OLYMPIC NEWS and exclusive video

Russia wins group rhythmic gymnastics gold

2008-08-24T00:48:00.000-07:00

Russia won their third successive Olympic rhythmic gymnastics group gold with two dynamic and intricately choreographed routines on Sunday.

Their flawless exhibition of agility and dexterity earned them 35.550 points, 0.325 more than surprise silver medalists China. Belarus took the bronze.

"We are simply overwhelmed by emotions," Elena Posevina, who was also part of Russia's 2004 gold-winning team, told a news conference.

"It took a lot of training, it's been a long road. We have yet to fully comprehend the significance of this gold."

While world champions Russia were always expected to win, the real shock was China's classy display to claim silver and become the first non-European team to win a group medal in the discipline.

"The silver medal is unexpected. It means that all our efforts paid off," China's Zhang Shuo said. "This is the most glorious day for rhythmic gymnastics in China."

Russia led after their first routine, an exciting series of jumps and pivots using five ropes to the frenzied beat of one of the best known Russian tunes, "Kalinka", which earned 17.750.

They followed it up with the top score of the day of 17.800 for a beautiful display of synchronized pirouettes and innovative throws of their clubs and hoops.

The victory underlined their dominance in the discipline and followed Russian Evgeniya Kanaeva's gold in the individual all-around event on Saturday.

China drew the biggest cheers of the day, having upset the odds to outclass the likes of Athens silver and bronze medalists Italy (fourth) and Bulgaria (fifth).

The Olympic hosts had finished ninth at the last world championships but sounded a warning to their rivals in Beijing when they qualified in third place for the eight-team final.

They were third after the first routine but then edged ahead of Belarus with a theatrical hoop and club routine to the aptly named "Peking Opera" to capitalize on a mistake by their rivals.

IOC says China Games leave positive legacy

2008-08-24T00:46:00.000-07:00

China basked in the glow of their 50th gold medal and got a clear thumbs-up from International Olympic Committee on the last day of the Games on Sunday.

The IOC brushed aside criticism of its decision to hold the Games in China. It said Olympics could not solve all the world's problems, but argued they had left a positive legacy for China.

The United States was less enthusiastic, pressing for the immediate release of eight Americans detained for staging protests in favor of Tibetan independence during the Games.

"We are disappointed that China has not used the occasion of the Olympics to demonstrate greater tolerance and openness," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement.

On the final day of competition, Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru led an African sweep of marathon medals, lifting his arms in triumph as he accelerated around the Bird's Nest stadium for the last lap.

There was emotion too for the American men's volleyball team, settling a score against Brazil who had beaten their compatriots in the women's final the previous day.

The team's determination to win final-day glory had also been reinforced when the father-in-law of the team's coach was stabbed and killed in Beijing on the first day of the Games.

China celebrated their 50th gold, a surprise win by Zou Shiming in the boxing ring, the first time that landmark had been reached since the Soviet Union got 55 golds in Seoul in 1988.

The hosts plan a closing extravaganza later when they will hand over the Olympic flag to 2012 hosts Britain.

They will be pleased with the IOC's verdict. President Jacques Rogge praised an "impeccable" operation that had set the bar very high for London in 2012.

He said the sporting body could not force change on a sovereign state "or solve all the ills of the world". Nevertheless, the host country had been "scrutinized" by the world and had opened itself up, he said.

"The world learned more about China, and China learned more about the rest of the world. And together, we shared the excitement and drama of the Games," Rogge said.

The government was intending to invest heavily in mass sports to harness popular enthusiasm, he said, while the Games had also promoted a heightened awareness of the environment in China.

Rogge, though, had less to say when confronted with the tale of two women in their seventies, who were sentenced to a year's re-education for applying to stage a protest during the Games.

"The reply we received from authorities was that this was an application of Chinese law," he said. "The IOC is not a sovereign organisation and we have to respect Chinese law."

Beijing's polluted air had been one of the biggest concerns in the run-up, and health concerns led Ethiopian world record holder Haile Gebreselassie to pull out of the men's marathon.

In the end, those fears appeared largely unfounded when the race was held, after the government spent billions to clean the air in recent months and an overnight storm did the rest.

Running under blue skies, Wanjiru crossed himself and sank to his knees after finishing in an Olympic record time of two hours six minutes 32 seconds, looking fresh despite the heat and sealing a fifth gold for his country in athletics.

"I pushed and pushed, I had to, to tire the others," Wanjiru said. "My plan was to push my body to the limits."

Despite their pedigree of distance running and big-city marathon wins, it was Kenya's first Olympic marathon title. Morocco won the silver, Ethiopia the bronze.

The race began in the capital's massive Tiananmen Square, symbol of Communist rule, site of Mao Zedong's mausoleum and of pro-democracy protests in 1989. It ended in the Bird's Nest, symbol of China's modern face.

REDEMPTION FOR U.S. BASKETBALL?

In the other highlights of Day 16, Russia won golds in men's boxing and the women's group rhythmic gymnastics to cement third place in the medals table.

Shiming won light-flyweight boxing for China and said he was "proud to show the strength of the Chinese people with my fist".

Later, the Americans are hoping for redemption in the men's basketball final, with the giants of the NBA expected to beat Spain to win the gold that eluded them at the 2004 Athens Games.

Victory would bring the United States up to 36 golds, level with their table-topping haul in Athens, but way behind China.

With one fifth of the world's population to choose from, China have poured billions into a Soviet-style training system geared to maximizing medal success.

Their new sporting superpower status reflects their emerging global economic might, and China's government feels the $43 billion investment in the Games was money well spent.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former England soccer captain David Beckham will be at the Bird's Nest on Sunday night as the Olympic flag is lowered and passed to the 2012 hosts, a nation delighted over their fourth place in the medals table.

Beckham said in an interview on Saturday that China could be very proud of what they had done in staging the Olympics, but promised London would do even better, "without a doubt".

Bolt vows he'll keep 200m mark

2008-08-24T00:44:00.000-07:00

Sprint star Usain Bolt said his rivals have their work cut out for them if they are aiming to claim his 200 metres world record.

And the 22-year-old, who won three gold medals in world record time in Beijing in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay, insisted there was more to come.

"I don't know how fast I can go. I'm not really worried about that," he said.

"I'm just looking forward to going on and doing better things. I hope to improve every year.

"I'll definitely be going to the London Olympics to defend my title."

Bolt said his win in the 200m, in which he beat American Michael Johnson's 12-year-old record of 19.32 seconds, would stick with him above the others.

"People said the 200m world record would be pretty hard to get. I got it and it's going to be hard to (improve it)," he said.

"The 100m world record will keep going over and over. The 200m will stay with me forever.

"I came out here ready and prepared. When you come to the Olympics, it's the biggest stage. I did my best, the track was great.

"I worked hard to get here. It wasn't an easy road."

The Jamaican, who will go on to compete in the 100m in Zurich, 200m in Lausanne and 100m in Brussels before the end of his season, said it had come as no surprise that world records were broken at the Bird's Nest.

"The track is fast. I said to Asafa (Powell) and my coach (Glen Mills) that anybody who wins is going to break the world record."

Revelling in the moment

Bolt also said the enjoyment factor and his laid-back demeanour were key to his stunning treble gold medal-winning performance.

"A lot of guys came to me and said they've been inspired," Bolt said.

"I said to them 'you have to be relaxed'. We know we're capable of doing it. You've got to enjoy what you do.

"Yes, I guess I've had a little bit of an impact. People have gone out there and enjoyed themselves.

"It's great for the sport," he said, adding: "I wouldn't say I'm a phenomenon, I'm just a great athlete."

Bolt, who set world records of 9.69 and 19.30 seconds to win the men's 100 and 200m, ran the third leg of the Jamaican 4x100m relay squad which won a maiden gold in the event in 37.10 seconds, breaking the United States's 15-year-old record.

"It might change my life, but I won't change," the Jamaican insisted.

"I try and stay relaxed by messing around and not thinking too much about the race.

"I don't allow people to put pressure on me. You might not be focused enough. When I enjoy myself I stay focused.

"I'll still enjoy myself, I'm still young. I'll still train hard. I'll try to keep on top for as long as I can.

"Running is enjoyable. You have to enjoy what you do.

"It's a job for us athletes, it's like working. To not enjoy it, it doesn't make sense.

"I enjoy it, I love it. Sometimes you think about quitting at training because that's hard.

"But it also makes success more great when you work hard for it."

Bolt's outgoing and refreshingly honest outlook has won over fans, pundits and other athletes alike.

His signature Jamaican "To the world" dance performed during his victory laps, ending with him leaning back and pointing two fingers up into the sky, was widely anticipated by the 91,000-crowd at the National Stadium and has even been mimicked by other winning athletes.

- AFP

Mitcham gold spoils Chinese party

2008-08-24T00:43:00.000-07:00

Australia's Matthew Mitcham has snatched gold from Chinese favourite Zhou Luxin on his final dive to win the men's 10 metres platform and deny China a sweep of all eight diving golds at the Beijing Games.

The 20-year-old trailed Zhou through the first five dives and was more than 30 points adrift prior to the final dive.

Zhou, perhaps feeling the weight of a nation's expectations, fluffed his final dive, a reverse three-and-a-half somersault.

World number three Mitcham nailed a sublime back two-and-a-half somersault with two-and-a-half twists, with a 3.8 degree of difficulty, achieving four perfect 10s.

He finished with 537.95 points to claim the gold and Zhou was left with a silver medal with 533.15 points.

"It's going to take a while to sink in," Mitcham said.

"My cheeks hurt from smiling, my face hurts from the chlorine, my legs are sore from jumping up and down.

"I'm in pain and I'm tired, but I'm so happy."

Zhou admitted he had started to become nervous in front of his home crowd.

"At the beginning I wasn't nervous, so I started well," Zhou said.

"The last dive was not as good as I could have done because I started to get nervous."

World champion Gleb Galperin of Russia snagged the bronze with 525.80 points as China's Huo Liang, first after the semi-finals, was shut out of the medals in fourth.

China, with seven titles already in the bag, was trying to become the first country since 1952 to win every diving gold on offer at a Games.

Australia's other competitor Mathew Helm finished in sixth, unable to add to his silver medal in the event in Athens four years ago.

Mitcham has become the first Australian man to win a diving gold medal since 1924.

Mitcham says he is completely surprised by his win.

"I'm going to watch the footage when I get home and I suppose I'll be impressed then because I don't even know how I dived, I don't even know what scores I got," he said.

"Because you just, you're not really in there. In the moment. You're just concentrating on your dive so much."

Wanjiru gives Kenya Olympic marathon gold

2008-08-24T00:41:00.000-07:00

Samuel Wanjiru made it a full house of Olympic titles in middle distance and long distance races for Kenya's men in Beijing on Sunday as he ended their title drought in the marathon and broke the long-standing Olympic record as well.

The 21-year-old timed 2 hours, 6 minutes and 32 seconds, breaking the 24-year-old Olympic record set by Carlos Lopes.

He beat home Morocco's two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib (2:07:16) for the gold while Tsegay Kebede of Ethiopia took the bronze.

Australia's Lee Troop finished in 60th place.

The race came alive at the 20 kilometres mark when five runners split from the leading pack.

The quintet comprised Gharib, two Kenyans in three-time London Marathon winner Martin Lel and Wanjiru, second in this year's London Marathon.

The other two were Eritrean Yonas Kifle and Ethiopia's Deriba Werga, who had timed his personal best at the London Marathon but had been over a minute behind Wanjiru.

Several of the favourites failed to cope with the hot conditions especially defending champion Stefano Baldini of Italy.

The 37-year-old was out of contention early on as the European champion failed to find the spark he had in Athens four years ago and was to finish 12th.

America's hopes of ending on a winning note also died around that time as Ryan Hall, who has impressed since he switched from running the mile, also found nothing when the quintet split.

By the 30km mark, though, the picture had dramtically changed as Wanjiru and Werga upped the pace and Gharib, Lel, who should on form have been able to go with them as he owned the fastest time this year among those running, and Kifle could not find anything.

However, while Lel and Kifle floundered, 36-year-old Gharib drew on all his championship winning experience and somehow managed to reel in the front two setting up what looked sure to be a thrilling climax.

The trio were still intact as they passed the 35km marker with Wanjiru leading them out.

Behind them Kifle had squirmed free of a tiring Lel, who was beginning to look behind him in a sure sign of desperation, but the Eritrean faced a tough task in getting back to the leaders as he was nearly a minute-and-a-half adrift.

Shortly after that Wanjiru went up a gear to test out the other two and found Werga wanting, though, Gharib stuck to him like a limpet.

But even he could not keep up the pace and the young Kenyan had by the time they got to 40km established a clear gap between himself and the Moroccan.

With two kilometres to go as they appeared under the shadow of the stadium the game was clearly up for Gharib, who had an 18-second gap to make up if he were to add Olympic gold to his two world titles.

But Wanjiru was not for cracking and strode to a memorable victory - raising his left arm in celebration upon entering stadium and was still full of running as he rounded off a highly satisfying Games for the Kenyans.

Werga faded so badly that what had looked at one point could be gold turned to nothing as Kebede passed him on the final lap round the track.

-AFP

U.S. beats Japan to claim baseball bronze

2008-08-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

The United States won an 8-4 slugfest over Japan to exit the final Olympic baseball tournament with the bronze medal on Saturday, meeting the Americans' minimum medal requirement.

Shortstop Jason Donald had said that if his team had failed to win a medal, he had considered not returning home.

"Before we came out I said, if I don't win a medal I think I'm going to stay here," said Donald, who contributed a fifth-inning two-run homer to the U.S. cause.

"We did a great job of coming back, we could have easily folded and given the game away but the fortitude of this team is amazing."

After failing to qualify for the Athens Games, the bronze restored a bit of U.S. pride before the sport is dropped from the Olympic programme following the gold medal game between Cuba and South Korea later on Saturday.

While baseball was born in the United States and holds the lofty status as the "national pastime", Americans have enjoyed only modest success on the Olympic diamond.

Since becoming part of the Summer Games in 1992 the U.S. has won just one gold medal (2000) while Cuba has dominated the event, claiming top spot on the podium in 1992, 1996 and 2004.

After falling behind 4-1, U.S. bats suddenly came to life, Matt Brown triggering the rally with a three-run homer. Matt LaPorta also had a solo shot for the Americans.

"Our bats finally woke up," said U.S. manager Davey Johnson. "Our big bat, Matt Brown got the job done."

Bolt wins a third gold for Jamaica in relay

2008-08-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

Usain "Lightning" Bolt powered the Jamaican men to a world record victory in the 100 meters relay on Friday, sealing his place as the dominant track athlete of the Beijing Olympics.

It was the third world record for Bolt, who has stolen the show in the second week of the Games with his dazzling victories in the 100 and 200 meters and his theatrical celebrations.

Bolt gave an assured performance on the third leg of the relay, safely handing the baton to former world record holder Asafa Powell, who powered home in 37.10 seconds, knocking a solid three tenths of a second off the 15-year-old American record.

Just getting round the track safely was a priority for the men after the Jamaican 4x100m women bungled their baton handover to hand gold to Russia and snuff out the Caribbean island's chance of winning all athletic speed events at the Olympics.

Sherone Simpson failed to get the baton across to Kerron Stewart, the woman she shared the 100m silver medal with, and the Russian sprinters seized their chance.

Jamaica had won both women's individual speed events as well as the two individual golds seized by Bolt.

The new men's relay record underlined by how far the Jamaicans have eclipsed the United States, the traditional track superpower, at this Olympics. The American men and women were knocked out of the relay heats by embarrassing baton fumbles.

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba stormed to victory in the 5,000m, becoming the first woman to win both long distance races at the same Olympics. She won the 10,000m a week ago in the second fastest time recorded.

Her great rival and compatriot Meseret Defar was pushed into third by Ethiopian-born Elvan Abeylegesse, who runs for Turkey, who also won silver in the 10,000m.

The anticipated dominance of long distance track running by the Ethiopians should be continued by 10,000m gold medalist Kenenisa Bekele who is aiming for the double in the men's events. The 5,000m is on Saturday, the last full day of competition.

AGE QUESTIONS

China have barely featured in the track events, where they had hoped to score some success to match their medal dominance in sports like table tennis and diving.

Big hope, 110m hurdler Liu Xiang, pulled out of his heat with injury, devastating legions of Chinese fans who had prayed for a repeat of his 2004 win, the country's first track gold.

Concerns have resurfaced over how far China would go to deliver a Games of which the Chinese can be proud.

The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into allegations Chinese authorities falsified the age of a double gold medal winning gymnast because she was too young to compete.

China's He Kexin, who won team gold in artistic gymnastics and an individual title on the asymmetric bars, was registered as being born on January 1, 1992, meeting the rule that gymnasts must at least turn 16 in the year of the Olympics.

There have been persistent media allegations He competed in earlier tournaments under a later birth date. On Thursday an American computer expert said he had uncovered Chinese state documents that proved she was 14 and not 16.

The caption on a photograph published by Chinese state news agency Xinhua last year referred to "13-year-old He Kexin", while China Daily reported in May that she was 14.

An IOC official said the gymnastics federation would look into "discrepancies" over He's age but Games organizers were at pains to stress she had already been cleared to compete.

The age rule was introduced in 1997 to protect gymnast's health, and China's gymnastics coach told a news conference all the team "were in total compliance with the age requirement".

"Since Asian bodies are not the same as Westerners', there have been questions, but there shouldn't be," Chinese head coach Huang Yubin said. A finding is likely to come well after the Games end on Sunday and the intense media focus moves elsewhere.

The eight golds of swimmer Michael Phelps, Bolt's superb sprinting and China's dominance of the medal table have been the stories of the Games.

China now have 46 golds to the 31 won by America. The Chinese say this shows they now have the sporting prowess to match their rising superpower status.

THRILLS AND SPILLS

There were thrills and spills on the BMX track on Friday as the Games' youngest competition produced a thrilling finale.

The BMX competition was introduced at these Games to attract a younger audience. France's Anne-Caroline Chausson won the women's gold after a tight race with Britain's Shanaze Reade, who crashed on the final bend as she tried to regain the lead.

The dreadful week for the American sprinters, in which they failed to win gold for the first time since 1976, prompted a post mortem from the "extremely disappointed" chief of U.S. athletics.

"These are professional athletes who are the best in their field and anybody who ever ran a high school relay cringes when that baton hits the track," Doug Logan said.

The Americans hope for more golds in the men's and women's basketball, with the highly-paid NBA players overwhelming favorites to win the gold they embarrassingly missed in Athens.

Hooker vaults to Olympic gold

2008-08-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

Steve Hooker has won Australia's 12th gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, leaping to victory in the men's pole vault at the Bird's Nest.

Hooker cleared 5.80 and 5.85 metres on his third attempts to secure himself a medal before vaulting into the history books by clearing 5.90m, becoming Australia's first male gold medallist in the field for 60 years.

John Winter won a gold medal for Australia in the men's high jump at the London 1948 Games.

Hooker then added the icing to his gold, breaking the Olympic record with a third attempt at 5.96m, one centimetre higher than American Tim Mack's record from Athens.

The world record is 6.14m, held by Ukrainian Sergey Bubka.

Russian Evgeniy Lukyanenko took the silver and Ukranian Denys Yurchenko finished with the bronze.

Vijender Kumar wins Olympics bronze

2008-08-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

Cuba's Emilio Correa outpointed India's Vijender Kumar 8-5 on Friday to advance to the middleweight final of the Olympic boxing competition.

Britain's James DeGale extended an impressive run by easily outpointing Irishman Darren Sutherland 10-3 on Friday to also reach the final.

"It was a walk in the park for me," DeGale said after outpointing Irishman Darren Sutherland 10-3 to set up a final bout against Correa.

"It was easy," he added. "I'm so fit, four rounds is nothing. I think it's the best I've looked."

DeGale, who had scored the biggest upset so far by ousting Kazakh Bakhtiyar Artayev, the welterweight champion from the 2004 Athens Games, in the previous round, was far too clever for Sutherland.

The Briton stepped up a gear after a cautious start and took control in the third round, displaying superior hand speed and accuracy to move 8-5 up.

Sutherland kept marching forward in the fourth round but his opponent proved an elusive target.

