ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Michael Phelps matched Mark Spitz's record
of four individual gold medals in the Olympic pool Friday night
with a stirring comeback in the 100-meter butterfly, then removed
himself from further competition at these games.
Phelps nipped teammate Ian Crocker at the wall by
four-hundredths of a second to win his fifth gold medal and earn
the right to swim the butterfly leg in the 400-meter medley relay
final on Saturday.
Shortly after winning his seventh medal of these Olympics,
Phelps told U.S. men's coach Eddie Reese that he wanted to give up
his spot in the medley relay to Crocker.
"We came into this meet as a team and we're going to leave it
as a team," Phelps said. "It's the right thing to do."
Midway through the race, Crocker led Phelps by a half-body
length. Phelps was in fifth, but used his huge wingspan to rally
and catch Crocker at the wall in an Olympic record of 51.25
seconds.
Because Phelps swam in the preliminaries of the medley relay, he
would still get a medal if the U.S. team reaches the podium in the
final.
The United States picked up another gold medal in the 50 free,
where 29-year-old Gary Hall Jr. defended the title that he shared
with fellow American Anthony Ervin in Sydney.
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe won her third medal of the games,
capturing gold in the 200 backstroke. In the women's 800 freestyle,
Ai Shibata of Japan won gold.
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Softball
United States 3, Taiwan 0
Japan 2, China 0
Australia 3, Greece 2
Canada 1, Italy 0
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The United States softball team remained
unbeaten for the Olympics -- and for one day, Japan was perfect,
too.
The Americans beat Taiwan on Friday for their seventh straight
Olympic shutout and 77th win in a row.
Cat Osterman struck out 10 in six innings, and the United States
completed a perfect run through the preliminary round, setting up a
U.S.-Australia showdown in the semifinals.
Later, Yukiko Ueno did Osterman one better, pitching the first
perfect game in Olympic history to lead Japan past China. Ueno
struck out nine.
Tanya Harding replaced Brooke Wilkins to lead Australia over
Greece, and Lauren Bay threw a two-hit shutout in Canada's win over
Italy.
The Americans are dominating in a way never seen before. Through
seven games, they've outscored the opposition 41-0, allowed just 11
hits and permitted three runners to reach third.
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Women's Soccer
United States 2, Japan 1
Germany 2, Nigeria 1
Brazil 5, Mexico 0
Sweden 2, Australia 1
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) -- Abby Wambach finished a four-on-zero
breakaway in the 59th minute, her 17th goal in her last 18 games,
to give the U.S. women's soccer team a quarterfinal victory over
Japan.
The Americans will play Germany in the semifinals Monday in
Iraklion. The game is a rematch of last year's World Cup semifinal,
won 3-0 by eventual champion Germany.
Kristine Lilly scored in the 43rd minute for the Americans. Emi
Yamamoto scored for Japan in the 48th.
Germany came from behind to beat Nigeria on goals by Steffi
Jones and Conny Pohlers.
Cristiane and Formiga had two goals each for Brazil, which
advanced to play Sweden in the other semifinal.
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Track and Field
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Alan Webb was outmaneuvered and outrun in
the first round of the 1,500 meters, a quick exit for the runner
who was supposed to end America's streak of mediocrity in
middle-distance races.
While the 21-year-old youngster faltered, the squad's most
storied Olympian -- 37-year-old Gail Devers -- barely survived the
second round in the women's 100. She captured the 16th and final
spot in Saturday's semifinals, avoiding elimination by .01 seconds.
Devers joined teammates Lauryn Williams and LaTasha Colander in
the semis. Williams won her second-round heat in 11.03 seconds, the
second-fastest time overall. Colander was third in her heat.
Devers, who won gold in the 100 in 1992 and 1996, was fourth in
her heat -- the top three automatically advance -- but was one of
four runners to qualify on time, in 11.31.
Webb was trying to end a 36-year U.S. drought in the Olympic
1,500. Twenty-four runners advanced, and Webb had the 25th-fastest
time: 3 minutes, 41.25 seconds.
He missed qualifying by .11 seconds.
In the 10,000 meters, Kenenisa Bekele ended the reign of fellow
Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie with an Olympic record time of
27:05.10.
Gebrselassie, 31 and suffering from an Achilles tendon injury,
had won the last two Olympic 10,000 races. He finished fifth.
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Tennis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Unseeded American Mardy Fish beat No. 16
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Olympic semifinals.
Gonzalez had pulled off a third-round upset of Fish's teammate and
friend, Andy Roddick, who was in the stands rooting.
In Sunday's final, Fish will play No. 10 Nicolas Massu, who
defeated Taylor Dent 7-6 (5), 6-1 in another U.S.-Chile match.
