age 47, and
Raymond advanced to the doubles quarterfinals when their opponents,
Mauresmo and Pierce, pulled out. Mauresmo developed a rash from a
skin allergy during her win over Rubin.
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Women's Volleyball
Dominican Republic 3, United States 2 (26-24, 22-25, 27-25, 23-25,
19-17)
Korea 3, Kenya 0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-19)
Cuba 3, China 2 (25-19, 22-25, 15-25, 25-21, 15-13)
Japan 3, Greece 1 (25-10, 20-25, 25-21, 25-22)
Russia 3, Germany 0 (31-29, 25-11, 25-18)
Brazil 3, Italy 2 (19-25, 25-13, 22-25, 25-16, 15-13)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A sluggish American start and some
Dominican determination led to a big upset.
Milagros Cabral de la Cruz had the match-winning kill in the
fifth set, giving the Dominican Republic a 26-24, 22-25, 27-25,
23-25, 19-17 victory over the United States.
Dropping to 1-2, the Americans must play Russia on Friday and
Cuba on Sunday to close the preliminary round.
Cuba topped previously unbeaten China in five sets behind 24
points from Zoila Barros Fernandez. China, Cuba and Russia are tied
for first in Pool A.
Ekaterina Gamova had 23 points, including 20 kills, to the lead
the Russians past Germany in three sets.
In Pool A, So Yun Chang had 18 points to lead Korea to a sweep
of Kenya. Tomoko Yoshihara had 16 points to lead Japan to a
four-set victory over Greece.
Brazil edged Italy in five sets. On the 198th point of the game,
Valeska Menezes spiked the ball to give Brazil the win.
------
Thursday's results
Hungary 7, United States 5
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The U.S. men took their first loss water
polo, falling to defending world and Olympic champion Hungary.
Tamas Varga scored his second goal with 1:27 to play, clinching
the victory.
Jesse Smith cut Hungary's lead to 6-5 with a little more than 3
minutes to play, and Brandon Brooks made two saves to keep the
United States (2-1) within one goal.
After Varga's goal put Hungary (3-0) up by two, Americans Layne
Beaubien and Wolf Wigo had shots blocked in the final minute.
Wednesday's results
Canada 6, United States 5
Australia 9, Kazakhstan 4
Russia 9, Hungary 8
Italy 7, Greece 2
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Johanne Begin scored three goals,
including the last-minute clincher, and Ann Dow had a pair as
Canada scored five unanswered goals in the last six minutes to
upset the world champion Americans.
The United States led 5-1 in the second minute of the last
period after captain Heather Moody scored from 2-meters.
"From 5-1, no, we've never lost from there," said Moody, who
has been on the U.S. team since 1996. "It's hard, but it's the
Olympics and that's the way it works -- it happens."
Russia is 2-0 after it rallied to beat World Cup holder Hungary,
with captain Sofya Konukh scoring three goals.
In Group A, defending Olympic champion Australia had a 9-4 win
over Kazakhstan to improve to 2-0 and No. 2-ranked Italy rebounding
from an opening loss to the Aussies by beating Greece 7-2.
------
Weightlifting
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Zhang Guozheng won China's third Olympic
weightlifting gold medal in as many events, leading the men's
152-pound (69kg) field from the start.
Nikolai Peshalov won a record-tying fourth Olympic medal -- a
bronze.
Lee Bae Young of South Korea had a chance to overtake Zhang, but
missed a clean-and-jerk attempt of 430 pounds (195kg) that would
have given him the gold by virtue of lower body weight.
Earlier, Ukraine's Natalia Skakun overcame a big deficit to win
the gold medal in 139-pound (63kg) weightlifting. Belarus' Hanna
Batsiushka settled for silver. Tatsiana Stukalava of Belarus won
bronze.
------
Women's Basketball
United States 80, South Korea 57
Australia 97, Japan 78
Czech Republic 98, China 83
Russia 77, Brazil 67
Spain 91, New Zealand 57
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Lisa Leslie scored 25 points on 11-of-13
shooting, Tina Thompson added 18 points, and the United States hit
South Korea with a big second half run to stay unbeaten. The
Americans broke it open with a 19-2 run to start the second half.
Lauren Jackson had 31 points and nine rebounds as Australia, the
2000 silver medalist, remained unbeaten by dominating inside. The
6-foot-5 Jackson, the WNBA's MVP last season with the Seattle
Storm, came into the game averaging 21 points. She had that many in
the first 15 minutes against Japan.
Jana Vesela scored 22 points and Eva Viteckova added 20 as the
Czech Republic beat China 98-83 Wednesday to avoid a third straight
loss.
Russia held Brazil 40 points below its scoring average in the
tournament, leaving Australia as the only unbeaten team in Group A.
Laia Palau scored 15 points and Spain joined the United States
as the only unbeaten teams in Group B after three games.
Spain, which plays the United States Friday, opened with a 16-4
run and was up 32-8 after one quarter. It never was close again,
with Spain leading by as many as 34 points in the fourth quarter.
Angela Marino had 21 points for New Zealand (1-2).
------
Men's Basketball
New Zealand 90, Serbia-Montenegro 87
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A disputed call with 20 seconds left
figured prominently in another controversial loss for reigning
world champion Serbia-Montenegro.
New Zealand rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 5
minutes to beat Serbia-Montenegro in a physical game that turned on
a late call.
Dillon Boucher's driving layup with 20 seconds left brought New
Zealand (1-2) within 87-86. As Serbia-Montenegro (1-2) was
inbounding the ball, New Zealand's Mark Dickel wrapped his arms
around Milos Vujanic to draw the foul and stop the clock.
Instead, an offensive foul was called on Vujanic, and Sean Marks
dunked on the resulting inbounds play to give New Zealand an 88-87
lead.