"I had a feeling in my bones," DeGale said. "On my day I can beat anybody in the world and now the weight's perfect, my head's perfect. It's lovely."

DeGale is now a win away from handing Britain their first boxing title since Audley Harrison took super-heavyweight gold in 2000 in Sydney.

Sutherland, who will have to be content with a bronze medal, was not complaining either.

"I'm delighted," he said. "A medal was beyond my wildest dreams. I came here to perform and stay true to my values. I like to get stuck in and fight but unfortunately he didn't want to get involved and he used the tactics that he did."

Sutherland will now turn professional.

"Definitely, this is the last amateur fight," he said. "How can I go home and get myself up for a club fight after an Olympic Games? It's time for a new chapter."

The Irishman, who looked brave but limited against DeGale, said he was looking forward to facing the Briton again, this time in the professional ranks.

"He wouldn't last," Sutherland predicted. "You might say a win is a win but I know who they're going to pay to watch and that's me."

U.S. beat Russia to reach final

2008-08-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

The United States closed in on their fourth straight Olympic women's basketball gold by beating Russia 67-52 to reach the final on Thursday.

Trailing by as many as seven points in the first half, the Americans opened an eight-point lead at the end of three quarters to break Russia's resistance.

The U.S. pulled away in the final period to avenge a shock defeat by the Russians in the semi-finals of the 2006 world championships.

"From top to bottom, one through 12 we're the best," slam-dunking WNBA rookie sensation Candace Parker told Reuters. "We're the deepest. We just reload whenever we come out. We were never nervous. We didn't panic. We took care of business."

Guard Diana Taurasi scored a game-high 21 points for a U.S. team who had won their first six games by an average of more than 43 points. Maria Stepanova top-scored for Russia with 14.

American-born Becky Hammon, whose decision to play for Russia at the Beijing Olympics triggered dismay in the United States, was a non-factor in the game, scoring just three points on one of six shooting.

"I'm still American," said Hammon, who put her hand over her heart during the pre-game playing of the U.S. national anthem. "I love my country.

"When you play the U.S. you can't afford to make mistakes. They've been pounding teams by 35-40 points so we take a moral victory."

The U.S. will face either world champions Australia or Olympic hosts China in Saturday's final. Russia will play for the bronze in the third-place game.

U.S. misery continues in relays

2008-08-21T09:43:00.001-07:00

Tyson Gay's miserable Olympics continued on Thursday when he and U.S. team mate Darvis Patton contrived to drop the baton in their 4x100 meters relay heat.

The U.S. were cruising towards the final and a shot at a 16th gold medal in the event when Patton bore down on Gay for the last changeover, but a mix-up ended with the baton tumbling to the rain-soaked track.

"I don't know what happened," triple world champion Gay told reporters. "The stick was in my hand. I think I felt it hit my hand, but I don't think it was in all the way before I grabbed. It's probably my fault, I take the blame for it."

Gay had also been bidding to make up for his failure to reach the 100m final.

On a night of mishaps in the sprint relay heats, Britain's men, surprise winners in Athens four years ago, were disqualified from heat two after completing their third change outside the box.

Nigeria were also eliminated after dropping the baton in heat one, meaning all three teams on the podium in Athens will take no further part in the event. Trinidad and Tobago won the heat, with Japan second.

The night got worse for the Americans when their women's 4x100m team dropped the baton after a mix-up between the experienced Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams, also on the third handover and also with qualification appearing a formality.

It was an echo of four years ago when Williams was involved in a botched handover with Marion Jones.

"We trained hard, we had great chemistry this time," Williams said. "Things did not go as planned...the stick had a mind of its own."

Edwards said she was "heartbroken".

Jamaica's men and women showed how it was supposed to be done, winning their respective heats with ease. The men's quartet included Asafa Powell but Usain Bolt, winner of the Beijing 100m and 200m in world record times, was rested for the final.

"We were looking forward to running against the Americans in the final because they are one of the best teams out there. But our team is very strong. It would have been hard to beat us," Powell said.

Jamaica sweeps the sprint golds in Beijing

2008-08-21T09:41:00.001-07:00

Jamaica made a clean sweep of Olympic sprint golds on Thursday with victory in the women's 200 meters humbling the United States, the traditional track and field superpower.

The Americans had a nightmare night with both the women and the men dropping their batons during the heats of the 4x100 meter relay to crash out. They also lost the final of women's softball, the first time they have failed to win gold in that event.

The Caribbean island's Veronica Campbell-Brown powered to gold in the 200m, taking a meter's lead by the halfway mark.

The 2004 winner's face was creased with pain but broke into a broad grin at the finish, where she dropped to her knees for a prayer.

American world champion Allyson Felix came second and 100 meter silver medalist Kerron Stewart of Jamaica was third.

The victory will bring more rejoicing to an island already exultant over the two world records and double sprint gold of Usain "Lightning" Bolt. His jawdropping speed has brought superlatives pouring forth from media and commentators.

Jamaica also won the women's 100 meters.

"The Americans have dominated (in the past), but this Olympics has been a Jamaican Olympics," said Stewart.

Bolt, 22 on Thursday, collected his second gold in a rain-soaked ceremony in the Bird's Nest stadium and gave his signature lightning bolt gesture for the cameras.

The head of the International Olympic Committee has questioned the Jamaican's sportsmanship, taking exception to his exuberant celebration of his 100 meter win on Saturday when he pounded his chest even before crossing the finish line.

"I think he should show more respect, shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones. Not making gestures like the one he made," Jacques Rogge said. "He still has to mature."

Jamaican coach and former sprinter Don Quarrie defended Bolt, saying his celebrations were just youthful high spirits, from a man who is "playful, funny, happy".

LITTLE CONSOLATION

The United States have won a major sprint medal at every Games since 1984 and this year's collection of silvers and bronzes will be little consolation.

The failure in the relays, an unexpected loss in the final of the women's water polo to the Netherlands and defeat to Japan in the softball will be salt in the wounds for the Americans.

Softball will not be at the 2012 Games and the U.S. had won every gold on offer since it became an Olympic sport in 1996.

There was a win for the U.S. in the men's 400 meters, where LaShawn Merritt beat defending champion Jeremy Wariner to deliver the seventh straight gold in the event for the Americans.

That will do little to chip at the dominance of China in the medals table. The hosts have a commanding 45 golds to the U.S.'s 27, a lead that China says shows it now has the sporting prowess to match its growing economic might and superpower clout.

In Athens, the U.S. team topped the medals table with 36 golds to China's 32, but the hosts have invested heavily in selecting and training athletes intensively over many years.

"The world has to learn to live with a change of geopolitical nature," the IOC's Rogge said, adding that China's sporting success would last "as long as their sports system lasts".

Americans did enjoy success in women's beach volleyball.

An excited home crowd sheltered from torrential rain as China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie lost to the defending champions, U.S. pair Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, in straight sets.

May-Treanor and Walsh, who have dominated the sport for five years, left the door open to a return in London 2012, but said that might depend on plans to have children.

The rain did not matter to the men's marathon swimmers.

Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden, who was given only a slim chance of survival when diagnosed with leukemia seven years ago, won the 10km swim, one of the most testing Olympic events.

A stem cell transplant and chemotherapy saved van der Weijden's life.

"That makes it extra special," he said. "It proves that even after such an illness you can win gold."

As expected Cuba's Dayron Robles won the 110 meters hurdles in a race that had been promoted as a showdown with Chinese sporting idol and defending champion Liu Xiang. But Liu hobbled out of his heat with an injured foot, devastating Chinese fans.

HORSE DOPE TESTS

Equestrian sports were embarrassed by positive drug tests on four horses that could lead to Norway's Tony Andre Hansen losing his bronze medal.

Four horses tested positive for capsaicin, a banned chili derivative which is sometimes pasted onto horse's forelegs to "hypersensitive" them so they try harder to lift their smarting shins over fences and avoid incurring penalties.

Hansen, on his horse Camiro, was a member of the Norwegian team that won bronze in Monday's team show jumping competition. A decision on his team's medal will come after a B-sample test.

"It is certainly a serious blow to the sport and we are very well aware of the possible implications it can have," said Sven Holmberg, the chairman of the International Equestrian Federation's jumping committee.

Dutch cancer survivor wins gold

2008-08-21T05:26:00.000-07:00

A Dutchman given only a slim chance of survival after being diagnosed with leukemia won one of the Olympics' most grueling events on Thursday, the marathon open-water swim.

Maarten van der Weijden fell ill seven years ago but a stem cell transplant and chemotherapy saved his life.

He battled back to become the world's leading open-water swimmer and timed his surge to perfection to win a sprint finish after a three-man fight for gold in the Games' inaugural 10km men's race, after a contest lasting nearly two hours.

"That makes it extra special," van der Weijden said when asked about his recovery from cancer. "It proves that even after such an illness you can win gold."

Relentless rain descended on Day 13 of the Olympics, but failed to deter walkers, decathletes and bikini-clad women playing out the medals games in beach volleyball.

The rain did not dampen the buzz around Jamaica's Usain "Lightning" Bolt, celebrating his 22nd birthday on Thursday after winning a second sprint gold and setting another world record the night before, in the 200 meters.

The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) questioned the Jamaican's sportsmanship, taking exception to his exuberant celebration of his 100 meter win on Saturday when he pounded his chest even before crossing the finish line.

"I think he should show more respect, shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones. Not making gestures like the one he made," said Jacques Rogge. "He still has to mature."

Jamaican coach and former sprinter Don Quarrie defended Bolt, saying his celebrations were just youthful high spirits, from a man who is "playful, funny, happy".

Former athletes searched for superlatives to describe Bolt.

"It was the most amazing athletic performance I have ever seen in my life," said former U.S. track champion Michael Johnson, who lost his 12-year world record to Bolt.

The finals of women's beach volleyball went ahead in the rain. An excited home crowd sheltered under umbrellas as China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie lost to the defending champions, U.S. pair Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in straight sets.

May-Treanor and Walsh, who have dominated the sport for five years, left the door open to a return in London 2012, but said that might depend on plans to have children.

JAMAICA, U.S. SHOWDOWN

The limelight returns to the Bird's Nest in the evening, and another intriguing showdown between Jamaica's extraordinarily successful sprinters and the United States.

Jamaican women followed Bolt by sweeping the 100m medals and a trio of strong sprinters are looking to add 200m glory at 7:30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EDT). The Americans, the traditional superpower of sprinting, are desperate for at least one gold.

Cuban world record-holder Dayron Robles says he is confident of winning Thursday's 110m hurdles final, which was shaping into one of the high points of the Games but is now deflated by the absence of Chinese favorite Liu Xiang.

A foot injury forced the Olympic champion to limp from the track before his first race, leaving Chinese fans in tears.

"I'm very calm. I'll win the gold medal," said Robles.

The Chinese can at least console themselves with a look at the gold medal table, where they have built up a seemingly unassailable lead of 45 golds to the Americans' 27.

In Athens the U.S. team topped the medals table with 36 golds to China's 32, but the hosts have invested heavily in selecting and training their athletes over many years, an effort that mirrors the nation's growing global economic and political clout.

"The world has to learn to live with a change of geopolitical nature," the IOC's Rogge said, adding that China's sporting success would last "as long as their sports system lasts".

On a packed day of athletics, Americans Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merrit go head-to-head in the 400m on Thursday too.

Later, the women's soccer tournament wraps up with the U.S. team facing Brazil and hoping to repeat their victory against the South Americans in Athens four years ago.

(Reporting by Beijing Olympics bureau; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

U.S. takes beach volleyball gold

2008-08-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

U.S. defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh beat China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie to win the women's Olympic beach volleyball gold medal on Thursday.

The triple world champions screamed, leapt into each other's arms and fell into the sand after Walsh powered down the last spike to become the first team to win two Olympic beach volleyball titles.

"I'm speechless," said May-Treanor after the match.

"This has been Kerri's and my goal since the last ball dropped in Athens. It's been a lot of hard work, a lot of love, a wonderful ride," the 31-year-old added, drenched after playing in a torrential downpour.

May-Treanor and Walsh have not lost a match in more than a year and have never dropped a set at the Olympics, beating Tian and Wang 21-18 21-18 for their second gold.

"We've never defeated a U.S. team in a big final. They're just too strong for us," said Tian. "Hopefully in the next couple of years we can manage to beat them."

They may not get a chance as both May-Treanor and Walsh plan to stop competing to have children after the Games and are not sure they will come back on tour together.

It was still a good day for China, who took their first ever Olympic medals in beach volleyball -- silver for Tian and Wang and bronze earlier for Zhang Xi and Xue Chen.

The Chinese crowd yelled and screamed throughout the match, trying to do Mexican waves with their umbrellas, cheering on both home teams and even trying some beach volleyball on court between the matches.

"It is a great time for Chinese sport. I am honored to have been part of this," said Xue.

Aussie Stingers claim bronze in Beijing

2008-08-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

Australia's women's water polo team has taken the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, beating Hungary in a penalty shoot-out.

The Stingers broke away to a 2-0 lead early, but Hungary responded with five straight goals and led 5-3 at half-time.

Australia equalised at 6-6 late in the third quarter and then again with eight seconds remaining in the match via Rebecca Rippon to force extra time.

The Stingers led twice in extra time, with Hungary making it 9-9 with just 20 seconds left to force the shoot-out, which Australia won 3-2.

Bolt strikes twice to claim sprint double

2008-08-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

Jamaica's Usain "Lightning" Bolt has roared to gold in the 200 metres to become the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win an Olympic sprint double.Bolt charged to a world record time of 19.30 seconds, falling to the floor in joy at the end.

"I'm number one," he mouthed at TV cameras, beating his chest and blowing kisses at the 91,000 crowd in the Bird's Nest.

Bolt had won the 100m there in swashbuckling style at the weekend, also setting a world record.

This time, he again joked on his way to the block, firing an imaginary arrow in the air, but looked deadly serious as he opened up a big gap and steamed through the finishing line to beat American Michael Johnson's 1996 record by 0.2 of a second.

"Superman 2 - incredible," said American Johnson on BBC TV.

"Incredible performance by Usain Bolt once again. He finished up in an incredible time. This was an incredible performance, he wanted that record. Congratulations Usain Bolt.

"He got an incredible start. I looked at his start and just went wow. It was more amazing than the 100 metres... guys that tall should not be able to start like that.

"This is his favourite event, he went for it, he came in focused on it, knowing he would most likely win the gold.

"My concern was he would not have the ability to hold that speed for the entire race but he showed he has been working on that.

"He used every ounce of energy, he wanted that record."

Nine men have now won the double sprint in Olympic history.

Bolt, who turns 22 on August 21, had "Happy Birthday" played to him over the stadium loudspeakers some 90 minutes early as he danced around the track on a victory lap.

He has established himself as the joint hero of the Games along with American swimmer Michael Phelps, who took an unprecedented eight golds.

Just as Phelps's exploits in the Water Cube have thrilled Americans, so Bolt has swelled national pride across his Caribbean homeland.

The lanky runner started sprinting only when a school cricket coach noticed his speed as a fast bowler.

-Reuters

Boomers, Spirit, Mottram play second fiddle to Bolt

2008-08-19T18:41:00.001-07:00

Australia's women's softball and men's basketball teams face important matches in Beijing today, but both are likely to be overshadowed by Usain Bolt's attempt to secure the sprint double.

Bolt won the 100m gold in a stunning world record time of 9.69 seconds earlier in the meet and has qualified with ease for the final of the 200m.

That race is scheduled for just after midnight tonight, AEST.

"I like to enjoy what I do," said the lanky Bolt, who breezed through his 200m semi-final, playing up to TV cameras and taking a look round at competitors during the race.

"You can't be too serious in your job."

Bolt, who runs the 200m final the day before his 22nd birthday, faces a tough challenge though to beat Michael Johnson's 12-year-old world record of 19.32 seconds.

The Jamaican's best is 19.67. If he wins the race he will be the first man to win the 100m-200m sprint double since American Carl Lewis in 1984.

Crunch time for Spirit, Boomers

Aussie Spirit pitcher Melanie Roche says there's a positive feeling in the Australian camp ahead of this afternoon's softball semi-final against Canada.

"We've just got the mongrel in us at the moment and we've just got to take that mongrel feeling into the big games," Roche said.

Boomers forward Matt Nielsen says his side will be ready for its biggest challenge of the Olympics when it takes on the US Dream Team in tonight's men's basketball quarter-final.

"We feel confident, we feel pretty confident of where we're at right now," Nielsen said.

"We're in good form, and we're going to have a crack at the big dogs. That is what it is and we're fine with that."

Elsewhere today, Craig Mottram runs in the heats of the 5,000 metres tonight, while fellow Australian Steve Hooker will compete in the qualifying round for the men's pole vault.

They will be hoping to draw inspiration from the efforts of Sally McLellan, who won Australia's first athletics medal with silver in the 100m hurdles last night.

In early action, Melissa Gorman will compete in the women's 10km open water race, at event being held for the first time at an Olympics.

Semi-finals will also be held in the flat water canoe and kayak events at the Shunyi Olympic Park.

- ABC/Reuters

Snowsill storms to triathlon gold

2008-08-19T05:22:00.002-07:00

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

Video - Snowsill eases to triathlon gold

Emma Snowsill claimed triathlon gold for Australia as she stormed to victory in Beijing on Monday.

The Commonwealth Games champion, 27, broke clear at the start of the 10k run and never looked like being caught as she won in one hour and 58.27 seconds.

Portugal's Vanessa Fernandes won silver and Australian Emma Moffatt the bronze.

British world champion Helen Tucker came 21st while Hollie Avil, who has been struggling with a stomach bug, withdrew during the 40k bike ride.

Tucker had been in contention at the changeover from bike to run, having been in the lead group for much of the race.

But Snowsill stormed clear and another breakaway group formed and Tucker struggled to match the pace.

To come from a nation that's so strong in terms of triathlon, it's a fantastic feeling to finally bring home a gold medal
Emma Snowsill

The Welsh triathlete finished more than four minutes behind Snowsill but Avil, the 18-year-old national champion, could not finish the race because of the after effects of an illness at the weekend, which left her unable to eat.

"I have always told myself I would never not finish a race and it's hard to describe how I feel having to pull out," she said.

"When I was on the bike I was sick and every time I took on fluids I was sick again.

"But my aim has always been to compete at London 2012 and I've gained so much experience."

An eight-bike pile-up at the end of lap five dashed the hopes of Canada's Laura Groves and Russian Irina Abysova as riders careered over the barrier and into each other at the hairpin stadium turn.

But Snowsill powered on to victory and made up for the pain of missing out on selection for the team to compete at the last Olympics in Athens four years ago.

Hollie Avil
Avil completed the swimming leg before sickness struck

"I feel very proud and honoured to be an Australian with a gold medal around my neck at the Olympic Games," Snowsill said.

"I believe we came so close in Sydney and Athens that this makes up for those very close defeats.

"I don't feel any regret about not going to Athens, you move on and you deal with it.

"But to come from a nation that's so strong in terms of triathlon, it's a fantastic feeling to finally bring home a gold medal."

Tucker was hoping to add an Olympic medal to her World Championship win earlier this year.

But the 24-year-old from Bridgend suffered heartbreak in Beijing as she finished four-and-a-half minutes behind champion Snowsill.

"I'm a bit gutted but my legs didn't feel great," admitted Tucker.

"I didn't feel awesome on the bike but I stayed in a good position but I didn't have any legs when it came to the run, it felt hard.

"I know I should do better than that but I've had an awesome year so I can't really complain.

"This experience here in Beijing really makes me want to succeed at the London Olympics in 2012."

Frodeno claims gold as Brits fade

2008-08-19T05:22:00.001-07:00

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

Video - Frodeno sneaks triathlon gold

A well-timed sprint from Jan Frodeno gave the German gold in a thrilling men's triathlon race on Tuesday.

He went clear with 50m to go to finish ahead of Canada's Simon Whitfield and New Zealand's Bevan Docherty, clocking one hour 48:53 seconds.

Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee had been among the leading group for much of the run before fading to 12th place.

Fellow Brit Will Clarke was two places behind Brownlee with Tim Don, suffering from a virus, failed to finish.

Don, who had hoped to among the medals in Beijing, was struggling with illness in the build-up to the race and withdrew early.