In the women's semifinals, Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne
rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the third set to beat Russia's
Anastasia Myskina 7-5, 5-7, 8-6 in a nearly three-hour match
between the past two French Open champions. France's Amelie
Mauresmo advanced by defeating unseeded Australian Alicia Molik 7-6
(8), 6-3.
In the women's doubles semifinals, No. 8 Li Ting and Sun Tian
Tian of China beat No. 7 Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini of
Argentina 6-2, 2-6, 9-7, guaranteeing China its first tennis medal
at an Olympics.
Li and Sun, who beat Venus Williams and Chanda Rubin in the
first round, will face No. 2 Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano
Pascual of Spain for the gold Sunday. The Spaniards were 6-3, 6-0
winners over No. 5 Shinobu Asagoe and Ai Sugiyama of Japan.
Croatia's Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic outlasted Mahesh
Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India 7-6 (5), 4-6, 16-14 to win the
bronze medal in men's doubles.
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Archery
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Park Sung-hyun shot a 10 on the last arrow
of the women's team competition at Panathinaiko Stadium, giving
South Korea a 241-240 win over China and its fifth consecutive gold
medal in the event.
Taiwan defeated France 242-228 to win the bronze.
The Koreans have won the gold at every games since the team
event was added to the Olympic program in 1988 in Seoul and all 11
women's archery golds since their first appearance in the sport in
1984.
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Badminton
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon of South
Korea won the badminton gold medal in men's doubles, beating
compatriots Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung. Indonesia's Eng Hian
and Flandy Limpele won the bronze medal.
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Baseball
Italy 5, Taiwan 4
Japan 9, Canada 1
Australia 11, Greece 6
Cuba 9, Netherlands 2
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Claudio Liverziani hit a two-run homer in
the top of the ninth inning to put the Italians ahead, and they
held on for their first tournament win. Peter Nyari pitched 2 2-3
innings of scoreless relief to earn the win.
Yoshinobu Takahashi went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs
scored as Japan routed Canada. Tsuyoshi Wada shut out Canada for
seven innings while striking out seven and allowing just three
hits. Canada's lone run came in the ninth.
Brett Roneberg hit two solo shots and Brendan Kingman and Paul
Gonzalez also homered for Australia. Ryan Rowland Smith earned his
second win of the tournament, allowing one run on two hits in 2 1-3
innings of relief.
Cuba scored five runs in the third inning and cruised to a win
over the Netherlands.
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Beach Volleyball
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Delivering their best performance of the
tournament, Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger upset fourth-seeded
Germans Jonas Reckermann and Markus Dieckmann 21-16, 19-21, 15-13
in their first match of the medal round.
The Americans next face Swiss pair Stefan Kobel and Patrick
Heuscher, who ousted Joao Brehna and Luis Maia of Portugal 21-18,
21-19.
Earlier, Australians Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst, who won
the gold medal in 2000 and the bronze in 1996, faced off with
different partners -- Cook with Nicole Sanderson and Pottharst with
Summer Lochowicz.
Cook and Sanderson won 21-15, 21-16.
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Boxing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Vicente Escobedo became the fourth U.S.
boxer eliminated from the Olympics. The lightweight lost to Rovshan
Huseynov of Azerbaijan, 36-18.
Cuban fighters, meanwhile, continued to roll, winning three more
fights to improve to 14-1. Seventeen-year-old British lightweight
Amir Khan, the only member of his country's boxing team, was
impressive for a second time in a 37-21 win over Dimitar Stilianov
of Bulgaria.
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Canoe-Kayak
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Pavol and Peter Hochschorner took the gold
medal again in pairs canoe slalom, winning by more than 3 seconds.
The brothers from Slovakia moved smoothly through the whitewater
course, showing the form that helped them win gold at the Sydney
Olympics. Their time was 207.16, beating Marcus Becker and Stefan
Henze of Germany by 3.82 seconds.
Jaroslav Volf and Ondrej Stepanek of the Czech Republic took
bronze, just under 2 seconds behind the Germans.
Frenchman Benoit Peschier, who entered the Olympics ranked 12th
in the world in single kayak slalom, used two clean, fast runs to
win gold. Britain's Campbell Walsh won silver and defending world
champion Fabien Lefevre of France took bronze.
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Cycling
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Chris Hoy of Britain won the gold medal in
cycling's 1-kilometer time trial with an Olympic-record time of 1
minute, 0.711 seconds. Arnaud Tournant of France won silver at
1:00.896 seconds and Stefan Nimke of Germany took the bronze at
1:01.186.
