Olympic Notes
ATHENS, Greece - Americans Terin Humphrey and Courtney Kupets took the silver and bronze medals on uneven bars, giving the United States its sixth and seventh gymnastics medals of the Athens Olympics.
Emilie Lepennec of France won the gold. Two-time Olympic champion Svetlana Khorkina of Russia fell during her routine and finished last of the eight competitors.
Humphrey and Kupets joined Annia Hatch, who won silver on the vault, as medalists in the event finals. The Americans also won silver medals in both team competitions and golds in both all-arounds.
The seven medals are the most for the United States in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. At the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Games, the Americans won 16.
Kyle Shewfelt won the men's floor exercise, giving Canada its first Olympic gold medal in gymnastics. Marian Dragulescu of Romania was second with the same score as Shewfelt, a 9.787, but tiebreakers dropped him to second. Jordan Jovtchev of Bulgaria won bronze.
Paul Hamm, who became the first U.S. man to win all-around gold Wednesday in what has become a disputed finish, was fifth on floor.
Dimosthenis Tampakos of Greece sent the gym into a frenzy, winning gold on the rings with 9.862 points. Jovtchev took silver with 9.850 points. Five-time world champion Yuri Chechi of Italy won bronze with 9.812.
Monica Rosu of Romania won the gold medal in the vault, followed by Hatch and Anna Pavlova of Russia.
Teng Haibin of China won gold on the pommel horse with a score of 9.837. Marius Daniel Urzica of Romania won silver with 9.825. Takehiro Kashima of Japan won bronze with 9.787.
In a controversy over men's gymnastics scoring, South Korean team leaders met with lawyers to plan an appeal of the all-around gold given to Hamm. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport indicated it won't take the case.
"If it's a dispute related to scoring or judging, it would be very difficult for CAS to review the decision of the gymnastics federation," general secretary Matthieu Reeb said. "As a practice, CAS does not review field-of-play decisions."
Judges failed to give enough points for the parallel bars routine by Yang Tae-young, and he ended up with the bronze. Had it been scored correctly, he would have beaten Hamm for gold.
United States 5, Australia 0Australia 3, Japan 0Japan 1, China 0Lisa Fernandez pitched a three-hitter and Crystl Bustos drove in two runs as the Americans rolled to their eighth shutout in eight days, beating Australia to put them in the gold medal game.Natasha Watley had three more infield hits, Kelly Kretschman homered and the U.S. team (8-0) dominated again. The Americans have won 78 straight games since last July, and have yet to yield a run in the Athens Games.They've outscored their opponents 46-0 while allowing just 14 hits.Reika Utsugi hit an RBI double in the eighth inning and Yukiko Ueno pitched a shutout, giving Japan a win over China. It wasn't sealed until Li Chunxia was thrown out at the plate to end the game.Later, Kerry Wyborn hit a three-run double and Tanya Harding pitched her fourth shutout of the tournament as Australia beat Japan 3-0, setting up a rematch Monday with the United States in the gold medal game.
Spain 88, New Zealand 84Lithuania 100, Australia 85Robertas Javtokas scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Ksistof Lavrinovic added 18 as Lithuania remained unbeaten through five games with a 100-85 victory over Australia.Spain beat New Zealand 88-84 on Monday, knocking the Kiwis out and keeping defending world champion Serbia-Montenegro in medal contention. Carlos Jimenez made two free throws for a four-point lead with 12.4 seconds remaining.
Taiwan 5, Netherlands 1Japan 6, Greece 1Cuba 5, Italy 0Canada 11, Australia 0Japan earned the top seed in the medal round by defeating Greece while Cuba beat Italy to complete group play. The Cubans lost to Japan earlier, the difference in the seedings.Canada routed Australia to earn the No. 3 seed in the semifinals, where it will face Cuba. Australia, which beat Japan 9-4 on Wednesday, will face the Japanese again in the other semifinal.Taiwan beat the Dutch team led by former major league manager Davey Johnson to place fifth.
Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs beat the German pair of Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau 21-17, 21-17 and top-seeded Misty May and Kerri Walsh beat Canadians Guylaine Dumont and Annie Martin, 21-19, 21-14. It will be an all-American final Monday.Stein Metzger and Dax Holdren lost to Swiss pair Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel 21-16, 21-19 in the Olympic quarterfinals, ending U.S. hopes of a third straight gold medal on the men's side.Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won the first Olympic beach tournament in 1996 and Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana won in 2000.
Heavyweight Devin Vargas couldn't land the big punch he needed against Viktar Zuyev of Belarus, dropping a 36-27 decision in the latest in a string of losses for the U.S. boxing team.Vargas would have been guaranteed at least a bronze had he won.Three of the nine U.S. boxers remain in medal contention, and none has an easy road to the semifinal medal round. Middleweight Andre Dirrell and super heavyweight Jason Estrada must beat Cubans to win medals and light heavyweight Andre Ward faces two-time world champion Evgeny Makarenko of Russia.
Seven-time kayaking gold medalist Birgit Fischer of Germany - trying to become the first woman to win Olympic medals 24 years apart - had a strong start. Her four-person kayak never trailed in its 500-meter heat.The American women's K-4 boat finished last in the same five-kayak heat but remains in contention. An Olympic format allows boats finishing outside the top three to enter a semifinal.
World champion Sarah Ulmer of New Zealand continued her dominance in the 3,000-meter pursuit, breaking her own world record to win the gold medal.Ulmer finished in 3:24.537, nearly two seconds faster than her world record set in Friday's qualifying. Australia's Katie Mactier won silver while retiring Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel of the Netherlands got bronze - her sixth and final Olympic medal.
Chantelle Newbery won Australia's first gold medal in diving since 1924, easily holding off China's Lao Lishi and Aussie teammate Loudy Tourky in women's 10-meter platform.American Laura Wilkinson, the defending Olympic champion, was fifth.