Whitfield looked to have time his sprint finish to perfection, breaking from a group that included Frodeno, Docherty and pre-race favourite Javier Gomez of Spain.

OLYMPICS BLOG

Don spent Thursday and Friday watching the contents of his stomach come back past his teeth

BBC Sport's Tom Fordyce at Ming Tombs Reservoir, Beijing

But Frodeno stuck with him and, with just 50m to the line, had the legs to out-sprint the Canadian to claim the gold.

"My advantage was that I wasn't one of the big favourites. They had all the media attention," said Frodeno.

"I knew this was going to be a tough race, the 10 km run was going to be the hardest of my life, but I just realised this is what I have been dreaming of, this is my only chance," he added.

Alistair Brownlee finished in a creditable 12th place

It was a fitting end to a fantastic race in which Brit Brownlee more than played his part.

The 20-year-old set the agenda on the 40km bike ride after a hugely impressive swim and looked in contention for a medal as he initially formed a six-man breakaway group in the 10km run.

But he just did not have the legs to keep up with the experienced Frodeno, Whitfield, Docherty, Gomez and Ivan Rana, falling off the pace before crossing the line 86 seconds behind the winner.

"I got to 7km on the run and there was nothing left," said Brownlee. "I've got to find a way of getting 12 places better in time for London."

Clarke was always playing catch-up after a disappointing 1.5km swim in a race which was competed in blistering heat.

"I just didn't do it on the swim," he said. "I wasn't fast enough so I had to do too much on the bike and that meant I came to the run tired. I have to go back and do lots of work on my swimming."

Britain's cycling success - is it cricket?

2008-08-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong, I'll never tire of hearing the national anthem at an Olympic venue, as the Union Flag begins its journey up into the heavens.

But that's five times God's Saved the Queen at the Laoshan velodrome so far and as I watched the Australian film crew trudge off disconsolately on Monday night, there was a small part of me (OK a very small part), which felt a little embarrassed.

Or should we bask in the glory of it all - in the knowledge that it can't last forever.

Denmark's team leader, Jesper Worre, was full of praise for his British counterparts, despite watching Bradley Wiggins and the crew thump his boys in the team pursuit.

But he did raise an interesting point, when I asked him if he had a problem with Britain's dominance on the track.

"No, that's what sport is all about," he told me, "But I do think it could be bad for track cycling if it gets worse than this. One or two medals each race could be bad. I think interest could fall.

"We have a World Cup in Copenhagen in two years time, and if one country is too dominant, it could decrease interest maybe."

Britain are the new Chelsea of the cycling world - with lottery cash in place of Russian roubles.

And again I stress that Worre wasn't moaning, only stating the facts, when he said: "In Denmark, we only have money to try to make success in the team pursuit. That went well, but we were still beaten by seven seconds. They are number one by far. The funding is too far ahead for almost all nations. I think nobody can match the funding."

It may not surprise you to know that Dave Brailsford, British Cycling's performance director, doesn't agree.

"It certainly doesn't get monotonous for me, I can tell you. It's a very British thing to worry are we winning too much. It doesn't fit into my vocabulary, I can tell you, and we'll keep on going. That's what I'm paid for, to win Olympic medals," he said.

And let's not lose sight of the main reason why Britain's cyclists are, in the words of Worre, "like animals on the track". Who else has got riders of the calibre of Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins, and the rest?

I'll be back there on Tuesday, hoping to hear that same anthem another three times, safe in the knowledge that interest in track cycling, in Britain at least, has never been higher.

China's medal haul dulls pain of Liu exit

2008-08-19T05:18:00.000-07:00

China's seemingly unassailable medal haul and cleanest air in a decade helped dull the host nation's pain on Tuesday over the injury to track idol Liu Xiang.

In Day 11 sports, Germany's Jan Frodeno, a man who only took up triathlon to impress a girl, won the swim-bike-run endurance test on a hot day in Beijing.

The United States and Britain, second and third in the medal table, grabbed another gold apiece in sailing.

Chinese leaders and people alike showered injured Olympics 100m hurdles champion Liu with get-well messages a day after he limped forlornly off the track, depriving the hosts of what they hoped might be their greatest single moment of glory.

Liu, who along with basketball player Yao Ming is China's most idolized sportsman, put a brave face on.

"When I was warming up, I felt my foot was no good," he said, promising not to quit. "There'll be opportunities next year ... I'm still in peak condition. I need to be optimistic."

Liu took gold in Athens in 2004, becoming the first man to win a track-and-field event for China and transforming himself into a national symbol and multi-millionaire.

His -- and China's -- great dream was to repeat the feat at home. But local fans who openly wept at Liu's exit were cheered by a glance at the medal table.

Finally reaping the benefits of their 1.3 billion population and a Soviet-style training system, China have 39 golds, seven more than their total haul in Athens, when they came second.

"There is basically no worry about top spot," state news agency Xinhua said.

Chinese fans are loving it -- one man even cycled more than 1,300km (800 miles) to tow his 98-year-old grandmother to the Games in a pedicab.

Traditional Olympics table-toppers the United States, whose only serious rival in the past was the Soviet Union, have a less-than-expected 24 golds. Britain follow with 13.

Further cheering the Chinese national mood, environmental authorities said on Tuesday Beijing had enjoyed its cleanest air in 10 years this month. Officials pledged not to let air quality slide again once the Games were over.

CHAMPAGNE MOMENTS

China took drastic efforts, including shutting factories and taking several million cars off the road, to improve air quality before the Games. And despite fears ahead of competing, no athletes have yet raised serious concerns during events.

China's post-Olympics challenge is to keep pro-environment policies while maintaining the near double-digit growth rates that have made it an emerging global economic superpower.

"We will take some new measures to ensure that air quality will reach a new level after the Olympic Games," environmental official Du Shaozhong said on another sunny day in Beijing.

One man whose lungs definitely were not affected by Beijing's summer heat, or any lingering smog, was Germany's Frodeno.

"It was a moment I had dreamed of so many times in my head," said the former swimmer and lifeguard after his triathlon win. "During the race I told myself: 'Boy, be greedy -- it's champagne or fizzy water'."

Britain's latest gold came from Paul Goodison who made up for disappointment in Athens, where he nearly quit, by winning the sailing Laser title in Qingdao, on China's east coast.

Britain's 13 golds is already its best performance since 1920 and could not be better-timed with the 2012 Olympics taking place in London.

Experts attribute British success, which has come chiefly in cycling, rowing, sailing and swimming, to a decade of heavy investment in facilities, much of it from a national lottery.

"We can rule the waves again," Britain's top-selling Sun said, catching the wave of patriotism.

Though the "beautiful game" has long played second fiddle to other sports at the Olympics, a mouth-watering semi-final on Tuesday night between soccer superpowers Argentina and Brazil has excited fans around the world.

Brazil have won five World Cups but never an Olympic gold.

China is looking for more golds in diving and gymnastics on Tuesday, and Jamaica's Usain "Lightning" Bolt is back in action in the Bird's Nest venue for a 200 meters semi-final.

After his showboating win in the blue riband 100m, Bolt wants the first sprint double gold since Carl Lewis in 1984.

Gymnastics fans still had calculators out to decipher how American Nastia Liukin came second to China's He Kexin on Monday.

The pair had an identical score of 16.725 but a convoluted tiebreak system -- involving an A jury of two judges, a B jury of six judges, elimination of highest and lowest marks, then averaging and various deductions -- gave it to He.

"That makes no sense," commented Bela Karolyi, who once coached Romanian champion Nadia Comaneci.

Chinese authorities are delighted the pre-Olympics focus on human rights and pollution has died down. They have set aside "protest parks" for would-be demonstrators but have not yet approved any of the 77 applications lodged to use them.

The only noise there to trouble official ears is the birds.

(Reporting by Beijing Olympics bureau; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Johnson finally gets gold on beam

2008-08-19T05:16:00.000-07:00

Shawn Johnson outshone rivals Nastia Liukin and Cheng Fei with her deft footwork on the balance beam to finally strike gold at the Olympics gymnastics competition on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old had been expected to go home with a stash of gold medals after picking up three titles at the world championships in 2007. But she had to wait until the final day of the competition to make her mark at the Games, with a score of 16.225.

She edged out fellow American and all-round champion Liukin by 0.200 of a point, while Cheng collected bronze with 15.950.

China's Li Shanshan had been tipped for the title but she was one of two finalists to fall off the wood and finished sixth.

Meares takes Olympics sprint silver

2008-08-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

Australia's Anna Meares has finished with the silver medal in the women's sprint at the Beijing Olympics.

Meares was no match for Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton in the final, going down 2-0.

Her silver medal is one better than her third place in the sprint in 2004, and is Australia's only cycling track medal of the Games.

Her feat means Australia has avoided equalling an unwanted national record.

The last time Australia went home without a track cycling medal from the Games was at Moscow in 1980.

The Aussies were the kings of the velodrome in 2004, topping the table with five gold and nine in total, but since then have been playing catch-up to the dominant British team.

Meares's feat in making the final comes only seven months after she returned home from a World Cup race in a wheelchair following a crash which almost left her permanently paralysed.

As well as winning sprint bronze in Athens, she is also the champion in the now defunct Olympic event of the 500 metre time trial.

The 27-year-old Pendleton is the first British woman to win Olympic gold in track cycling's blue riband event.

Pendleton competed in Athens, where she came away with a ninth place in the sprint and a sixth place in the time trial, won by Meares.

Guo Shuang picked up the bronze, China's first track cycling medal of the Games, and just the second in Olympic history, following Jiang Yonghua's silver medal from the women's 500m time trial in Athens.

Guo had battled Meares for a place in the final and beat the Australian 2-1.

However Guo was disqualified by the race jury for entering Meares's lane as they rounded the final bend in the decider.

She went on to win bronze by dominating Willy Kanis of the Netherlands over two legs.

-ABC/AFP

10 ways Britain changed over the weekend

2008-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

The weekend's goldrush in Beijing has left the British in an unusual position - celebrating real sporting success. And some things will never be the same again.

There have been few Monday mornings like it.

The British have returned to work basking in the glow of a rare sporting success story - winning more Olympics medals in one weekend than it did in three separate decades last century.

On Monday morning, Great Britain lay a heady third in the medals behind those two sporting juggernauts China and the US - and ahead of other powerhouses such as Australia, Germany and Japan.

For a national psyche more attuned to glorious defeat than destroying the opposition, this is uncharted territory indeed. We're already a different country to what we were on Friday afternoon.

1. Most gratifyingly, we can start to talk to Australians about sport on their level. Even if they did overtake us in the medals table for a few hours on Monday morning, your average sport-obsessed Aussie might stop looking down his nose. Just don't expect it to be a courteous exchange. British-born Australian DJ Jono Coleman says the Aussies aren't about to suddenly respect their colonial overlords. Instead they joke that all the British medals come in "sitting down sports" like rowing and cycling. And they also claim credit for Australian coaches behind British success. But underneath the bravado they are scared. "If Team GB remains ahead of Australia come the end of the Olympics, there will be renewed enthusiasm for an Australian republic and they will take the Queen's head off the stamps."

Remember this?

2. Suddenly football is an also-ran. It might be our national sport, but any headlines about the English Premier League kick-off at the weekend were eclipsed by talk of lightweight double sculling and finn class sailing. After a thrilling Euro 2008 in which all British representation was absent, England's 20 top soccer teams are playing second fiddle to Team GB.

3. A pretty dismal summer, with the gloom of the economic crisis matched only by the grey skies, looks a tad brighter, thanks to a new feel-good factor sparked by all those gold medals. "Watching their celebrations, watching how great it makes them feel, that transfers on to us as well and we feel part of it," says life coach Jeremy Milnes. "When we listen to the commentaries, it's the GB Team and how well we are doing and that use of language draws us into it and makes us feel part of it," says Milnes, whose enthusiasm alone sounds like a pre-match pep talk. "That transfer of emotion makes us feel great."

4. Everyone can say Yngling. This is the class in sailing in which the women's trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson repeated their success in Athens and won gold.

5. The Union Flag is back, partly because of an International Olympic Committee ruling which bans spectators carrying the flags of Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and any other nations not competing in the Games. So is a Union Jack renaissance in the UK on the horizon? "I suspect it will be a temporary thing, it's not going to substantially affect a nationalist movement in Scotland or Wales," says Ian Sumner at the Flag Institute.

This might be a good time to push out our chest and lift our head above the barriers

Professor Leo Hendry

6. Forget glorious defeat, that's all in the past. Suddenly the images of those ultimately doomed penalty shootouts and Tim Henman never getting to a Wimbledon final seem a long time ago. And if the medals fire up a renewed enthusiasm for London 2012, perhaps the memory of the Millennium Dome fiasco, the opening of Terminal 5 and other grand projects mismanaged will soon be consigned to history as well. For a moment, let's forget characteristic British modesty says Professor Leo Hendry. "This might be a good time to push out our chest and lift our head above the barriers."

7. Mansfield is on the map again. Lord Byron once lived nearby, and now there's another famous name associated with it - Rebecca Adlington, double-gold medal winning swimmer.

8. Injury misery for Paula Radcliffe no longer plunges the nation into sporting despair. If we need any reminders how we felt when the marathon runner, who finished in 23rd place in Beijing, broke down in Athens, think how the Chinese are feeling having seen the nation's golden boy Liu Xiang limp out of the hurdles. One newsreader was apparently in tears telling the nation the news.

9. Lottery cash suddenly looks like money well spent. There was even a British gymnast winning a medal. Louis Smith was the first Briton on the podium in 80 years.

10. We're all about to become BMX fans. With a dozen golds under out belts, the nation is thirsty for more and among our brightest prospects over the coming days is British BMX world champion Shanaze Reade. Those who might have scoffed at the notion of including stunt cycling for the first time in the programme for the world's greatest sports event are busy devouring their words.

Add your comments on this story, using the form below.

Wouldn't it be lovely if the image of Britain currently encapsulated by boozy and chemical hedonism and being obsessed by making short-term financial gains were replaced by the image of glorious, world-beating performances, the resulting natural highs and a determination to be and stay brilliant shown by some of our Olympians?
Matthew, Southampton, Great Britain

'If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two imposters just the same...' No longer the nation's favourite poem? Just a thought.
Teresa, Sussex

For all these decades where we Aussies have heaped derision on you poms' sporting mishaps, inwardly, at least I have felt somewhat sorry for all of you. What's wrong with all of you, I've thought. With your recent excursion to the top of the tables, I can't help feeling your joy. After all, it's only temporary, so you might as well enjoy the view whilst you're there. And, we Australians are not afraid. That's un-Australian.
Roger, Melbourne, Australia

I'd sooner want to see England competing and not winning, than 'Great Britain' competing at all.
Tom, Yorkshire

Nice, but not exactly earth-shattering. Things have come to a pretty pass where 'Britain' is on cloud nine over sports we've previously never heard of, and won't be giving the time of day once the Olympics have finished. If was athletics then we'd really have something to shout about.
Sportsfan, London

Having watched some of the Olympics for the first time this weekend I felt completely opposed to the sentiments expressed in this article. Rather I remember when the Olympics was about amateur sporting endeavour rather than tax-payer funded 'full-time' athletes in minor sports cynically racking up the medal count like former communist countries. Spare a thought for those true amateur athletes from less privileged countries no longer able to compete with the lucky few. Other than five to ten minutes of so-called glory on television I can't help feeling the money would have been better spent on saving or investing in school sports facilities, and letting adult sports find funding commensurate with their commercial popularity. Continually hearing the words 'Team Great Britain' rather than make me proud, was just a reminder that big spending centralised government has been mis-directing scarce tax payers resources in a bid to temporarily buy our happiness whilst also playing up the Union.
Stephen, London

As an expat living here in Oz for 14 years, I have found myself actually looking for the Brits in the various Olympic events with a feeling of optimism instead of impending doom! Go GB (and of course, "Come on Ozzie, Come on", if no Brit available!"
Lee, Perth, Western Australia

What a fantastic weekend of sport. Not only are the Brits winning golds, but there is a noticeably change in mentality of the Team GB. We no longer wish only to compete and 'experience' an Olympics, we want to win, win WIN!!! Just look at the pain on the women's faces of the quadruple skulls at coming second! I think we should keep up the momentum, once again be proud in our nation and start a resurgence in raising the Union Jack. This would make a great campaign leading into the London games.
Stephen Lowdon, North Yorkshire

We recently returned from watching the World Baton-Twirling championships in Limerick, Ireland, I am certainly supportive of the campaign to include it as an Olympic sport. The athletes and level of sportsmanship we witnessed there was inspirational and deserves recognition. Give the 'modern' events (including BMXing)a chance!
Angela Stock, London UK

"Sitting down sports"? Those Aussies had better be careful, the bulk of their medals come from "lying down, floating in water sports!". It just goes to confirm the old adage that the world's most sporty nation remains the least sporting. Fantastic effort by the whole of team GB... pity that the ever political Alec Salmond wants hive off the Scottish medallists for his own party political celebrations when they get home.
Anglophone, Wells

China's Chen wins men's rings gold

2008-08-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

China's Chen Yibing gave a flawless display of strength and control to win the men's rings title at the Olympics on Monday, underlining the hosts' dominance of the gymnastics at the Games.
The double world champion kept his cool and the rings still to score 16.600, beating team mate and all-round champion Yang Wei by 0.175. Ukraine's Oleksandr Vorobiov grabbed the bronze.

Bulgarian Jordan Jovtchev, the 2004 silver medalist and second best qualifier, had trouble holding his final handstand and hopped forward on his landing to finish last of the eight gymnasts.

It was China's sixth gymnastics gold medal in Beijing, their best haul from the sport at an Olympics.

China loses main chance for track glory

2008-08-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

China lost its main hope for a track gold on Monday when 110 meters hurdles Olympic champion and national hero Liu Xiang pulled out injured from the Games.

His painful departure in front of shocked fans at the Bird's Nest stadium took the gloss off an otherwise magnificent Games for China, who lead with 35 golds on Day Ten and look untouchable even by perennial medal-league winners the United States.

They have 19 gold medals.

After a false start in his first-round heat, Liu, whose face adorns billboards across China, clutched his leg and walked off the track. Fans in Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium looked stunned and volunteers were seen openly weeping.

"Liu was very, very upset," said China's athletics head coach Feng Shuyong of Liu's hamstring injury. "He would not have withdrawn unless the pain was intolerable."

Along with NBA basketball player Yao Ming, the 25-year-old Liu is China's best-known sportsman.

He became his country's first male Olympic track champion in Athens 2004 and was China's best chance for an athletics gold in Beijing though he faced a stiff rival in Cuba's Dayron Robles.

Such was the weight of national expectation on Liu that he had not even been allowed to drive a car for fear of injury in a carefully-closeted buildup to the Beijing Games.

The son of a Shanghai truck-driver, Liu was initially selected at age seven as a future high jumper on the basis of bone measurements, but later took to hurdling and became an overnight star and multi-millionaire with gold in 2004.

Chinese fans were upset but sympathetic.

"I am extremely disappointed and I think he may have wanted to win too much and could have caved under the pressure," said 27-year-old He Sheng, who came from a southern province with just one Olympics ticket to see Liu race in Monday's heat.

College student Hu Xinliang, 21, said China had imposed too big a burden of hope on Liu. "He is now free," he said.

Before Liu's event, Usain Bolt breezed through a 200 meters heat in his quest to be the first man to win the Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1984.

The showboating Jamaican won the blue riband 100 meters final at the weekend, smashing the world record to join record-breaking American swimmer Michael Phelps as the 2008 Olympics poster-boys.

Mugging for cameras on his way to the block and wearing new golden shoes with "Beijing 200m" on them, Bolt barely broke sweat as he strode through his 200m heat, clearly keeping some juice in the tank for Wednesday's final as he slowed to cross second.

JAMAICAN JOY

The 21-year-old's performances, including his astonishing 100m final win when he pumped his chest in joy before crossing the line, have injected some much-needed glamour into athletics and brought celebrations across his Caribbean homeland.

Jamaica's women also took a clean sweep of medals in the women's 100m on Sunday night.

So what makes the land of laid-back reggae so speedy too?

"It's part of the natural ability of Jamaicans, I don't know, maybe it's in the water," Sports Minister Olivia Grange said.

