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Cubans dominate boxing U.S. wins basketball gold at Goodwill Games
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- The U.S. men's basketball team won a gold medal at the Goodwill Games on Sunday, while Cuban boxers and Chinese divers kept dominating the competition. But the four biggest individual winners were Russians. Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia won US$120,000 for breaking the world record in the 20-kilometer walk, and weightlifter Valentina Popova won US$81,000 for setting three world records. Ivanova, out of competition for two years because of a drug violation, got a US$100,000 bonus for her track record. Popova got a US$25,000 bonus for each of her snatch, clean-and-jerk and overall records in the 152-pound weightlifting class. Evgeni Plushenko and Irina Slutskaya, who won the men's and women's figure skating titles respectively, each took home US$40,000. Jermaine O'Neal of the Indiana Pacers scored 14 points, and Shawn Marion of the Phoenix Suns added 13 as the U.S. men's basketball team beat Argentina 91-63 in the gold medal game. The Americans used strong defense and capitalized on Argentina's sloppy play and poor shooting, scoring 16 fast-break baskets in the first half. Argentina was scoreless for nine minutes of the first half and trailed 47-20 at the break. "I think that scoreless spell really destroyed their confidence," said coach Flip Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves. "It made them realize we were playing extremely well defensively." The U.S. team, which had to go to overtime to beat Brazil in the semifinals, was more polished against Argentina. "We wanted to come out and play tough defense, and we did," said Marion, who scored 11 first-half points. "They were really frustrated." In the preliminaries, the United States, still unbeaten since its professionals began playing international competitions, defeated Argentina by 30 points. Brazil went into overtime for the second consecutive day, but this time came out with 94-93 win over Australia for the bronze. The Brazilians were tied 90-all with the United States at the end of regulation in Saturday's semifinal before losing 106-98. Heli Garcia made the winning 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left in overtime against Australia. He finished with 25 points. "I was very glad to have made it," Garcia said. "Today our team came to the floor very tired, but we played our hearts out." The 11-man Cuban boxing team, containing four world champions, won nine of the 12 weight divisions. Cuban Damian Martin was knocked to the canvas in the last round but got up and held on to repeat his world championship final win over Marian Simion of Romania 10-9 on points. Cuba won four of the six golds Saturday and added five on Sunday. It was no surprise to Martin. "In Cuba we have prepared for these sort of results with hard work and preparation," he said. "The gold medal is a reflection of that." But he did feel the pressure in a tough bout against Simion. "I was feeling the pressure to win because all the Cubans had won," Martin said. "I think I won the first and the fourth rounds -- I had to win the fourth round." Osvaldo Liranza beat Russia's Georgi Balakshin 25-21 in the 112-pound class; Rencise Perez defeated Sweden's Majid Jelili 18-12 in the 126-pound final; Estonio Gutierrez beat Russian Aidin Gasanov 18-9 in the 140 division; and Yohason Martinez had a 12-5 win over Romania's Grigore Rasco in the 179-pound decider. Russia's Aleksandr Povetkin beat Rustam Saidov of Uzbekistan 22-9 in the over 201-pound kilogram final, the only final Sunday that didn't feature a Cuban. Cuban super heavyweight Pedro Carrion took the bronze with a 14-10 win over Oleskii Mazikin. The Chinese earned all but one of the 10 diving gold medals at the Chandler Aquatic Center. World and Olympic champion Tian Liang led a Chinese 1-2 finish in the men's 10-meter platform with 535.17 points, while compatriot Hu Jia took silver with 494.79. Russia's Igor Lukashin won bronze with 458.79. In the final diving event, Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia won gold in the women's synchronized springboard with 331.08 points. Russian pair Vera Ilyina and Yullya Pakhalina placed second at 317.34, and Ukraine's Anna Sorokina and Olena Zhupina took bronze at 284.16. Russia's Dmitri Sautin won the men's 3-meter springboard Friday to claim the only diving medal that eluded China.
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