Anna Meares of Australia won gold in the women's 500-meter time
trial, establishing a world-record of 33.952 seconds. Jiang Yonghua
of China, whose mark was broken, won the silver in 34.112. Natallia
Tsylinskaya of Belarus took bronze in 34.167.
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Diving
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Laura Wilkinson saved her best dive for
last, and the defending Olympic gold medalist advanced past the
preliminaries of 10-meter platform.
The 26-year-old Texan came through on her final dive, a backward
21/2 somersault with 11/2 twists. Her spins were crisp and her entry
smooth, resulting in scores of 7.5 and 8.0 across the board. That
was enough to move the American up to 13th with 314.19 points.
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Equestrian
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Germany opened a sizable lead in grand
prix dressage team competition, leading with a team average of
71.813 percent. The Americans were second with 69.146 percent,
while Britain was third at 69.084 percent.
The remaining two riders for each team ride Saturday to
determine team medals, with the top three scores counting. Dressage
is equestrian's equivalent of gymnastics or ballet, performed
without jumps in an enclosed arena.
Away from the ring, France, Britain and the United States lodged
a joint appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the
decision that gave Germany the gold medal in the three-day team
equestrian event.
A verdict is expected Saturday.
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Fencing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Russia used a patient, defensive strategy
to defeat Germany 34-28 and win the gold medal in women's team
epee.
The Russian squad of Karina Aznavourian, Oxana Ermakova and
Tatiana Logounova built a lead slowly by not allowing the Germans
to score their second touch until more than 12 minutes into the
27-minute match.
Canada, ranked 10th in the world, upset No. 2 Hungary 38-37 in
overtime in the quarterfinals. The Canadians lost to Russia 25-18
in the semifinals and the fell to France 45-37 in the bronze medal
bout.
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Field Hockey
South Korea 2, Australia 2, tie
Argentina 3, New Zealand 0
South Africa 3, Germany 0
Japan 2, Spain 1
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Argentina clinched a spot in the women's
field hockey semifinals, while New Zealand has lost all three of
its matches in pool play and hasn't scored in the tournament.
South Korea scored once in each half to tie the defending gold
medalists. Australian goalkeeper Rachel Imison saved all eight
penalty corners awarded to the Koreans in the first half, then kept
out another two penalty corners in the second.
South Africa earned its first and only win in pool play by
upsetting Germany. Germany can still advance to the semifinals, but
needs to beat South Korea in its next match and have the
Netherlands beat Australia.
Japan beat Spain in the day's final game.
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Judo
Keiji Suzuki, in the men's 100kg category, and Maki Tsukada, in
women's 78kg, won judo gold medals to give Japan the Olympic title
in eight of 14 events -- a record haul for the country that invented
the sport.
Suzuki beat Tamerlan Menov of Russia. Dennis van Der Geest of
Netherlands and Indrek Pertelson of Estonia captured bronzes.
Tsukada beat Dayma Beltran of Cuba. Sun Fuming of China and Tea
Donguzashvili of Russia earned the bronze medals.
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Sailing
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Tim Wadlow and Pete Spaulding won the last
of the day's three races and jumped into third place with just more
than half of the 49er schedule sailed.
Wadlow and Spaulding had the best day of any of the 19 crews,
with finishes of eighth, third and first for a total of 50 points
after nine races.
Spain and Ukraine were tied for the lead with 47 points. Four
boats were within nine points of Wadlow and Spaulding.
Also, Brazil's Robert Scheidt sailed closer to his second gold
medal in the Finn class. He finished seventh and third to open a
nine-point lead over Austria's Andreas Geritzer.
In the Europe, Norway's Siren Sundby won two races to open a
20-point lead over Lenka Smidova of the Czech Republic.
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Shooting
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- American Matt Emmons won the gold medal in
the 50-meter prone rifle competition with a score of 703.3.
Christian Lusch of Germany won silver with 702.2, and Sergei
Martynov of Belarus took bronze.
Emmons led all shooters after the qualifying round with a score
of 599, meaning only one of his 60 shots failed to hit the
bull's-eye that is 10.4 millimeters in diameter -- smaller than a
dime. In the final, where shots are measured in fractions of a
point, Emmons shot a 104.3.
Lioubov Galkina of Russia won gold in the 50-meter rifle
three-position event with an Olympic-record score of 688.4.
Valentina Turisini of Italy won silver and Wang Chengyi of China
took bronze.
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Table Tennis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- China's team of Wang Nan and Zhang Yining
won the gold medal in women's doubles table tennis, beating Lee
Eun-sil and Suk Eun-mi of South Korea 11-9, 11-7, 11-6, 11-6.
Guo Yue and Niu Jianfeng of China won the bronze.