It is China, though, slowly emerging as the new superpower of sport -- perhaps an inevitable trend given that the 1.3 billion population represent a fifth of humanity and a formidable Soviet-style sports system is geared to maximizing medals.

Since World War Two, only the United States and the Soviet Union have topped final Games medals tables.

But in the last Games in Athens, China came second, taking 32 golds to America's 36. This time, the hosts should go one better, even though the Americans can make ground in track-and-field.

That might usher in a new era of Chinese Olympics dominance to match Beijing's emerging global economic superpower status.

State news agency Xinhua said China's dominance of the Games reflected the traditional "host effect" of the Olympics, while a senior Chinese team official cautioned their medals haul would probably slow down in the second half of the Games.

Apart from China and the U.S., Britain are the only other country to have reached double figures in Beijing so far thanks to a strong showing in rowing, cycling, sailing and -- more surprisingly -- swimming.

The 2012 Olympics hosts have 11 golds and are on course for the best total since they first organized the Games in 1908. British media are already calling it "The Great Haul of China".

The first gold on Monday went to Australia when Emma Snowsill won the women's triathlon by over a minute, having time to collect a flag and slap hands with spectators before finishing.

"It's a fantastic feeling," she said.

Swimming phenomenon Phelps was finally resting on Monday after writing a new page in sports history with his record eight golds at one Olympics. That took him past fellow swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 feat.

Phelps, who howled in protest at his first swimming lesson when a child because he did not want to get his face wet, is the most successful Olympian of all time.

(Editing by Jon Bramley)

Snowsill turns tragedy into triumph

2008-08-18T05:22:00.001-07:00

Australia's Olympic triathlon champion Emma Snowsill says she poured her "heart and soul" into the sport after being struck by tragedy early in her career.

Snowsill was just 19 when her boyfriend and fellow triathlete Luke Harrop was killed in a hit-and-run accident while bike training on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Several years later, and wearing Australia's first triathlon gold medal in Beijing, Snowsill said the loss had made her realise how lucky she was just to be alive and competing.

"Lessons learned through life are there not necessarily for good or bad reasons, you just have to take them as they are and move on," she reflected.

"I think triathlon is a passion. I've really put my heart and soul into it and every ounce of energy, so I'm very lucky to be able to do that and to be here."

More shocks were to come for Snowsill, who missed Australia's 2004 Olympic team despite winning the first of three world titles a year earlier.

Last year she was staggered to be diagnosed with asthma, raising concerns about her ability to compete in Beijing's notorious smog.

"Everybody has a personal story. I think everybody deals with it in different ways," she said.

"Definitely I can only look forward to tomorrow. You can't change the past, you can only take control of the moment now and the foreseeable future."

The 27-year-old Commonwealth champion ran a blistering road race in clear but hot conditions to seal the title by more than a minute from Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal.

Snowsill's father Garry praised his daughter's hard work, and said she had to make big sacrifices to win gold.

"It's her life, she trains six hours a day, six days a week minimum," he said.

"And you can get a pretty good idea by just looking at her web site, because it shows some of her training programs. She sacrifices a lot."

-ABC/AFP

Double gold for Australia in 470 sailing

2008-08-18T05:21:00.001-07:00

Women's pair Tessa Parkinson and Elise Rechichi have delivered Australia its second sailing gold medal of the day with victory in the 470 class at Qingdao.

Parkinson and Rechichi, the youngest members of Australia's sailing team, made it an Australian sweep of the 470 class after men's pair Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page won their medal race earlier in the day.

The Australian girls took a huge lead into the medal race over their nearest rivals, Dutch pair Marcelien de Koning and Lobke Berkhout.

De Koning and Berkhout won silver and Brazil's Fernanda Oliveira and Isabel Swan claimed bronze.

The only way Parkinson and Rechichi could have lost their grip on gold was if they finished last in the final race and the Dutch pair claimed victory.

But the Brazilian pair won the final race to guarantee Australia gold after they coasted home to finish ninth.

The Australian pair got their medal race tactics right by herding the Dutch out wide on the course in the early skirmishes, relegating their rivals to last at the first mark.

The Dutch were forced to play catch-up and although they steadily worked their way past some stragglers, their chance of gold had gone.

Rechichi said they planned to hook up with Wilmot and Page and party.

"When we crossed the finish line we were screaming and crying and shouting. We're so stunned we cannot stop laughing," she said.

"We're very excited. we're going to the find the boys (Wilmot and Page) and our families and we'll go party."

Parkinson and Rechichi's gold handed Australia its third gold medal on day 10, together with the men's 470 gold and Emma Snowsill's triathlon gold medal.

The women's win took Australia's gold medal tally to 11 so far in Beijing.

Men's gold

Wilmot and Page went into the race with the gold virtually guaranteed, needing only to complete the course as they entered sitting in first place on 42 points, 22 ahead of nearest rival the Netherlands.

The pair held such an advantage after their 10-race opening series that they only had to make a genuine attempt to start the medal race to be assured of gold under racing rules.

They won the title in style, though, taking out the medal race.

Britain's Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield won silver and France's Nicolas Charbonnier and Olivier Bausset took bronze.

Wilmot, 28, and Page, 36, announced earlier this year they would retire from 470 dinghy sailing after the Beijing Games.

Page did leave the door open for a 2012 campaign, but said his first priority was to head for the dining hall.

"We're going to have a nice buffet with lots of food. We plan on getting fat and as far as another Olympics go, we'll have to wait and see," Page told reporters.

Consistency throughout the regatta had put the triple world champions in a commanding position. They failed to win one of the 10 preliminary races but had seven top-five placings.

"Today we were pretty relaxed and we were joking around," Wilmot said. "We saw all the boats behind us and we thought 'we might as well win our only Olympic medal race'".

-ABC/Reuters

China Beats Singapore for Women's Table Tennis Gold

2008-08-17T09:59:00.002-07:00

China clinches the women's Olympic team table tennis title Sunday, after fighting off a strong challenge from Singapore to win the final 3-0, August 17, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

China clinched the women's Olympic team table tennis title Sunday, after fighting off a strong challenge from Singapore to win the final 3-0.

It was the 17th gold medal that China won at the Olympic table tennis competition since its national sport was introduced at the 1988 Seoul Games.

The star-studded Chinese women pushed, chopped and smashed, proving too powerful for Singapore before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 4,000, though both world number one Zhang Yining and veteran Wang Nan dropped a game.

Finishing second, Singapore won its first Olympic medal in 48 years since a silver by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang in 1960.

Wang, who is often slow in finding her rhythm, failed to take a lead but brushed aside Feng Tianwei 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6. The team title was the fourth Olympic gold for Wang, the most decorated players in table tennis.

The battle between Zhang and Beijing-born Li Jia Wei of Singapore was full of long rallies across the table, with Zhang winning 9-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7. The singles and doubles gold medalist in Athens then paired with world champion Guo Yue, quickly finishing off Li and Wang Yue Gu 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.

Both China and Singapore had steamrolled over all before them with stunning victories since the start of the Olympic team table tennis tournament, which take the place of the doubles. They didn't meet each other until the final.

Chinese women, whose triumph seemed to have an air of inevitability, easily took down Hong Kong of China 3-0 in the semifinal, while Singapore slew a tenacious South Korea 3-2.

Zou Wins Olympic Men's Floor Exercise Gold

2008-08-17T09:59:00.001-07:00

China's Zou Kai won gymnastics men's floor exercise gold medal at 16.050 points on Sunday, August 17, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

by sportswriter Chen Yu

Chinese gymnast Zou Kai won the men's floor exercise gold medal, the fourth gymnastics gold medal for host China, on Sunday at the Beijing Olympics.

The 20-year-old, who was making his Olympic debut, won the gold medal at 16.050 points, after reigning world champion Diego Hypolito of Brazil and Olympic silver medallist Marian Dragulescu failed their routines.

Gervasio Deferr from Spain took the silver in 15.775 points, and the bronze went to Russia's Anton Golotsutskov, in 15.725 points.

Zou, entering the final in sixth place and low on the list of hopefuls for the gold, brought a surprise when he took to the floor as the fifth player and staged a strong performance on the difficulty of 6.7 points, the highest among the eight finalists.

"I do not think I am the black horse," said Zou Kai, adding that he believed he is strong enough for a gold and he is in good form in the competition.

"I entered the floor exercise final in first place in last year's World Championships, and I came home empty-handed only because I did not play my normal level in the final," he said.

"The team medal is very important to all of us and this medal is very important to me," he added.

Before Zou, Dragulescu, a three-time Olympian and the floor exercise silver medalist in Athens, sat on the mat after a tumbling combination.

Hypolito, known for having one of the most difficult floor exercise routines, also suffered a last-minute defeat when he fell back and sat on the floor at the end of his complicated routines.

"I pushed my legs underneath and there was a mistake," said Hypolito. "It was a technical mistake. There's nothing I can do with it." "I'm sorry, I'm sorry to all the Brazilians."

Silver medalist Deferr said he was really happy to win the medal because "it's not easy to be in the last position (in the starting order). It is amazing to go to three Olympics and get three medals."

On the mistakes of Dragulescu and Hypolito, he believed the two were just too nervous "because it's not easy in the Olympic Games - after four years of work, then competing."

Bronze medalist Golotsutskov was also satisfied, but said he had expected more.

"I felt very good out there. I really like this (the bronze medal). I felt it was a very good combination on the Floor. I think my medal should be silver, not bronze, as the judges gave me a lower score (than I expected)," he said.

Chinese Xiao Qin Wins Men's Pommel Horse Gold

2008-08-17T09:58:00.001-07:00

Chinese Xiao Qin wins the men's pommel horse gold medal with 15.875 points at the Beijing Olympic Games on Sunday, August 17, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

Chinese gymnast Xiao Qin won the men's pommel horse crown at the Beijing Olympics on Sunday.

Xiao, reigning world champion who entered the final in first place, took the gold medal in 15.875 points.

Pilip Ude of Croatia took the silver in 15.725 points and Louis Smith of Britain won the bronze with the same score of 15.725 points under a tie-break rule.

With Xiao's victory, host China had reaped five gymanstic gold medals so far at the Beijing Olympics, the most golds its gymnasts had won at an Olympic Games.

The previous record was set at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, when China claimed four gymnastics golds.

Xiao, a three-time world champion on pommel horse, performed powerful swings, circles and undercuts on a difficulty of 6.4 points to claim his first Olympic individual title.

"I intended to do this (winning the gold) in the Athens Olympics but I didn't have the chance. Today I was able to do it," said 23-year-old Xiao.

Asked why he cried out that "I get to take a vacation" after winning the gold, Xiao said the longest holiday he had had in the last few years was three days due to training. "Now I can finally take a rest," he said.

But he said he was not as excited as he was when he won the team gold medal, because after winning the team title, he and his teammates "finally released the pressure that had built up for so many years."

The victory was somewhat like a revenge for Xiao, as he fell during qualifications and failed to make the final in the 2004 Athens Olympics. His flaw on his speciality also pulled the Chinese men's team down in the team title contest.

Ude was also happy with a silver medal as it's a frog-leap in his gymnastics career. He only finished 29th on pommel horse at the 2007 world championships.

"I was the last performer and when I finished my routine I know I should have a medal because I had stronger performance today," he said.

"For me, it's a dream come true. I dedicate this (the medal) to my mum, my family, my sisters, my coaches and everyone who has cheered for me, " he said.

Smith's bronze medal is his country's first individual apparatus medal. The 19-year-old described the win as something "crazy, amazing, emotional, scary, nervous everything". He said he yearned for a gold medal.

After five days of competition, there are six gymnastics golds left for grab at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Ainslie claims third Olympic gold

2008-08-17T09:04:00.001-07:00

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

Ainslie wins third Olympic gold

Ben Ainslie kept US rival Zach Railey at bay to claim the third Olympic gold medal of his sailing career.

Ainslie, 31, sailed sublimely in rough weather to win the Finn medal race and add to golds from Athens and Sydney.

"I've really enjoyed every minute of my Olympic sailing career, I'm very lucky," he told BBC Sport.

Ainslie is now Britain's most decorated Olympic sailor of all time, his three gold medals complemented by silver in the Laser class at Atlanta 1996.

Ainslie finished on 23 points uin Qingdao, while Railey finished sixth in the medal race to make sure of silver with 45 points, and Frenchman Guillaume Florent won bronze with 58 points.

2012 is a long way away but if I've got a chance to be there and do well, I'd love to do it

Ben Ainslie

The race was scheduled for Saturday, but it was postponed for 24 hours because of light, unsettled wind conditions.

And the start was delayed for nearly two hours on Sunday when strong winds and heavy rain made conditions in the waters off Qingdao too treacherous for racing.

When racing did get going, Ainslie took a different approach from the one he used in Saturday's abandoned race.

Ainslie had opted to cover Railey in the light conditions, but the Briton threw out his match racing approach in the 16-knot winds to assert his dominance.

"It was a bit different today," said Ainslie. "Yesterday the breeze was very light and I couldn't give the US guy any chance to get away from me.

"Today I was more confident with my speed against his, and my fitness."

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

Ainslie elated by third gold

Having started well, Ainslie rounded the first mark with a 12-second lead over France's Guillaume Florent.

He maintained his lead at the halfway point and was 20 seconds clear by the final mark, with Railey well out of the running in sixth place.

The run to the finish became a mere procession for Ainslie as he crossed 13 seconds ahead of Denmark's Jonas Hoegh-Christensen.

Afterwards, Ainslie told BBC Sport he is keen to sail at London 2012.

"The draw of 2012 and racing on your home waters is huge," he said.

"It's a long way away but if I've got a chance to be there and do well, I'd love to do it."

Golds fire Britain up medal table

2008-08-17T09:03:00.001-07:00

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

Video - GB Double win first lightweight gold

Britain's sailors, rowers and cyclists won four more gold medals on Sunday to match the team's Saturday surge and reach third in the Olympic medal table.

There were sailing golds for Yngling trio Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, and Ben Ainslie in the Finn.

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter took GB's first lightweight rowing gold, and Rebecca Romero won cycling's pursuit.

Fellow cyclist Wendy Houvenaghel and two rowing crews claimed silver medals, while gymnast Louis Smith won bronze.

After four golds on both Saturday and Sunday, Team GB's total of 11 golds for the Games moved them above Australia and Germany in the medal table.

British Olympians have won 25 medals in all, including six silver and eight bronze.

With seven days of action still remaining, Team GB have already matched their gold medal tally from Sydney in 2000, where they won 28 medals overall, and exceeded the nine golds from the last Games in Athens, where they finished with an overall haul of 30.

Britain have not claimed more than 11 golds in an Olympics since 1920. If they earn 16 golds or more by the end of the Games, it will mark their best performance in a century.

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

GB's Yngling crew storms to success

Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed the "unprecedented" success of Britain's athletes in a statement released by Downing Street.

"Eight gold medals and 17 medals in total in one weekend is a superb and unprecedented achievement," said Brown in the statement.

"The whole country has been watching and has been thrilled by Team GB. We are immensely proud of what they have achieved so far, and inspired by their performance."

Lord Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, paid tribute to "the greatest weekend in British Olympic history", highlighting results in key sports.

"We haven't delivered at this level of consistency across some of the sports which I would call the formula one sports for many, many generations," he told BBC World News.

Queen Elizabeth II has invited Britain's Olympians to a drinks reception at Buckingham Palace after the Games.

A royal spokeswoman said the monarch had been taking "a keen interest" in the games, and will host a reception for members of the squad on 16 October.

Ayton, Webb and Wilson, in sailing's Yngling class, earned Britain's opening gold medal on Sunday.

The crew battled home in first place in their medal race, well ahead of their Dutch rivals, to seal gold.

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

Video - Ainslie wins third Olympic gold

"Winning an Olympic gold medal, you're the best at what you do in the world," said skipper Ayton.

"You just can't describe what Sarah and I have been through for the last four years and with Pippa for the last two."

Lightweight double sculls duo Purchase and Hunter added gold number two at the rowing, earning Britain's first ever lightweight gold medal by a comfortable distance over Greece.

"It's unbelievable," a breathless Purchase told BBC Sport. "We sat down back in October and said we wanted to come here and win this.

"We knew Greece would come back, we had to have a solid middle 1000m to make sure we crossed the line first, and then it was a case of holding on and keeping going."

Ainslie claimed Britain's third gold of the day back in Qingdao, keeping US rival Zach Railey at bay to claim the third Olympic gold of his sailing career.

"Yesterday the breeze was very light and I couldn't give the American guy any chance to get away from me," said Ainslie afterwards.

"Today I was more confident with my speed against his, and my fitness," he added, having crossed the line first in his medal race.

Romero picked up gold number four in an all-British women's individual pursuit final at the Laoshan Velodrome, which guaranteed Britain both gold and silver.

The former Olympic rowing silver medallist, who swapped sports following Athens 2004, eased past Houvenaghel, who took silver.

Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available in your territory.

Video - Romero wins pursuit gold

"It's magical," an elated Romero told BBC Sport. "It's been so hard, I can't explain what I've had to go through.

"I totally believe myself now. I did before, but that was the ultimate. I was facing the demons, I was up against tough opposition, and a week ago it wasn't in me at all."

Britain have now won a total of 10 cycling medals, two on the road and eight on the track, with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy both striking gold on Saturday.

The women's quad and men's eight added two silver medals to the rowing tally on Sunday, meaning Britain finished the Olympic regatta with two golds, two silvers and two bronze, bettering their conservative target of four medals of any colour.

Gymnast Smith rounded off the weekend with a superb performance in the pommel horse to claim bronze for Britain.

It was Britain's first gymnastics medal at the Olympics for 80 years.

Nadal golden treble is fitting climax

2008-08-17T09:00:00.002-07:00

Rafael Nadal clinched a golden treble to wrap up the Olympic tennis tournament on Sunday, overcoming Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to add the Games men's singles title to his French Open and Wimbledon crowns.

The unstoppable Spaniard won 6-3 7-6 6-3 to mark his impending rise to the top of the world rankings with his country's first ever Olympic gold medal in tennis.

"It's very difficult to win this because you only have one chance every four years," Nadal, who replaces Roger Federer as world number one on Monday, told reporters. "I played almost a perfect match."

Before Nadal's fireworks, Russia's Elena Dementieva enjoyed the biggest moment of her career when she won the women's singles gold medal against compatriot Dinara Safina.

Dementieva, who's silver medal in Sydney eight years ago prefaced a career of near-misses, battled back to win 3-6 7-5 6-3. Vera Zvonareva made it an all-Russian singles podium by beating China's Li Na 7-5 6-0.

American Venus Williams claimed the third Olympic gold medal of her career when she and sister Serena thrashed Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2 6-0 in a one-sided women's doubles final.

While Dementieva and Safina served up a compelling battle of wills, it was Nadal who everyone had come to see -- apart, that is, for the flag-waving Chilean fans who cooked up a Davis Cup-type atmosphere on Centre Court.

POUNDING FOREHANDS

From the start Gonzalez, a doubles gold medallist four years ago, did what he does best, pounding forehands across the net. Nadal munched them all up and fizzed them back from all angles.

Nadal, dressed in the red and yellow of his country and sporting an orange bandana, sealed the first set after a 37-minute masterclass of blurring movement and power.

Gonzalez traded blows with Nadal in the second set, standing toe-to-toe with the raging bull over the net, and his big chance came at 6-5 when he had the Spaniard in trouble at 15-40.

On his first set point he played a perfect point but with the court gaping, put a simple backhand volley wide. He then offered up a forehand gift and his moment had passed.

Nadal stormed the tiebreak and muscled 5-2 ahead in the third set. Gonzalez saved three match points but the insatiable Nadal sealed it on his fourth.

"It looked easy, but when you're tired you get a little dizzy," Gonzalez said of the volley, neatly summing up the effect Nadal has on his opponents.

Dementieva, unlike Nadal, has never won a grand slam title, but she now has an Olympic gold medal in her racket bag after a gutsy triumph against Safina.

"This is the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life and in my career," the 27-year-old, runner-up at the French and U.S. Opens in 2004, told reporters. "I've been dreaming about this moment since I was eight years old."

China did not go home empty-handed from a tournament that has disproved the theory that tennis players do not care about the Olympic Games. Zheng Jie and Yan Zi beat Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-2 6-2 to claim doubles bronze.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

Fraser leads Jamaican 100m sweep

2008-08-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

Shelly-Ann Fraser surged to Jamaica's first Olympic women's 100 meters gold medal on Sunday and led compatriots Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart to the event's first national podium sweep.

A day after Usain Bolt claimed a first men's 100m crown for the Caribbean island, 21-year-old Fraser clocked 10.78 seconds to claim the title ahead of her compatriots, who were both awarded silver after a photo finish failed to separate them.

"I can't believe I actually won. Nobody expected me to win, so there was no pressure," Fraser told reporters.

"I'm so excited, I really am, I can't wait to get home."

Simpson and Stewart were given the same time of 10.98 ahead of former world champion Lauryn Williams, the first of a trio of Americans in the race that had been billed as U.S. v Jamaica.

"It's wonderful, the first three for Jamaica. History," Simpson said. "To be silver medalist, I'm really happy, it was a challenging time coming to these Olympics."

EQUALLY DELIGHTED

Stewart, who like her fellow silver medalist is 24, was equally delighted.

"It's about time, we've been waiting for this, so many great athletes have come so close and we were able to pull it off tonight," she said.

American Muna Lee, who won the U.S. trial last month, was fifth and said she thought one of her rivals had got away early.

"It'll be alright, it was just one of those days," she said. "I felt like someone had false started."

The start did look a bit ragged and Simpson made the early running in the inside lane before Fraser came charging down lane four.

Simpson could have clinched the silver on her own if she had dipped for the line and Stewart's lean forward made the pair inseparable after a several minutes of examination by officials.

For Fraser, the youngest member of the trio who kept world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown out of the event in Beijing, it was a first major title.

Former world champion Torri Edwards of the United States, the fastest woman in the world this year, finished last with Jeanette Kwakye sixth for Britain.

Defending champion Yuliya Nestsiarenka of Belarus failed to reach the final after finishing fifth in her semi-final earlier on Sunday evening.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Romania's Izbasa wins floor gold

2008-08-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

Romanian gymnast Sandra Izbasa impressed judges with her flawless tumbling and elegant leaps to win Olympic gold in the floor exercise on Sunday.

The last competitor, she took to the floor with confidence to score 15.650, eclipsing American world champion Shawn Johnson by 0.150. All-around champion Nastia Liukin grabbed the bronze.

China's Cheng Fei, one of the favorites, burst into tears after slipping up for the second time in a day. Having landed on her knees in the vault final where she won bronze, she skidded backwards after her penultimate tumble to finish seventh.

Brazilian former world champion Daiane dos Santos put herself out of the running by landing her last two tumbling combinations outside the marked area.

Izbasa had already won a bronze in the team competition.

Jubilant Jamaicans celebrate

2008-08-17T05:41:00.001-07:00

Bob Marley's son, Julian Marley, gave a concert for the jubilant crowd in a swanky Beijing bar.

Bolt set a new world record in the 100 metre race and is now setting his eyes on winning the men's 200 metre.

"Insane Usain" dazzles world with speed and style

2008-08-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

Usain Bolt's extraordinary Olympics 100 meters run sparked a flood of superlatives in newspapers across the world on Sunday, ranging from the new messiah of speed to the chilled-out flying machine.

Bolt was crowned the fastest man in the world at the Beijing Olympics after a record 9.69-second run, celebrating before even reaching the finishing line.

"Oh, what a show. Oh, what a showoff too," said an editorial in the Chicago Tribune.

"How fast can a guy go? This is not the question to ask the U-Bolt. The question is this: How fast could U have gone if U hadn't hit the brakes? If U hadn't slowed down? If U hadn't clowned around?"

His rivals were calling the gangling 6 ft 5 ins runner a freak of nature and bloggers nicknamed him "Insane Usain."

Some sporting commentators welcomed Bolt's natural showmanship as he hammed it up for the cameras, saying he was just what was needed to put the glamour back into athletics.

The men's 100 meters, the Olympics showcase event, has been plagued by doping scandals since Ben Johnson's fall from grace 20 years ago.

Bolt was taking it in his usual relaxed stride. He said he prepared for the race by sleeping in, not eating breakfast, watching TV, eating chicken nuggets for lunch, napping, eating more chicken nuggets for dinner, and resting.

But his cocky bravado was not a hit with everyone.

"In the 100, a show of flash after a burst of speed," said a headline on the New York Times' Web site.

"In the interests of doing justice to the achievement, we are going to go easy on the end-zone mimicry; leave that to another time, to the greater discussion of pointless showboating in sports," wrote sports columnist Harvey Araton.

It was impossible to see someone hit a speed that no human has reached before without technological assistance and not mention the D-word -- doping.

"If, as he protests, Bolt is clean, then he is the best advertisement for his sport in a decade," wrote The Times.

"Bolt is a character, a performer, blessed with so much natural talent he might just be real."

Back in Jamaica, Bolt's fellow countrymen were celebrating the Caribbean island's first Olympic title in the blue riband event.

Bolt was already a star in Jamaica, having set a new world record of 9.72 seconds in May which prompted reggae singer Derrick Harriott to record a tribute song "Lightning Bolt 9.72".

"They're going to have to change the lyrics," quipped The Washington Post.

Dementieva wins women's tennis in Beijing

2008-08-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Elena Dementieva has won a combustible final against Dinara Safina to head a Russian one-two-three in the Olympic women's tennis singles.

The world number seven recovered from an error-strewn first set to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, making up for her disappointment in losing the 2000 final to Venus Williams.

Dementieva clenched her fists in celebration and then wiped away tears of joy after stopping the in-form Safina for the first time in four attempts this year.

"It's very difficult to explain the way I feel right now. It will take a few days before I realise I'm Olympic champion," Dementieva said.

"But this is for sure the biggest moment in my career, in my life. I will never forget this moment."

Russia had already been guaranteed the first tennis podium sweep in 100 years when Vera Zvonareva, a late call-up for the injured Maria Sharapova, clinched the bronze medal play-off against China's Li Na 6-0, 7-5.

"Having three Russian girls left standing in the Olympics is a huge moment for Russia," Dementieva said.

"I know we were expecting and planning for some medals but I don't think anyone could expect three medals from the girls. So this is really big moment for Russia."

It was the first one-two-three in any tennis event since 1908, when Great Britain also collected all three women's singles medals.

Swimmer Phelps ties Spitz record

2008-08-16T23:10:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps tied the 36-year-old single Olympic Games record for success by winning his seventh gold medal.

Already capturing six golds in individual and team events, all in world record time, Phelps is now poised for an unprecedented eighth gold Sunday.

Dan Sloan reports.

Fastest man on the planet

2008-08-16T23:09:00.001-07:00

Jamaica's Usain Bolt sprints to victory in the Beijing Olympics 100 metre race and sets a new world record.

Bolt ran the race in just 9.69 seconds.

Tara Joseph-Hui reports.

Phelps amazes world with Beijing eight

2008-08-16T23:07:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps went on Sunday where no man has been before to win a record eighth gold at one Olympics and better Mark Spitz's landmark 1972 feat.

Phelps held his arms aloft and hugged team mates after a relatively easy men's 4x100 meters medley relay win unlike the finger-tip finishes in two of his earlier Beijing golds.

The all-time most successful Olympian, who has over nine days in China proved himself to be one of the greatest sportsmen the world has seen, showed he was still human, though.

"I just want to see my mom," he said after a series of swims which will net him $1 million in sponsors' bonuses alone.

Phelps's 14th career gold, after six in Athens, took him past fellow American Spitz's record seven at one Games in Munich. He has five more now than any other Olympian in the 112-year history of the Games.

"It's been nothing but an upwards rollercoaster but it's been nothing but fun," he added at his moment of triumph, embracing his tearful mother and sister. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination."

Phelps achievement has dazzled the Chinese hosts, for whom eight is a lucky number, and brought welcome cheer to Americans during hard times.

"The economy and gas prices are always on your mind but Michael's success helps you forget depressing things," Los Angeles resident Samantha Higgins said among tens of millions glued to Phelps's every race on TV in the United States.

With Games spectators still agog at Usain Bolt's audaciously brilliant 100m win in the blue riband athletics race on Saturday night, Romania took the first gold of Day Nine in one of the Beijing Olympics' toughest events.

Constantina Tomescu had time to relax and wave at the crowd before crossing the finish line in the Bird's Nest stadium after a women's marathon run that began in Tiananmen Square.

Catherine Ndereba of Kenya took silver and Zhou Chunxiu of China the bronze, with Britain's world record holder Paula Radcliffe struggling for fitness and well back.

In the highest-profile doping case yet of the August 8-24 Games, Greece's defending women's 400 meters hurdles champion Fani Halkia failed a drug test hours before she was to compete.

That recalled the doping sagas that darkened Athens 2004.

LIGHTNING BOLT

But it has been the scintillating sport, not scandals, in Beijing dominating attention and relegating the pre-Games focus on China's rights record and pollution problems.

Nobody doubted that Sunday was Phelps's day.

Blessed with an arm span bigger than his height, Phelps has pumped himself up with hip-hop before races and always looks for his mother in the stands at moments of triumph.

Phelps teamed up with backstroker Aaron Peirsol, breaststroker Brendan Hansen and freestyler Jason Lezak to help the United States smash the old men's medley relay mark of three minutes 30.68 seconds with a winning time of 3:29.34 on Sunday.

All but one of his eight golds have come in world record times -- and the other was an Olympic best.

Phelps, who comes from Baltimore and had to overcome attention deficit disorder in childhood, is now guaranteed a lifetime of multi-million dollar corporate deals.

"I wanted to put my mind to it and wanted to do something that no one ever did in sport," he added.

Jamaica's Bolt was the other name on everybody's lips.

He sprinted to victory in the 100 meters in world record time on Saturday night despite slowing at the end to check he was ahead and punch his chest in joy in front of 91,000 people.

"I was just having fun, that's me," said Bolt, 21.

While he danced around the Bird's Nest stadium in celebration, cars honked and crowds cheered in a victory party on his Caribbean island of 2.7 million people.

"This means a lot to my country. It means a lot to me," said the world's fastest man, whose favored 200 meters comes next.

China are way ahead in the medal table with 27 golds to the United States' 17 in a Games that Beijing hopes will showcase a more open face as well as its new global economic clout.

The Americans should come back strongly in remaining track events, but they face a tough challenge to overtake China, who had only a one-gold lead at the same stage in Athens.

Replacing Russia as the main rival to the United States, China were second in 2004 with 32 golds. The world's most populous nation would love to come first on home soil.

Behind the big two, Germany stand third in Beijing with nine golds and Australia fourth on eight.

South Korea, Japan and Britain have seven.

Greek Olympic Committee officials said their athlete Halkia lost her chance of another gold due to an August 10 test while she was preparing in Japan. "I can't believe it," Halkia told reporters, denying she had taken performance-enhancing drugs.

In a reminder of the political undercurrents around the Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama accused China of mistreating and torturing citizens in Tibet while the Games were on.

"Unfortunately the Olympic spirit is not being respected at all by Chinese officials in Tibet," he told a French TV station.

"Civilians are often arrested, violently tortured to the point where they die. It's really very, very sad."

Mellouli wins 1500m gold

2008-08-16T21:05:00.001-07:00

Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli won the men's 1500 meters freestyle at the Beijing Games on Sunday to claim his country's first gold medal since the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Mellouli won the gold in 14 minutes, 40.84 seconds by a body length from Australia's Grant Hackett, who was bidding to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three successive Olympics.

Hackett finished second in 14:41.53, more than seven seconds outside his world record and nearly three seconds outside the time he posted in Friday's heats.

Canada's Ryan Cochrane took the bronze medal in 14:42.69.

Phelps passes Spitz with golden eight

2008-08-16T21:03:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps took a record-breaking eighth gold at one Games on Sunday in Beijing to beat fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's seven from Munich 1972.

Phelps hugged his team mates in celebration after a comfortable men's 4x100 meters medley relay win contrasting with the finger-tip, split-second finishes that came in two of his earlier Beijing golds.

His 14 golds, which include six in Athens, make him the most successful Olympian of the modern era by a big margin of five.

With Games spectators still agog at Usain Bolt's audaciously brilliant 100m win in the blue riband athletics race on Saturday night, the first gold of Day Nine went to Romania.

Constantina Tomescu had time to relax and wave at the crowd before crossing the finish line in the Bird's Nest stadium after a marathon run that began in Tiananmen Square.

Catherine Ndereba of Kenya took silver and Zhou Chunxiu of China the bronze, with Britain's world record holder Paula Radcliffe struggling for fitness and well back.

In the highest-profile doping case yet of the August 8-24 Games, Greece's defending women's 400 meters hurdles champion Fani Halkia failed a drug test hours before she was to compete.

That recalled the doping sagas that darkened Athens 2004.

But it has been the scintillating sport, not scandals, in Beijing dominating attention and relegating the pre-Games focus on China's rights record and pollution problems.

Having passed Spitz's seven golds of 36 years ago, the 23-year-old Phelps now stands alone in the record books.

Blessed with an arm span bigger than his height, Phelps has pumped himself up with hip-hop before races and always looks for his mother in the stands at moments of triumph.

He is guaranteed a lifetime of multi-million corporate deals.

But Phelps has failed to match Spitz in one aspect. His 100m butterfly gold on Saturday was not in a world record time, unlike his other seven wins in Beijing.

All seven of Spitz's medals came in world record times.

JAMAICAN PARTY

It was Jamaica's Bolt on everybody's lips overnight after he scorched to victory in the 100 meters sprint in world record time. That came despite slowing at the end to check he was ahead and punch his chest in joy in front of 91,000 spectators.

"I was just having fun, that's me," said Bolt, 21.

While Bolt danced around the Bird's Nest stadium in celebration, cars honked and crowds cheered in a victory party on his Caribbean island of 2.7 million people.

"This means a lot to my country. It means a lot to me," said the world's fastest man, whose favored 200 meters comes next.

Sunday offers 37 golds, the most of any day in the Olympics.

China are way ahead in the medal table with 27 golds to the United States' 17 in a Games Beijing had hoped would showcase a more open face as well as its new global economic clout.

Replacing Russia as the main rival to the United States, China came second in Athens with 32 golds.

Greece's Halkia lost her chance of another gold due to an August 10 test while she was preparing in Japan, Greek Olympic Committee officials said.

"I can't believe it," Halkia told reporters, denying she had taken performance-enhancing drugs. "The first thing I thought of doing was to give all the nutritional supplements I have consumed, my vitamins, for testing."

The reputation of Greek sport took a blow on the eve of the Athens Olympics when sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, both medals hopes, missed a test and withdrew.

In a reminder of the political undercurrents around the Beijing Olympics, the Dalai Lama accused China of mistreating and torturing citizens in Tibet while the Games were on.

"Unfortunately the Olympic spirit is not being respected at all by Chinese officials in Tibet," he told a French TV station.

"Civilians are often arrested, violently tortured to the point where they die. It's really very, very sad."

Some pro-free Tibet protesters from abroad have braved a 100,000-strong security force in Beijing to shout or unfurl banners. But Chinese police have dealt with them swiftly.

Before the American men's triumph in the same event, Australia's 100m medley women's relay team took gold in world record time.

(Reporting by Beijing Olympic bureau, editing by Jon Bramley)

Phelps claims historic eighth gold in Beijing

2008-08-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps has created Olympic history after winning his eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games in the United States' 4x100 metres medley relay triumph.

Phelps's eighth victory in the Water Cube eclipses fellow American Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven gold medals at the Munich Games.

Swimming the third butterfly leg of the relay, Phelps helped the Americans recapture their lead over the Australian team, who finished with an admirable silver, to win in a world record time of 3 minutes 29.34 seconds.

Australia's team of Hayden Stoeckel, Brenton Rickard, Andrew Lauterstein and Eamon Sullivan finished in 3:30.04 and Japan took bronze in 3:31.18.

Phelps leaves Beijing as the most successful Olympian of all time with 14 gold medals, topping the previous record of nine held jointly by Spitz, Carl Lewis, Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina.

His emphatic victory came after a mixed final day for the Australians with team captain Grant Hackett falling short of his bid to become the first male swimmer to win three consecutive gold medals in the same event.

Hackett claimed the silver behind Tunisian bolter Oussama Mellouli who finished in a time slower than the 28-year-old Australian's Games record heat time.

The Australian team's campaign was given a lift in the next race however, with a fantastic victory by the women's 4x100 metres medley relay team.

Fitting finale

The Americans were third when Phelps entered the water for the 100m butterfly leg with Australia second, 0.81 seconds behind leader Japan.

But a typically mesmerising second 50m by Phelps helped restore a winning advantage for freestyle anchor swimmer Jason Lezak, who helped secured Phelps's second gold with a famous victory in the 4x100m relay.

Eamon Sullivan tried valiantly to peg back the difference with a 46.65 but fell just short as the swimming meet ended in historic fashion.

Backstroke champion Aaron Peirsol and breaststroker Brendan Hansen completed the other two legs for the US.

Bolt eases into men's 100 meter final

2008-08-16T07:00:00.001-07:00

BEIJING (Reuters) - Jamaican world record holder Usain Bolt sauntered into Saturday's Olympic men's 100 meters final, qualifying fastest despite slowing to save energy.

In an extraordinary display of confidence, the 21-year-old eased up and coasted across the line in the semi-final of the showcase Olympic event after looking around to check his rivals were behind him.

Despite appearing to take it easy, his time of 9.85 was sixth hundredths of a second faster than main rival Asafa Powell.

The fellow Jamaican and former world record holder won the other semi-final in a race that knocked out American Tyson Gay.

The world champion has been nursing a hamstring injury coming into the Olympics and could not deliver the sub-10 second time needed to progress to the final, finishing fifth behind Powell.

"I don't have any excuses. I'm pretty upset," Gay told reporters, adding that he felt himself "tightening" during the race.

Bolt had two hours to rest for the final and his display will have left his rivals in no doubt they must produce a spectacular sprint to prevent the 100 meters newcomer from sweeping to victory in the world's most watched running race.

Global attention will be firmly on the Bird's Nest stadium for the race at 10.30pm (1430 GMT) in front of a crowd of more than 90,000 people in the Chinese capital.

Bolt's fellow sprinters have been put in the shade by the tall, laidback Jamaican's performances since he began racing the 100 meters in the last year.

Formerly a 200m specialist, Bolt hopes to be the first man to win the 100m and 200m Olympic double since Carl Lewis in 1984.

Jamaicans will be glued to their television sets. Despite a tradition of producing world class sprinters, the Caribbean island has yet to win a men's 100m gold at the Olympics.

Audiences in America will have to wait nine hours longer than the rest of the world to see the race. U.S. network NBC will delay the broadcast until prime-time to maximize revenue after paying nearly $900 million for rights to televise the Games.

PHELPS PHENOMENEN

Michael Phelps earlier equaled fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven golds in one Olympics on Saturday after coming from behind for a fingertip victory.

Trailing Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100 meters butterfly, he lunged forward on his final stroke to touch a hundredth of a second ahead, the smallest margin possible.

Phelps, the sporting phenomenon of the Beijing 2008 Games, punched the air and screamed with joy as a capacity crowd in the Water Cube rose to hail him.

"It's pretty cool, that's all I can say," said Phelps, who thought halfway he had blown it. "I am in a sort of dream world."

On Sunday, Phelps can go one better than Spitz if he wins an eighth Beijing gold in the 100 medley relay.

"He can be called the best Olympian of all time," Spitz told America's NBC television, "not because he has more gold medals than anybody but in the way he's handled himself and in the way he's actually won under a tremendous amount of pressure."

Phelps now has 13 career golds, four more than anyone else in the 112-year history of the modern Games.

Phelps clocked 50.58 seconds to Cavic's 50.59, close enough for Serbian officials to protest but swimming's governing body FINA confirmed the result.

Phelps's success is down to total focus and the perfect swimmer's physique of large torso and huge reach on short legs. His arm span is 3 inches more than his 6ft 4 height.

MEDALS FOR OTHERS

The only surprise was that Phelps did not win in world record time, unlike his other six title-winning swims in Beijing.

The women, though, were in record breaking form.

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, who had won three silvers already in Beijing, finally struck gold in the women's 200 backstroke, bringing some rare cheer to her troubled homeland.