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Team Handball
South Korea 34, Iceland 30
Spain 41, Slovenia 28
Greece 26, Brazil 22
France 22, Egypt 21
Hungary 30, Germany 29
Croatia 26, Russia 25
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- South Korean captain Min Chul Park scored
four of his team's first five goals while Iceland finished without
Sigfus Sigurdsson, who was ejected in the 55th minute after
receiving his third two-minute suspension.
Spain routed Slovenia after leading 18-15 at halftime. Spain won
its fourth game of the tournament and will face world champion
Croatia for the top spot in Group A. Slovenia, silver medalist at
the 2004 European Championships, cannot advance.
Greece beat Brazil behind the play of goalkeeper Dimitrios
Kaffatos, who made 11 saves.
Hungary beat Germany, which will play Group B leader France on
Sunday.
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Trampoline
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Anna Dogonadze of Germany won the gold
medal in women's trampoline, scoring 39.60 points from a possible
40 to edge Karen Cockburn of Canada. Huang Shanshan of China took
bronze with 39.00.
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Weightlifting
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Pawina Thongsuk of Thailand, 11 pounds
lighter than most of the other competitors, won the gold in
165-pound (75kg) weightlifting.
Thongsuk and Natalia Zabolotnaia of Russia tied with
world-record total weights of 601 pounds (272.5kg), but all ties
are broken on body weight and this wasn't close. Thongsuk could
have dropped less than a pound and competed Thursday at 152 pounds
(69kg), while Zabolotnaia weighed slightly less than the 163-pound
weight limit.
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Women's Water Polo
Italy 8, Kazakhstan 6
United States 8, Russia 4
Hungary 5, Canada 4
Greece 7, Australia 7, tie
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Australia and the United States, the gold
and silver medalists at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, advanced to the
women's water polo semifinals after finishing atop their brackets.
The world champion Americans, coming off an upset loss to
Canada, got two goals and two assists from Brenda Villa in a match
that determined the No. 1 position in Group B. The Russians placed
second and the Hungarians beat Canada for third place.
Naomi Castle and Kate Gynther scored three goals apiece, and
Australia rallied from down 7-4.
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Women's Basketball
Russia 94, Japan 71
New Zealand 79, China 77
United States 71, Spain 58
Czech Republic 97, South Korea 75
Australia 77, Greece 40
Brazil 82, Nigeria 63
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Challenged for the first time in these
Olympics, the U.S. women's basketball team fought through foul
problems and long stretches of cold shooting to clinch first place
in its preliminary group with a victory over Spain.
The United States had won its first three games in Athens by an
average of 31 points, but nothing came easily against Spain. Lisa
Leslie, Tina Thompson and Yolanda Griffith led a 10-2
fourth-quarter run that put the Americans firmly in control.
Leslie led the United States with 19 points and had 15 in the
first half.
Russia clinched a berth in quarterfinals by dominating
much-smaller Japan inside. Elena Baranova scored 22 points and
Ilona Korstin added 20 for Russia, the 2003 European champions.
Megan Compain hit a foul-line jumper with 0.4 seconds to play
for New Zealand. Zhang Fan's 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left tied
it at 77, but Compain took the ensuing inbounds pass, dribbled
upcourt and hit the game-winner.
Hana Machova scored 28 points -- two more than her total though
the first three games -- and the Czech Republic moved closer to a
quarterfinal berth. It's in, provided China doesn't upset the
unbeaten U.S. team.
Lauren Jackson had 20 points and 12 rebounds to help Australia
remain unbeaten.
Brazil kept its perfect quarterfinal streak intact with a win
over Nigeria. Despite its worst offensive showing of the
tournament, Brazil advanced to the round of eight for the fourth
time in as many Olympic appearances. Brazil finished seventh in its
debut in 1992 and then won the silver medal four years later and
the bronze in Sydney.
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Women's Volleyball
Russia 3, United States 2 (20-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 15-11)
China 3, Germany 0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-16)
Cuba 3, Dominican Republic 0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-23)
South Korea 3, Japan 0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-21)
Brazil 3, Greece 0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-11)
Italy 3, Kenya 0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-14)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Ekaterina Gamova had 28 points and the
match-winning kill to lead powerful Russia to a five-set victory
over the United States.
The Russians clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and will
finish the pool-play portion of the tournament against China on
Sunday.
The Americans must beat three-time defending gold medalist Cuba
to move on. The Cubans clinched a berth in the medal round with a
three-set victory over the Dominican Republic, and China did the
same by sweeping Germany.
Brazil, the tournament's only unbeaten team, sealed a spot in
the quarterfinals with a sweep of Greece. South Korea and Italy
also assured themselves of advancement.
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