She shaved 0.85 seconds off the previous world best.

"I'm so excited I can hear my national anthem play, I'm so proud, it'll be exciting back home," said Coventry.

Britain's Rebecca Adlington also smashed a 19-year-old world record to take gold in the women's 800 freestyle.

She had won Britain's first Olympic women's swimming title in nearly half a century in the 400 freestyle on Monday.

Then Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho won the men's 50m freestyle to give his country their first Olympic swimming gold.

But the Games have had some low moments as well.

Sweden's greco-roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian was stripped of his 84kg-category bronze medal after he threw it down in disgust to protest a refereeing decision. Olympic organizers also threw him out of the Games for his medal ceremony protest.

China's gold medal charge paused on Saturday, with only one badminton gold coming the way of the host nation as attention switched to sports where the Asian nation does less well. In all, 27 golds are up for grabs on Saturday.

Australia picked up two gold rowing medals but lost to Britain in a thrilling sprint for the line in the men's four. Two more medals came Britain's way in the cycling.

China came second to the United States in the medal table in Athens and would dearly like to win this year to showcase a sporting superpower status to mirror a growing economic clout.

Currently China leads the gold medal table with 27 to the United States' 16.

Abrahamian stripped of bronze medal

2008-08-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Swedish greco-roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian has been stripped of his 84kg-category bronze medal after he threw it down in protest at the refereeing, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Saturday.

It said his action went against the spirit of fair play, insulted his fellow competitors and constituted a demonstration, which is banned inside Olympic venues.

During the wrestling medal ceremony, Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck after beating Melonin Noumonvi of France, stepped from the podium, dropped it in the middle of the wrestling mat and then walked off.

The IOC said the athlete, who announced his retirement after his bronze medal bout, was disqualified, stripped of his medal as well as his Olympic accreditation. It said no athlete would be upgraded to take his bronze medal.

It ordered the Swedish Olympic Committee to enforce the decision which meant Abrahamian would have no access to any Olympic venues or the athletes' village.

It also ordered the wrestling federation to take any further action as it saw fit.

Abrahamian's coach had denounced his defeat in the semi-final as a result of "politics".

The IOC said it understood the frustration Abrahamian may have felt about the judging but his protest and the fact that during the disciplinary hearing he never apologized for his action, were unacceptable.

"The awards ceremony is a highly symbolic ritual. Any disruption by any athlete, in particular a medalist, is in itself an insult to the other athletes and to the Olympic Movement. It is also contrary to the spirit of fair play," it said.

"It should be noted that, in front of the disciplinary commission, the athlete never expressed any regret, nor did he offer any apology for his actions," the IOC said.

The Swedish wrestler, a silver medalist in Athens, had to be restrained by team mates when a row erupted with judges over the decision in the semi-final bout with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on the take gold.

Abrahamian shouted at the referee and judges then went over to their seats to speak to them up close.

He angrily threw off the restraining arm of a team official then turned and left.

Swedish fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the arena.

Swedish coach Leo Myllari said at the time: "It's all politics."

Aussies Crawshay and Brennan win double sculls gold

2008-08-16T05:14:00.000-07:00

David Crawshay and Scott Brennan have won Australia's seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, taking out the men's double sculls in the rowing.

The Australians led from start to finish to win by more than a second in 6:27.77.

Estonians Tonu Endrekson and Juri Jaanson hunted down and passed Brits Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham in the final 500m to snatch the silver.

Slovenia's world champions Luka Spik and Iztok Cop, the champions from Sydney eight years ago, were a huge disappointment, finishing sixth and last in the final.

Ginn and Free snare rowing gold for Australia

2008-08-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

Australian pair Drew Ginn and Duncan Free have won the country's sixth gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, taking out the men's pairs in the rowing.

Ginn and Free crossed the finish line in 6:37.44, just ahead of Canadian duo David Calder and Scott Frandsen, who clocked 6:39.55.

The Australian and Canadian boats were level pegging throughout the first half of the race but it was once they had passed the 1,000m mark that Free and Ginn pulled clear.

New Zealand's Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater finished third in 6:44.19.

It is Ginn's third rowing gold medal from as many Olympic Games, putting him on par with James Tomkins for the most gold medals by an Australian rower.

He revealed after the race that back pain had limited his training this week and it was touch and go whether he would compete.

"I have to be honest, we had a few touch and go moments," he said.

"I've had sciatica pain down my leg for the week.

"I just said I didn't want to know what the options were and all that sort of stuff.

"I didn't care. I wasn't going to go through the thing like 2000 again. It wasn't an option.

"At the start of the week there were a few hairy moments where we didn't know where it was going to go.

"So we haven't really rowed apart from the races. We were just about having the best row of our lives."

Free was ecstatic to win a first Olympic medal.

"From a week ago, and what's happened in the week, we've had a lot of highs and lows in emotions and thoughts," he said.

"Drew obviously didn't want to talk about it too much in terms of how bad it was, and I didn't want to ask him about it.

"I wanted him to row and it wasn't really an option planning to row with anyone else.

"For him to do what he's done with the injury he's had has been awesome.

"To get through the week in the minimal amount of work that we've done has been great."

The victory is Australia's first gold medal outside of the pool at the Beijing Games.

Tomkins has the chance to make it four gold medals in his career when he races in the final of the men's eight tomorrow.

Phelps attains highest peak

2008-08-15T23:11:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps reached for the highest peak of Olympic achievement with his fingertips on Saturday, winning his seventh gold medal to join fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz and is now poised to climb the summit alone.

The 23-year-old Phelps equaled Spitz's 1972 record haul of seven golds at a single Games when he won the men's 100 meters butterfly final in 50.58 seconds, touching out Serbia's Milorad Cavic by 0.01 seconds, the smallest margin possible in the Olympic pool.

Serbia lodged a protest over the result, initially believing their man had won, but the sport's world governing body threw out their appeal after watching video replays.

"There was no doubt whatsoever that the first arrival was Michael Phelps," said FINA executive director Cornel Marculescu. "(Serbia) were very satisfied, they agreed with the comments of the referee."

Phelps looked to be in danger of suffering his first defeat in the Water Cube when he was seventh as the field turned for home, before he summoned his strength to pass the others then swim down the Serb on the final stroke.

Cavic had appeared to be heading to touch the wall first when Phelps's massive two-meters wing span inched him past the Serb to pull off the victory that sent the Water Cube into frenzy.

"I was starting to hurt for the last 10 meters, it was my last individual race and I just wanted to finish as strong as I could," Phelps said.

"I actually thought when I did take that half stroke I thought I had lost the race right there, but I guess that was the difference in the end."

It was the first time Phelps had failed to break a world record in a final at Beijing but by equaling Spitz, he earned himself an instant $1 million bonus from his sponsors and the likelihood of plenty more to come in endorsements.

Immediately after Phelps dragged himself out of the pool, Britain's Rebecca Adlington broke the oldest world record in swimming to win the women's 800 freestyle and claim her second gold after winning the 400 last Monday.

The 19-year-old cruised to victory in 8:14.10 to slash 2.12 seconds off the old mark of 8:16.22 set by American Janet Evans in Tokyo in 1989, six months after Adlington was born.

Italian Alessia Filippi finished a distant second in 8:20.23 to collect the silver while Denmark's Lotte Friis was third in 8:23.03 to get the bronze.

"If anyone would have said before the Games that I'd win two golds and break the world record, I'd have laughed in their face, I'd never thought it," Adlington said.

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry also set a world record to successfully defend her 200 backstroke title she won in Athens four years ago, lifting the total of swimming records in Beijing to 23 with one day to go.

Coventry, who had won three silvers already in Beijing, led from start to finish to win her first gold of the Games in 2:05.24, carving 0.85 off the old record set by American Margaret Hoelzer, who finished second to claim the silver medal.

Japan's Reiko Nakamura took the bronze medal.

Cesar Cielo Filho became the first Brazilian to win an Olympic swimming gold medal when he won the men's 50 freestyle sprint in 21.30. France's Amaury Leveaux finished second in 21.45 while his compatriot and 100 gold medalist Alain Bernard was third in 21.49.

"There are two Frenchmen on the podium," Leveaux said. "We won medals in a race that has been dominated for years by madmen. It's crazy."

Russian wins walk as sprint showdown looms

2008-08-15T23:10:00.001-07:00

The most-eagerly awaited day of Olympic athletics got off to a lively start on Saturday with the women sprinters showing their paces before the men take centre stage for the 100 meters final in the evening.

There was, however, an unpleasant reminder of the huge problems the sport faces when the first of the day's four medals, in the men's 20km walk, went to Russian Valeriy Borchin, a man banned for doping as a junior.

The women's shot and heptathlon will be decided later, before the eagerly-awaited men's 100 meters final closes out the action.

In the women's 100m, American Torri Edwards, the fastest woman in the world this year, made it through to the second round with minimum effort in 11.26 seconds.

"I was trying to run as slow as I could and advance," she said.

Nigeria's Oludamola Osayomi was the fastest qualifier with 11.13 seconds and Jamaican trio Shelly-Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, also progressed smoothly.

The 20k walk, badly hit by Russian doping suspensions before the Games, started without that country's race favorite and world record holder Sergey Morozov, though officials were unable to explain his absence.

SCORCHING CONDITIONS

Borchin overcame scorching conditions and a dogged effort from 1996 champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador to win in 1 hour 19:01 minutes, 14 seconds.

Perez, fourth in the last two Olympics, took silver, with Australia's Jared Tallent getting the bronze.

Unsurprisingly, Borchin was immediately asked about drugs and his absent compatriots.

"It is very unfortunate what happened to them and I have heard (the allegations about me) but I don't know what's going on," he said.

"I have been training secluded and have barely seen my team mates."

Fans watching the men's discuss qualifying too must have wondered just when the authorities are going to get tougher when they saw Hungary's Robert Fazekas, stripped of the discus gold he won in Athens four years ago after a doping violation, qualify for this year's final.

It was a nervous morning for overnight heptathlon leader Hyleas Fountain after she fouled her first two long jumps but the American posted a solid third effort to stay in the medal hunt with two disciplines remaining.

Fountain had to be satisfied with 6.38 meters, half a meter below her best but enough to keep her in contention on 5,029 points.

Ukraine's Nataliia Dobrynska produced a personal best 6.63 to edge ahead overall by 16 points before the night's concluding javelin and 800 meters.

New Zealand's world champion Valerie Vili was the leading qualifier for the women's shot with a throw of 19.73 meters and Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus, who she pipped to the title in Osaka, also went through without problems.

Russian Elena Isinbayeva, the hottest favorite in the entire athletics programme, eased into the pole vault final, needing one effortless attempt.

Tallent wins bronze in 20km walk

2008-08-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

Australia's Jared Tallent has claimed the bronze medal in the gruelling 20 kilometres walk at the Beijing Olympics.

Tallent finished in 1 hour 19 minutes and 42 seconds behind Russian winner Valeriy Borchin, who gave his country its first-ever walking Olympic gold medal as he claimed gold in 1:19:01.

The 22-year-old Russian soldier beat 1996 Olympic champion Jefferson Perez of Ecuador (1:19:15) into second place.

Australian Luke Adams finished sixth.

Tallent was physicallly sick as he crossed the line to claim bronze.

"I was actually spewing up down the front straight," he told Channel Seven.

"I came into the tunnel and the Chinese Wang Hao was catching and I just had to put it in. And soon as I did that it just started to come up. I was struggling to hold it in, as soon as I crossed the line I just had to let it all out."

Borchin - who served a one-year drugs ban in 2005/06 - had been swept up in a confusing story prior to the Games where his coach said that he had failed a drugs test, a story which was denied by the national team coach.

Rustam Kuvatov of Kazakhnstan set the early pace and was narrowly ahead after two kilometres just after the athletes had left the stadium.

Kuvatov's flirtation with Olympic fame came to an end just after the five-kilometre mark as he was caught and passed by Francisco Fernandez of Spain while Ireland's Robert Heffernan took closer order on his shoulder.

A group of 26 were now clear of the rest of the field.

At the eight-kilometre mark Fernandez - silver medallist in Athens and three times a silver medallist in the world championships - was joined up front by defending champion Ivano Brugnetti with Eder Sanchez of Mexico also prominent while Heffernan and Australia's Adams looked dangerous.

At the halfway mark Brugnetti and Fernandez shared the lead with the dogged Heffernan stalking them and Luis Lopez of Coloimbia on his shoulder in a lead group of 12.

Fernandez received a warning shortly afterwards as Heffernan surprisingly took the lead with Brugnetti in second and Fernandez third as the group contending for medals was whittled down to eight.

This trio alternated the lead but suddenly on the horizon appeared the menacing figure of Perez.

Perez, Brugnetti and Fernandez upped the pace and split the leading pack with Heffernan one of those dropped.

However, the Italian and the Spaniard were blown away as Borchin went up a gear and only Perez was capable of staying with him while Tallent moved into bronze medal position.

Though Perez hung on valiantly the Russian landed the killer blow two kilometres from the finish as he accelerated seemingly at will and opened up a decisive gap.

The Ecuadorean - who became the youngest ever winner of the walk in 1996 - could not reel him back in and dropped to his knees and made the sign of the cross on crossing the line as he bowed out after a glorious career.

Tallent by contrast cut a distressed figure as he threw up in the final metres.

-ABC/AFP

FINA throws out protest against Phelps

2008-08-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps's bid for an unprecendented eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics remains on track after swimming's world governing body FINA threw out an appeal against his 0.01-second win in today's 100 metres butterfly.

Serbia lodged the protest, saying second-placed Milorad Cavic had actually finished first but had failed to touch the wall with enough force to trigger the timing sensor.

But at a press conference in Beijing, FINA said it was convinced that Phelps, who trailed Cavic until the touch, had hit the wall ahead of the Serb.

Australia's Andrew Lauterstein produced a magnificent swim to claim bronze.

Speaking before the decision, Cavic said he wanted the protest dropped but cast doubt over the result.

"Is Michael Phelps the winner of the gold medal? I think if we got to do it again, I would win it," he said.

Before the race, the American and Serbian were locked in an intriguing stare down only moments before stepping onto the starting blocks.

Phelps said he was also inspired by some choice words by his long-time coach Bob Brown.

"Beforehand Bob said it would be good for the sport of swimming if I lost," Phelps told Channel Seven.

"When Bob told me that I was pretty fired up, when someone says something it makes me more excited and more ready to go."

Phelps's win saw him equal fellow American Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven gold medals at one Olympics.

He now has a chance to win an unprecedented eighth gold medal tomorrow in tomorrow's 4x100m medley relay, with Australia's relay team expected to mount the strongest challenge to Phelps's American outfit.

"It's not over yet, I really do think Australia is going to have a great relay tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it," Phelps said.

Coventry takes backstroke gold

2008-08-15T19:40:00.001-07:00

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry won the women's 200 meters backstroke on Saturday with a new world record time of 2:05.24 to defend her Olympic title.

Coventry, who had won three silvers already in Beijing, led throughout and was nearly a full second ahead of Margaret Hoelzer of the United States who took silver.

Japan's Reiko Nakamura took the bronze medal.

Coventry's time was 0.85 faster than the previous world record time set by Hoelzer at the U.S trials in Omaha in July.

Phelps equals Spitz's 1972 Olympic feat

2008-08-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps matched fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven golds in one Games on Saturday with yet another victory in the pool.

Guaranteeing his status as the face of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the 23-year-old Phelps powered to victory in the 100 meters butterfly in front of an ecstatic crowd in the Water Cube with just one hundredth of a second to spare.

The 23-year-old phenomenon now has 13 career golds, four more than anyone else. As well as Olympic glory, Saturday's win brings him a $1 million bonus from sponsors.

On Sunday, Phelps can go one better than Spitz in Munich with a chance for an eighth Beijing gold in the 100m medley relay.

Watched in every race by his mother and cheered to his first wins by President George W. Bush, Phelps' success is down to a combination of natural brilliance, total focus, and the perfect swimmer's physique of large torso and long-reaching arms.

While Phelps again topped the headlines with his seemingly endless procession to the top of the podium, excitement at the Olympics was by no means only about him on Saturday.

The Games' blue riband track race, the 100m sprint, takes place in the evening in front of more than 90,000 people, and millions worldwide, in the Bird's Nest stadium.

The battle to be crowned the world's fastest man looks like a fascinating three-man, two-nation affair.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt seemed in superb form in the heats on Saturday, having time to look around and still win his second round race in the day's best time of 9.92 seconds.

Bolt has burst on to the 100m scene in the last year, shouldering aside American world champion Tyson Gay and fellow Jamaican former world record holder Asafa Powell.

Formerly a 200m specialist, Bolt set a new world best of 9.72 in the 100m in May. He hopes to be the first man to complete the 100m and 200m Olympic double since American Carl Lewis in 1984.

CHINA LEAD MEDAL TABLE

A new world record looks feasible, given the tall 21-year-old appeared to have so much to spare on Friday. "I looked around to make sure I was safe and I shut it off," he said.

Despite its tradition of producing world class sprinters, Jamaica has yet to win a men's 100m gold and the islanders will be watching tensely at 10.30 pm (1430 GMT).

Powell complained of stomach ache but comfortably won his second heat on Saturday in 10.02 and is still in the hunt for a first global title.

Gay took gold in both the 100m and 200m at the world championships last year but a hamstring injury is restricting him to just the 100m in Beijing.

China lead the gold medal table with 26 to the United States' 14. The hosts came second in Athens 2004 and are eager to go one better in front of their own 1.3 billion people.

China's rise to sporting superpower status reflects its new global economic clout. The Beijing Games are the culmination of its desire to project a new image on the world stage.

Many athletes had expressed concerns over Beijing's pollution problems, but Saturday was a second consecutive gloriously sunny, blue-sky day.

Authorities have pulled several million cars off the road and shut factories to try and guarantee clear air.

Doping again reared its head overnight when Bulgaria's athletics federation said 1,500 meters runner Daniela Yordanova, fifth in Athens in 2004, had been barred from the Olympics after testing positive for testosterone in a sample taken in June.

The 100 meters tops a golden day of sport, with 28 medals being handed out on Saturday. They include the first in the rowing competition and three more in track cycling, where Britain hope for several victories to move up the medal table.

Another gold could come the way of the hosts of the 2012 Olympics if Rebecca Adlington confirms her status as favorite in the 800m freestyle swimming.

After three silvers, Kirsty Coventry finally cheered her native Zimbabwe with a gold in the 200m backstroke.

Phelps equals Spitz's record in nail-biter

2008-08-15T19:35:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps has won the 100 metres butterfly final at the Beijing Games in thrilling fashion, drawing level with fellow American Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at one Olympics.

Phelps claimed his seventh gold as he came from behind to beat Serbian Milorad Cavic by just 0.01 seconds.

The American touched in a new Olympic record of 50.58 seconds while Australian Andrew Lauterstein produced a magnificent swim to claim bronze in 51.12.

Cavic turned in 23.42 seconds, 0.62 ahead of a seventh-placed Phelps who shared a stare down with his Serbian rival on the starting blocks just seconds before the race start.

With his record bid seemingly slipping away, Phelps conjured his freakish ability to rein in Cavic before timing his touch a fraction better to complete yet another famous victory.

After becoming the leading gold medallist in Olympic history on Wednesday, the 23-year-old swimming sensation now needs victory in the men's 4x100m medley relay, the final event at the Water Cube, to claim his eighth gold.

"It feels like I'm dreaming ... I can't describe it," Lauterstein told Channel Seven after the race.

Gymnastic gold and Phelps spur on U.S

2008-08-15T08:24:00.001-07:00

The United States fought back against China in gymnastics on Friday and won handsomely in the pool to restore some of the might of the traditional sporting superpower.

Nastia Liukin led a one-two U.S. victory in women's all-round individual gymnastics, relegating the Chinese to third place and denying them a four out of four sweep of golds in gym events.

"My dad is the reason why I became Olympic champion today," said Liukin, 18, after they became the first daughter-father act to win golds in artistic gymnastics. Father and coach Valery won two golds for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

On the first day of track and field events in the Bird's Nest stadium world record holder Jamaica's Usain Bolt went through to the semi-finals of the men's 100m in ominous ease.

He sauntered through his quarter-final race in 9.92 seconds to qualify fastest, ahead of his big rivals, American world champion Tyson Gay and compatriot Asafa Powell.

The semi-finals and final of the showcase event of the Games are in Saturday's evening session of athletics.

American Michael Phelps scorched to his sixth gold and his sixth world record in the Water Cube pool, closing in on Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven golds in a Games.

The 23-year-old now has 12 career Olympic golds, three more than anyone else. Like Spitz in 1972, all of his golds at these Games have come in world record times.

Another faking controversy enveloped the opening ceremony, again underlining the enormous lengths China is going to make the Games a showcase of its resurgent might.

Children supposedly from different ethnic groups who carried China's red flag in a show of unity were actually mostly Han Chinese, who make up 92 percent of the 1.3 billion population, Games organizers admitted.

Many ethnic groups, particularly Tibetans, chafe under Beijing's control. The ruling Communists stress on national unity is regarded by critics as code for the repression of dissent.

It is the third faking incident to hit the opening ceremony, after it emerged that computer-generated special effects had replaced "live" fireworks and an angelic little girl had lip-synched a song as the real singer was not pretty enough.

TUSSLE AT THE TOP

A dazzling floor exercise by Liukin somersaulted her to victory ahead of fellow American Shawn Johnson and China's Yang Yilin. Victory was sweet after China had profited from nervous mistakes by the U.S. women to win their first team gold.

The quest for dominance in the medals table is proving a fascinating contest between the United States and China, which came second in Athens in 2004. With evening competition underway on day seven, China led with 25 golds to the Americans' 14.

The Communist Party is desperate to underline the country's growing status by overtaking the U.S. in sporting success.

Chinese athletes have been playing to strengths in events like diving, gymnastics, table tennis and weightlifting.

The gap between the top two may narrow when track and field golds are decided, and the Americans have high hopes of a clean sweep of the medals in Friday's shot put.

Phelps gave a quick shake of his fist after victory in the 200 meters individual medley but burst into a broad smile on the podium later.

He could equal Spitz in the 100 butterfly final just after 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Saturday and could break the record in the 4x100 medley relay final just before 11 a.m. on Sunday.

"I have to conserve as much physical and emotional energy as I can now that I'm down to the last two races," said Phelps. "I'm just going to try and rest and recover as much as I can."

America's Ryan Lochte set another world best time as he won the men's 200 backstroke, ahead of compatriot Aaron Peirsol.

"That's the theme of the meet, you have to break a world record to win," Peirsol said.

Team mate Rebecca Soni, who had minor heart surgery two years ago, also won the women's 200 breaststroke in a world record time, coming from behind to overtake the 100 meters winner Leisel Jones from Australia.

LOST MEDALS

Many sports are struggling under the shadow of drugs cheats, and on Friday North Korean Kim Jong-su, who won silver and bronze in shooting, became the first medalist to test positive for drugs. Organizers said he had been stripped of his medals.

The baseball park played host to a couple of politically tinged thrillers which went down to the wire. It was a good day for communism: Cuba beat the United States 5-4 and rookies China defeated Taiwan 8-7.

The match-ups perhaps meant more to the political underdogs. In Havana, Cubans crammed around TV sets late in the night, and work stopped in Taipei as enthralled locals watched events unfold.

"It's just like in history," said Mao Ai-fen, a government employee in Taiwan. "Last night we lost to (former coloniser) Japan and today we lost to the Communist bandits."

Lawrence kayaks to silver on the whitewater

2008-08-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

Australia's Jacqueline Lawrence produced a superb run in the women's K1 final at the Shunyi canoeing and kayaking venue on Friday to collect a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Under stunning blue skies on the outskirts of Beijing, Lawrence made it down the whitewater in a time of 206.94 seconds, 14.30 seconds behind gold-medal winner Slovakian Eolena Kaliska.

Austrian Violetta Peters Oblinger claimed the bronze medal.

The result was a stunning one for Big River Canoe Club kayaker Lawrence, whose best results so far in 2008 had been modest ones, including 15th and 28th finishes in World Cup competition.

Lawrence started the final in fourth place but moved up to second after two of her rivals missed gates.

She said after the race she was totally stunned to get the silver.

"I just knew if I could get down with no major mistakes and be clean then that'd be really good," she said.

"I did have a little mistake on the way down but I pulled it back on line and I can't believe it's led to this."

"I was so excited just to have fourth at that point so to go into second is amazing," he said.

"Turned out far better than it was in my wildest dreams that his could happen."

Hackett breaks record in 1,500m heat

2008-08-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Grant Hackett shrugged off illness speculation with an emphatic heat swim in the 1,500-metres freestyle at Beijing's Water Cube on Friday evening, swimming a new Olympic record.

After a day when doubts were cast over his health in the lead-up to his tilt at a third consecutive gold medal, Hackett led throughout on his way to qualifying fastest for Sunday morning's final.

Craig Stevens missed out on the final though, swimming a disappointing time of 15 minutes, 4.82 seconds, which was well behind Hackett's time of 14:38.92.

Canada's Ryan Cochrane qualified second fastest, touching the wall in 14:40.84.

Hackett took control and burnt off the challenge of China's Zhang Lin midway through his heat to win comfortably and post his super-quick time.

"I had to go out there and swim a good pace tonight, place a good time and it's just a matter of getting ready for the final," Hackett said.

"I was very surprised. I thought it was about seven seconds slower than the pace I was doing."

It was a powerful statement from Hackett, who has won six Olympic medals, three of them gold, that he is the one to beat in Sunday's anticipated final.

The 28-year-old Australian, who has six career Olympic medals, three of them gold, has been under pressure in the lead-up to his Beijing campaign after a poor world championships - by his standards - in Melbourne in March 2007.

Poland's Mateusz Sawrymowicz ended Hackett's four-title domination of the 1,500m with victory last year and the Australian also lost his 400m free world crown.

His rivals are queueing up to deprive Hackett of his quest for Olympic history with his world record 14:34.56 still standing from 2001.

-ABC/AFP

Soni goes from heart surgery to gold medal

2008-08-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

American swimmer Rebecca Soni smashed the world record in winning the 200 meters breaststroke at the Beijing Olympics on Friday, two years after having heart surgery.

Biting her lip and choking back tears as they played The Star-Spangled Banner, she looked in a state of shock after she had beaten former world record holder Leisel Jones of Australia into second.

"It's been a long road to get here. I cannot believe what has just happened. I've won a gold medal," said the fresh-faced 21-year-old. "I was a little bit in shock.

"I was shaking a little bit up there. But it is great to be there to hear the national anthem."

The softly-spoken swimmer, who captured the silver in the 100 breaststroke after being a late replacement for Jessica Hardy, who had failed a doping test, made light of her astonishing progress since the surgery.

"It was a small heart procedure to take care of things and get back in training.

"I definitely think I exceeded my expectations. I already have two medals and I came here for one event. Things are going great," Soni said.

The University of Southern California communications student said she had been confident she would be able to win a medal after finishing behind Jones in the 100.

"As I get through the meet, it starts to flow better and everything goes faster," she said.

"I have only raced her three or four times in the past. Each time I remember how she went out faster and it kinda got into my head."

Soni certainly was living the classic American dream.

Her parents, who are from Hungary and Romania, came to the United States before she was born to build a new life.

"I guess this is what it is all about. I wish they could be here. They are back home in Arizona watching."

Phelps scoops sixth gold

2008-08-15T00:58:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps scorched to his sixth gold and his sixth world record at the Beijing Olympics on Friday in a great morning for the United States in the pool and in women's gymnastics.

With the sun shining the Olympics got into full swing. Crowds poured into the Bird's Nest stadium for the start of the track and field events, with the big names coasting through their heats in the men's 100 meters.

Controversy, though, has never strayed far from these Games.

Organizers were forced to acknowledge on Friday that children dressed in ethnic costumes who carried the Chinese flag at the opening ceremony were not actually from those ethnic groups.

Given the strained relationships between the government and some of those groups, especially the Tibetans, it could be an embarrassing admission, but authorities said it was normal practice to show "people are friendly and happy together".

It is third "faking" incident to hit the opening ceremony, after it emerged that computer-generated special effects had replaced "live" fireworks and an angelic little girl lip-synched to a key song as the real singer was not pretty enough.

Many sports are struggling under the shadow of drugs cheats, and on Friday North Korean Kim Jong-su, who won silver and bronze in shooting, became the first medalist to test positive for drugs. Organizers said his medals had been rescinded.

Nevertheless sporting achievements are helping to dispel many of the clouds which had gathered around the Games.

In the magnificent, color-changing Water Cube, Phelps is closing in on Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in a games.

BROAD SMILE

The 23-year-old now has 12 career Olympic golds, three more than anyone else. Like Spitz in 1972, all of his golds at these Games have come in world record times.

Phelps showed little reaction apart from a quick shake of his fist after victory in the 200 meters individual medley on Friday but burst into a broad smile on the podium later.

He races in the 100 butterfly final just after 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Saturday morning, and if all goes well could be in the running to break Spitz's record in the 4x100 medley relay final, to be held just before 11 a.m. in the Water Cube on Sunday.

"I have to conserve as much physical and emotional energy as I can now that I'm down to the last two races," said Phelps.

"I'm just going to try and rest and recover as much as I can."

China had dominated in gymnastics in the first week, winning the first three golds on offer. But the U.S. team made up for disappointment in the women's team event by winning gold and silver in the individual all-around event on Friday.

Nastia Liukin fought back the tears after winning gold, ahead of compatriot Shawn Johnson and China's Yang Yilin.

"It's amazing, I'm kind of speechless right now," 18-year-old Liukin said as she caressed the gleaming medal around her neck.

In the pool it was also America's morning. Ryan Lochte set another world best time as he won the men's 200 backstroke, ahead of compatriot Aaron Peirsol.

"That's the theme of the meet, you have to break a world record to win," Peirsol said.

Team mate Rebecca Soni, who had minor heart surgery two years ago, also won the women's 200 meters breaststroke in a world record time, coming from behind to overtake the 100 meters winner Leisel Jones from Australia.

It was a double disappointment for Australia's women, dominant in the pool until now, when world champion Libby Trickett was also overhauled right at the finish by Germany's Britta Steffen in the 100 freestyle.

SUPERPOWER STATUS

The quest for dominance in the medals table is proving a fascinating contest between the United States and China, which came second in Athens in 2004. By early afternoon on day seven, China led 22 golds to the Americans' 14.

The Communist Party is desperate to underline the country's growing superpower status by overtaking the United States, and its athletes have been playing to strengths in events like diving, gymnastics, table tennis and weightlifting.

The gap between the top two may narrow when track and field gold medals are decided, and the Americans have high hopes in Friday's shot put.

In one of the most eagerly anticipated contests of the Games, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay comfortably won their heats in the men's 100 meters.

There was joy for the hosts in the baseball park, China defeating arch-rivals Taiwan 8-7. Cuba beat the United States 5-4 in another tightly fought match.

Security has been gradually ratcheted up at the Games since the father-in-law of the American volleyball coach was stabbed and killed in Beijing on the first full day of the Games.

X-ray and scanning machines have now been deployed at the most heavily visited section of the Great Wall just outside Beijing, an official said on Friday.

Sporadic protests have continued in Beijing despite the clampdown. Foreign activists unfurled a banner proclaiming "Free Tibet" over an Olympics poster at the newly built headquarters of China's state television broadcaster on Friday.

Liukin captures all-around gold

2008-08-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

American Nastia Liukin was crowned the new queen of women's gymnastics when she won the all-around Olympic gold medal on Friday, breaking China's grip on the competition.

The 18-year-old put in a dazzling display on all four apparatus to seal the title with a score of 63.325 and emulate the feat of fellow Americans Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson.

Liukin edged out compatriot and world champion Shawn Johnson by 0.6 of a point. China's Yang Yilin picked up the bronze.

With victory confirmed, Liukin jumped into the arms of her ecstatic father and coach Valery, who himself was twice a gold medalist with the Soviet Union in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

"It's amazing, I'm kind of speechless right now," Liukin said as she caressed the gleaming medal around her neck.

"I came through so many battles and so many injuries, standing next to the podium and hearing Olympic champion next to my name was a dream come true."

Liukin's victory broke China's stranglehold in the gymnastics competition in Beijing as the hosts had claimed both team titles while Yang Wei won the men's gold.

Johnson, the last gymnast to perform, stepped on the floor knowing she needed to score more than 16.125 to topple Liukin.

Since the 16.000 point-barrier had not been broken on the apparatus at the Olympics, the 16-year-old dynamo knew she was facing an uphill task.

But she held her nerves to pull off a near flawless routine on her signature event.

Once Johnson completed her final tumble she ran off to hug Liukin and the two girls posed for photographs while anxiously glancing up at the big screen to see which one of them would add their names to the Olympic hall of fame.

After what seemed like an eternity, Johnson's score of 15.525 flashed up and Liukin knew gold was hers.

FATHER-DAUGHTER DOUBLE ACT

"My dad is the reason why I became Olympic champion today," a beaming Liukin told reporters after they became the first father-daughter act to win Olympic golds in artistic gymnastics.

Long hailed as a future champion, Liukin had not won a global all-around title.

She was denied the 2005 world title by a miniscule .001 of a point while an ankle injury ruined her 2006 season. Last year she was eclipsed by the spectacular debut of Johnson.

Looking pretty in pink, Liukin embarked on a gold medal journey by playing it safe on her weakest apparatus, the vault.

While the likes of Johnson soared high into the air to perform the high-scoring 2-½ twisting Yurchenko vaults, Liukin powered down the runway and opted for 1-½ twists and nailed her landing to perfection.

The effort earned her a big bear hug from Valery and 15.025 from the judges.

She came alive on the asymmetric bars and impressed everyone in the National Indoor Stadium with her grace and elegance.

Her gravity-defying exhibition included three 360 degree pirouettes on one hand while rotating round the higher of the two bars -- fittingly drawing a high score of 16.650. It put her in second place behind Yang at the end of the second rotation.

Once Liukin mounted the beam to show off her deft footwork and balancing skills, Johnson was seen standing with her back turned and looking blankly at the side hoardings.

Liukin avoided any drama and a full twisting dismount completed her exhibition. As she waited for her score, she closed her eyes and was caught on camera murmuring "come on, come on".

The adjudicators heeded her call and rewarded her with 16.125 and with chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A" ringing in her ears, she completed her victory dance on the floor.

North Korean medallist fails dope test

2008-08-15T00:55:00.001-07:00

A North Korean bronze and silver medallist has been disqualified from the Olympic Games after testing positive for a banned substance.

Kim Jong-su won silver in the 50 metres pistol and bronze in the 10 metres air pistol events in early medal wins for the reclusive country.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says Kim tested positive for the beta blocker propanalol.

It says he will stripped of his medals and kicked out of the Beijing Games.

The head of the IOC's Medical Commission, Dr Arne Ljungqvist, says it is unlikely that there is an innocent explanation for the positive test.

"I cannot interpret the finding in any other way than this is (a) deliberate intake, because it's (a substance) of importance in that particular sport," he said.

Dr Ljungqvist says he is encouraged that there have been only three positive tests so far during the Games.

"It's encouraging," he said. "It shows that hopefully the athletes who are here competing are clean."

Beta blockers are sometimes used by competitive shooters because they slow the heart rate and reduce hand tremors.

Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do has also lost her accreditation after testing positive for a prohibited substance.

Dr Ljungqvist says it is likely that the 19-year-old's positive test for the substance Furosemide was an accidental result from poor advice on allowance medicines

Soni upsets Jones in 200m breaststroke

2008-08-15T00:54:00.000-07:00

American Rebecca Soni has caused a sensational upset in the women's 200 metres breaststroke, defeating Australia's Leisel Jones at the Beijing Olympics.

Jones was the raging favourite going into the race but the 21-year-old Soni streaked clear in the final 50 metres to claim gold and break Jones's world record in a time of 2.20.22.

Jones claimed silver in 2.22.05 with Sara Nordenstam of Norway finishing with the bronze in 2.23.02.

After the race a smiling Jones shrugged off the defeat.

"I just gave it absolutely everything .. I don't care, I'm all done," she told Channel Seven.

"I've had the best time and I think that's the most important part. I'm just so happy in my life that I couldn't care less.

"No commiserations. It's the Olympic Games, it's what it's all about. It was a great experience, she was the better swimmer on the day, she really did a great job, and I couldnt be more happy."

Soni, who qualified fastest for the final, battled tirelessly to stay on Jones's shoulder before taking the lead in the last turn by only 0.01 seconds.

She then went on with the job leaving a clearly sluggish Jones in her wake to eclipse the previous world mark by 0.32 seconds.

It is the 22-year-old Australian's second silver in the event after finishing behind American Amanda Beard in Athens.

Jones has been the undisputed queen of women's breaststroke and broke through for her first individual Olympic gold in winning the 100m event on Tuesday.

"I really couldn't breathe that last 50, I was just digging deep and couldn't breathe. It was like at the (2006) Commonwealth Games," Jones said.

"Rebecca is a pretty good competitor, she was always going to go fast, it's good to see people swimming so fast.

"A silver medal is still a silver medal in the Olympics. I gave it everything, I couldn't have given more. It's been a long week and it's hard to get up for that."

Soni's surprise victory over the world champion reversed a run of defeats the American women swimmers had been experiencing against their powerful Australian counterparts.

"It just kind of flowed, it just happened, it felt great. I just kept it strong and powered to the end," Soni said.

"It feels great. The last 15m I had plenty left in me, I saw Leisel behind and just pushed for the wall.

"I didn't know what was going on, I just went for it. I thought I had a chance, but I wasn't over-confident."

Soni, who underwent minor heart surgery in 2006, was the runner-up to Jones in the 100m final, but she was too strong for the Aussie champion over the extra two laps.

Soni said she had been motivated by the sensational gold medal exploits of American team-mate Michael Phelps.

Athletics starts at last as China flexes muscles

2008-08-14T18:59:00.001-07:00

Ten days of elite athletics action begins in the main Olympic Bird's Nest venue today, giving the United States a chance to catch up with China in the battle for gold medals.

China go into the seventh day of the Olympics top of the medals table with 22 golds followed by America with 10 in a sporting rivalry reflecting Beijing's emerging superpower status.

Second in Athens in 2004, China is now mounting a formidable challenge to overtake the United States, playing to strengths in events like table tennis, diving, gymnastics and weightlifting.

The US squad expects to mount a comeback and increase its medal count in the futuristic Bird's Nest, which holds more than 90,000 people, starting the bid with the shot put.

It has been 48 years since one nation swept medals in that event, but US trio Adam Nelson, Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell have the skill to match their 1960 compatriots.

"I give it a 50-50 chance," said world champion Hoffa.

"I would love to be the class of Olympic athletes to sweep, but everything has to go right."

Twice an Olympic silver medallist, Nelson is the year's top thrower with 22.12 metres. All three Americans have personal bests ahead of their main rival, Andrey Mikhnevich of Belarus.

Australians Martin Scott and Justin Anlezark will be pushing to qualify for tonight's final.

Medals will also be awarded in the women's 10,000 metres, where Ethiopia's runners dominate and could bring some cheer to Africa which has had a disappointing Games so far.

Tirunesh Dibaba, who has two world championship titles, is favourite. She expects to run the 5,000m too and hopes to become the first woman to win the Olympic distance double.

"My expectation is that I will run both," she said. "It's being said that it's a little hot here, so the final decision will be made after the 10,000."

In what could be a tactical race, her older sister Ejegayehu and another Ethiopian, Mestawat Tufa, look set to help her and could end up on the medals' podium too.

Ejegayehu lost the 10,000m gold in embarrassing style in Athens, failing to react when a Chinese athlete, who she assumed was a lapped runner, swept past her at the death.

Meanwhile, whetting appetites for the blue riband race of the Olympics, the 100-metres men's final, the world's best sprinters will run the first two rounds of that event. Saturday's final is likely to have the widest world audience of the Olympics.

Events also beginning include the women's heptathlon, women's 800m, men's 1500m, women's 3000m steeplechase, men's hammer throw, women's discus and men's 400m hurdles.

- Reuters

Trickett will bounce back from semi drama: Thompson

2008-08-14T18:58:00.001-07:00

Australia's head swimming coach Alan Thompson says he is confident Libby Trickett will be in the right frame of mind for today's 100 metres freestyle final.

The world champion and world record holder was put through the emotional wringer yesterday when she originally thought she had qualified ninth and missed the final.

But Trickett was quickly given a spot in the last eight when Chinese swimmer Jiaying Pang was disqualified for a false start.

Coach Alan Thompson says Trickett's swim was an aberration.

"[She] just mistimed it a little bit and didn't get to where she should have but luckily enough, she scraped there," he said.

Trickett will swim from lane eight in the event she holds the world record for, with American Natalie Coughlin and Marleen Veldhuis from the Netherlands the quickest qualifiers.

In today's other finals, Leisel Jones is the hot favourite to claim the breaststroke double with victory in the 200 metres despite qualifying behind American Rebecca Soni.

Another Australian Hayden Stoeckel will be out to add to his 100 metres bronze when he chases US pair Aaron Peirsol and Ryan Lochte in the 200m backstroke.

Meanwhile, American superstar Michael Phelps will swim for his sixth gold medal in the 200 metres individual medley final.

Du Li Wins Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Gold

2008-08-14T08:52:00.002-07:00

Du Li of China competes during the women's 50m rifle 3 pos. final at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2008. Du claimed the title in this event. [Photo: Xinhua]

Factbox: Du Li, Olympic Gold Medalist in Women's 50-Meter Rifle Three Positions

Chinese shooter Du Li staged a comeback after a failure on Saturday to smash the Olympic record in the women's 50-meter rifle three positions at the Beijing Shooting Range on Thursday.

Her total score, 690.3 points or 1.9 points higher than the previous one held by Russian shooter Lioubov Galkina, ensured her a hard-won Olympic gold medal in her own country.

Katerina Emmons from the Czech Republic nailed down the silver with 687.7 points after a hot pursuit. Cuban shooter Eglis Yaima Cruz won the bronze with a slim disadvantage of 0.1 point.

Du, 26 years' old from the eastern Shandong province, advanced to the final with an Olympic record-equalling 589 points, one point higher than Cruz, while Emmons was ranked sixth with 586 points.

Competition in the final was so fierce that each shot changed position of the shooters.

In the first shot, the Chinese who made a late firing scored only 8.7 points, losing the starting advantage and slipped to the third. The leading position was taken by her 28-year-old Cuban rival who collected a 10.3.

In the second shot, Du seemed to regain her sharpness a bit amid cries of "Du, come on" from spectators, and climbed to the second with a 10.3.

The third shot saw her further mustering up her strength to make a 10.4. She then shared the No. 1 position with surging Olga Dovgun from Kazakhstan.

Cruz plunged to the third with a 9.3, 0.7 point behind the leading pair.

Olympic 10-meter air rifle champion Emmons, with the staggering 10.7, 10.1 and 10.7, mounted to the fourth, 0.2 points behind Cruz and 0.9 behind Du.

However, Du didn't seem to hold her nerves in the following two shots, collecting a 9.8 and a 9.9. With the scores she dropped to the second and was 0.1 point behind Cruz, but 0.3 points before the fourth-placer Emmons who made a 9.7 in her fifth shot.

Burying her head in the right arm for quite a while after each shot, Du managed to delight spectators with a 10.8 point in the six shot, and hence secured her leading position in the following shots.

Emmons, who rose to the second after the sixth shot, also kept her sharpness to the end, while Cruz was out of gear in the last shot, a 9.5, finishing her performance as the third.

Dovgun, who was seventh in the event at the Sydney Olympic and fourth in Athens, swooped to the sixth this time.

Another Chinese shooter Wu Liuxi finished the eighth.

China's Zhang Wins Women's Individual Archery

2008-08-14T08:52:00.001-07:00

China's Zhang Juanjuan wins the women's individual at the archery field on Thursday, August 14, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]

Related: S. Korean Archers Unbeatable? Chinese Zhang Proves Otherwise

Chinese Zhang Juanjuan beat South Korean Park Sung-Hyun 110-109 to win the women's individual archery gold medal at the Olympic Games on Thursday.

South Korean Yun Ok-hee downed DPR Korean Kwon Un-sil 109-106 for the bronze medal.

China Breaks S. Korea's Dominance in Olympic Archery

China's Zhang Juanjuan broke South Korea's dominance in the women's individual archery of Olympics for 14 years, lifting China's first ever Olympic archery title on Thursday.

Zhang brushed aside all three South Koreans in her way to the Olympic victory. The two-time Olympian Zhang staged a tit-for-tat battle against the reigning champion and No. 1 seed Park Sung-hyun's in her effort to defend her title with a 110-109 win in the final.

In the semifinal, Zhang defeated world record holder Yun Ok-hee 115-109. The mark of 115 was also an Olympic record tying result.

South Korea had never allowed the women's individual gold away from them since the 1984 Los Angeles Games before Zhang's victory over Park.

All three Koreans took over the top three positions in the ranking round and Zhang only managed for a lowly 29th place.

In the bronze medal match, Yun Ok-hee beat DPR Korean Kwon Un-sil 109-106.

The victory for Zhang was China's first Olympic gold medal in archery and also the first for non-South Korea since the Los Angeles Games.

In the team's competition, South Korea notched up both the men's and women's titles.

Federer stunned by Blake

2008-08-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Top seed Roger Federer was beaten 6-4 7-6 by American James Blake in the quarter-finals of the Olympic men's singles on Thursday.

The Swiss produced an error-strewn display under the Centre Court lights after a long rain delay and was outplayed as Blake claimed his first victory against Federer in nine meetings.

Defeat continued Federer's miserable season and leaves the 27-year-old running out of chances to win an Olympic medal, although he is still in the doubles here.

Last month he lost his Wimbledon title to Rafael Nadal and he will cede his world number one ranking to the Spaniard on Monday.

Blake said he always believed he could break his duck against the 12-times grand slam champion.

"I always believed in myself," Blake, who is now just one victory away from a guaranteed medal, told reporters. "I'd lost to him eight, nine, 10, 50 times, I don't know how many, but I had the feeling it could be my day today."

Eighth seed Blake played two superb baseline rallies to close out the first set as Federer served at 5-4 down.

Federer then fell 3-0 down in the second set before battling back to 3-3.

Luck looked to be on Federer's side when a nervy volley dribbled over off the net tape when Blake was two points away from victory in the 12th game of the second set.

However, the inspired American would not be denied, surging 6-2 ahead in the tiebreak and sealing victory on his first match point.

"He didn't play a good first game and that put me up straight away. I played loose and free and I always fancy my chances on the 5-4 game," Blake said.

"When he got that net cord I started wondering if it would turn around and he would come back playing like the best player in the world. But I know I can beat the best in the world on my day and today I proved it."

Blake will play either Chile's Fernando Gonzalez or Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu for a place in the final.

Thompson hails golden relay boilover

2008-08-14T08:40:00.001-07:00

The coach of Australia's Olympic swimming team says today's win in the women's 4x200-metres freestyle relay at the Water Cube in Beijing was a "jigsaw puzzle" that fell into place.

The team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda Mackenzie blew away the previous record by 5.78 seconds in a time of 7.44.31.

Coach Alan Thompson says the Australian team's strategy paid off.

"Our plan that we had from the trials onwards was that we would use four swimmers last night and four fresh swimmers this morning," Thompson said.

"It's a real jigsaw puzzle that you've got to try to get right.

"We just had to make some decisions on who we thought was going to give us the best lead, the best strategies to put everyone together.

"In the end it's probably a little bit of tactics, a little bit of foresight and a little bit of hope and the girls certainly put it all together today."

It was the efforts of Felicity Galvez, Angie Bainbridge, Melanie Schlanger and Lara Davenport that booked Australia a place in the final, with the four preliminary finalists swimming a time of 7:55.10.

The win is the third gold at the Olympics for Rice, who also scored wins in the 400m and 200m individual medleys.

"I definitely didn't expect the results I've gotten from these Olympics," she said. "It really still hasn't sunken in for me yet.

"But to finish with the relay and being a part of the Australian team was such a great experience for me.

It was also a memorable result for Mackenzie who brought the team home on the final leg.

She was part of the Australian relay team disqualifed at the World Championships in 2001 after they jumped in the pool to celebrate their winning performance.

"Just being part of the team is something to be proud of," Mackenzie said.

"In 2001 we had such a good team, but it was just unfortunate that we got disqualified.

"We've worked hard since then for seven years now and got our relay change-overs and training happening.

"We've got a good group of girls here that did the job here this morning."

Barratt says the highlight was watching her team-mate bring home the final leg.

"I haven't seen the replays of my face yet," she said.

"But I'm pretty sure my expression would have said it all."

"(I'm) just so honoured to be a part of this team and to share it with three other amazing girls."

The team's fastest swimmer was Palmer - better known as a middle distance racer.

She is lining up in the heats of the 800m at the Water Cube this evening.

Federer sent packing out by Blake

2008-08-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Top seed Roger Federer was sent crashing out of the Olympic tennis quarter-finals 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) by US number one James Blake on Thursday evening.

Federer was broken when serving for the first set and crushed in the second-set tie-break, suffering his first defeat to Blake in nine meetings and ending his bid for a first Olympic medal.

It was Federer's third defeat in six matches since losing his five-year Wimbledon crown.

He was beaten by Gilles Simon in Canada and then fell to Ivo Karlovic in Cincinnati.

The Swiss will be supplanted by French Open and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal on Monday after a record four-and-a-half years as number one.

Blake now faces either Paul-Henri Mathieu of France or Fernando Gonzalez, the Chilean 12th seed, for a place in the final.

Hudson celebrates 300th match in style

2008-08-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

The Hockeyroos gave 300-gamer Nikki Hudson a night to remember at the Beijing Olympics, cruising to a 3-0 win over South Africa in their group match on Thursday.

While the scoreline was not up there with the 10-0 thrashing their men's counterparts handed South Africa a day earlier, the women were in control from the 10th minute when Hudson produced a superb solo effort to score her 99th career goal.

Casey Eastham and Angela Lambert also got in on the act, scoring second-half goals to ensure that Australia maintained its perfect record at the Games.

The Hockeyroos opened their account with a stunning come-from-behind win over South Korea, backing that up with an easy win over Spain.

They have one group match remaining on Monday, against host nation China.

Meanwhile defending champions Germany and title contenders the Netherlands stepped closer to the semi-finals with their third wins.

The German girls, who won their maiden Olympic title at Athens four years ago, beat the United States 4-2 in a pool B match after being locked 1-1 at half-time.

The Dutch, who lost the Athens final to the Germans, overcame a fighting China 1-0 in pool A with Maartje Paumen scoring the winner with a penalty corner in the 21st minute.

Title contenders Argentina kept their semi-final hopes alive from Pool B with a 2-1 win over Japan, their first success after two unlikely draws against Britain and the United States.

However, former Asian champions South Korea crashed out of the semi-final race with their third successive defeat, a 2-1 loss to Spain in group A.

Liu earns China's first swimming gold as Kitajima makes double-double

2008-08-14T02:05:00.002-07:00

China made a 1-2 finish in the women's 200m butterfly final with Olympic debutant Liu Zige winning gold in a world record time Thursday at the Beijing Games.

Liu Zige (R) of China celebrates with teammate Jiao Liuyang during the final of women's 200m butterfly at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2008. Liu Zige won the gold medal in with new world record of 2 minutes 04.18 seconds. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)
Photo Gallery>>>

It's the host nation's first swimming gold of the Games and only its third since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where it grabbed four.

That unexpected win lifted China's medal tally to 18 golds, six silvers and five bronzes.

In front of thousands of home crowd at the Water Cube, Liu clocked two minutes 04.18 seconds to chop over a second off the previous mark set by Australian Jessicah Schipper in 2006. Her compatriot Jiao Liuyang came second in 2:04.72, and Schipper was third in 2:06.26.

"I didn't expect that I could swim so fast, and I was so surprised to win the gold in a world record time," said Liu.

On a day without Michael Phelps gunning for a medal, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima took center stage in the pool when he won the men's 200m breastroke final to repeat the double breastroke gold he claimed in Athens four years ago.

Kosuke Kitajima of Japan celebrates after winning the men's 200m breaststroke final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2008. Kitajima set a new Olympic record and won the gold medal in the event with 2 minutes 7.64 seconds. (Xinhua/Chen Kai)
Photo Gallery>>>

The 25-year-old, who won the 100m breaststroke on Monday in world-record time, cruised to victory in the 200m in an Olympic record 2:07.64, just outside the world record of 2:07.51 he set in Tokyo in June.

He is the first man to sweep the breaststroke gold medals at two straight Olympics.

"I was not thinking about winning two gold medals at two consecutive Olympics," he said. "That was never my goal. I was just focused on doing my best in Beijing."

Also in swimming, France's Alain Bernard took gold in the men's 100m freestyle in 47.21, just 0.11 seconds ahead of Eamon Sullivan of Australia. Both men had set world records in the semifinals.

Alain Bernard of France celebrates after winning the men's 100m freestyle final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2008. Bernard won the gold medal in the event with 47.21 seconds. (Xinhua/Ding Xu)
Photo Gallery>>>

The Americans' perfect record in the women's 800-meter relay ended when Australia took the gold medal in a world-record 7:44.31. The U.S., which has won every gold medal since the event was introduced in 1996, finished third behind China. The U.S. also held the previous record of 7:50.09 set at last year's world championships.

Seventeen more gold medals are scheduled Thursday, in which Michael Phelps doesn't go for a medal.

Phelps, who is seeking to break Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in one Games, set in 1972, has won five gold medals at the Games and 11 overall.

Chinese girls claim first Olympic gymnastics team crown

2008-08-14T02:05:00.001-07:00

China's Cheng Fei, Yang Yilin, Li Shanshan, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Deng Linlin(L to R) celebrate their victory during the awarding ceremony for gymnastics artistic women's team final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. The Chinese team claimed the title of the event with a score of 188.900. (Xinhua/Ren Long) Photo Gallery>>>

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women gymnasts won their first ever Olympic team gold medal in Wednesday's final of the Beijing Olympic Games, making a historic breakthrough expected by China for decades.

Chinese claimed their first world women's team title in the 2006 World Championships in Arhus, Denmark. The Olympic team title on Wednesday was unprecedented since the Chinese team was set up more than 50 years ago.

With deafening cheers and applause, leading Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei finished her routine in the last event of floor exercise in 15.450 points, nailing the gold for the hosts who totaled 188.900.

The silver went to the United States which collected 186.525 points. Defending Olympic champion Romania took the bronze with 181.525 points.

"Claiming the gold in Beijing is very exciting. China is the strongest team in the world," said Lu Shanzhen, head coach of the Chinese women's team.

The U.S. team, who dethroned the Chinese contingent in the World Championships last year, had been tipped to repeat the glory in Beijing.

"The performance of the Chinese team is remarkable. Today's China's day. After we made two mistakes, it was really hard for us to catch up," said U.S. head coach Qiao Liang.

The competition kicked off at 10:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in the National Indoor Stadium.

China's Cheng fell from the beam when she was the first to compete, inviting a chorus of sighs from spectators.

Cheng's teammate Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan went through the tough psychological test and enabled the Chinese team to surpass the United States by one point before the fourth rotation. Their routines' difficulty in the beam was higher than the U.S. members, giving them an advantage to claim the gold.

With the tremendous support of home fans, the Chinese team put an end to the duel in the floor exercise with three next-to-perfect routines, extending the lead to 2.375.

In a sharp contrast, the United States failed to pulled the last efforts. As the first one to represent the United States in balance beam and floor exercise, Alicia Sacramone made two fatal mistakes in the events, ruining their hopes for gold.

The 20-year-old girl dropped from the beam from the very beginning of her routine. In floor exercise, she rolled backward and landed on her bottom after a series of somersaults. Although the United States sent Nastia Liukin and world all-around queen Shawn Johnson to catch up, both of them failed the mission in landing.

Floor exercise is the specialty of Johnson and Liukin.

The United States has been beset with injuries as Samantha Peszek sprained her left ankle in warm-up, one more blow to the team after Chellsie Memmel was injured in ankle too in training.

As the final requires just three athletes from each country to compete in one event and every score counts, the United States had get rid of the short-handed problem in the final.

China's Yang Wei crowned in men's gymnastics individual all-around event

2008-08-14T02:02:00.000-07:00

Yang Wei of China gestures after winning gymnastics artistic men's individual all-around final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2008. Yang Wei claimed the title with a score of 94.575.(Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

By Sportswriter Chen Yu

BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's all-conquering gymnast Yang Wei won the men's all-around title with a convincing 94.575 points here Thursday at the Beijing Olympics.

Yang, a three-time Olympian with two world championships all-around gold under his belt, stormed to his first Olympic all-around victory by beating runner-up Kohei Uchimura by 2.60 points. Caranobe Benoit of France settled for bronze.

It's also China's second gymnastics men's all-around title after Li Xiaoshuang's at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Surviving his nearly-failed last apparatus of horizontal bar, his weakest of all six apparatus which produced his lowest 14.775 points, a jubilant Yang celebrated even before his final score was accumulated, waving the Chinese national flag to the cheering home fans.

Yang, well-known for his awesome preciseness of movements, started with a comparatively plain start on floor exercise when he stepped outside the marked area and ended with a below-average 15.250 points.

He pushed two blocks up from 10th to 8th after pommel horse routine. On rings, the 28-year-old launched a strong surge, amid deafening cheers and applause from home fans for his unbelievable straightness.

Rings produced 16.625 points and took Yang up to second place only after Yang Taeyoung of South Korea. Vault sent him further to top when he scored 16.550, and a 16.100 points on parallel bars further extended his lead.

But horizontal bar nearly brought Yang a last-minute defeat as he was seen on the verge of loosing grip of the bar. When he survived, the crowd burst into cheers and chants "Yang Wei, Yang Wei". Broad smile came to his face for the first time.

"I had experience such as excelling on five apparatus but failed the last. I also had experience of losing the first but succeeding on the remaining five. Things of such kind cannot affect me any more," said Yang.

"The gold medal is meaningful because it's China's second men's all-around gold and also the second under the coach Huang Yubin," he said.

Yang and China's first men's all-around gold medalist Li Xiaoshuang are both from China's Hubei province. "I am happy as it's the second men's all-around gold medal from Xiantao city of Hubei province," he said.

Yang's teammate Chen Yibing, a rings specialist, tried hard to pull back from a crushing start on pommel horse.

He dropped shortly after his mount and placed 23rd. But the highest 16.650 points on his specialty sent him to 10th and he even made it to the third with consistent efforts.

But a fatal blow came after he fell from the horizontal bar. He even did not finish his routine and finished in last place.

Kohei Uchimura also nearly ruined his chance after disastrous performance on pommel horse. He dropped twice and scored as low as 13.275 points. But his stable performance throughout the rest of the competition brought him to second berth among the 24 finals.

"I exhausted myself in the team competition and also has injuries. I can feel weakness and injuries during my pommel horse routine. So I gave up today's competition. I must save my energy for my individual titles, " said Chen Yibing after the competition.

He also said his teammate Yang is above the field and deserves the gold. "He trained so hard for so many years and the gold should be his," he said.

Silver medalist Kohei said he was happy with a silver medal after a slack start.

"I think I was in a very bad situation (after pommel horse). I thought 'I won't be able to get a medal.' Therefore, at that moment, I didn't think about anything except for continuing the competition," he said.

For Caranobe, the bronze is a sheer surprise. "It's very special and even in my dreams I never said I would have a bronze medal. I don't know what to say."

He said horizontal bar was crucial for his winning. "The horizontal bar was important, because I'm not good at it. I was stressed about it but now I'm happy."

On contrary to the French's good luck on horizontal bar, Fabian Hambuchem of Germany had really bad luck on the apparatus, his specialty.

The horizontal bar world champion unexpectedly dropped from the bar and lost his last hope for making the top three.

Yang Wei of China performs on the floor during gymnastics artistic men's individual all-around final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 14, 2008.(Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

Golden day for Asia in pool and gymnastics

2008-08-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

Asia's greatest swimmer Kosuke Kitajima stole the spotlight from Michael Phelps on Thursday with an unprecedented double-double in the Olympics breaststroke.

France's Alain Bernard won swimming's blue riband event, the men's 100 freestyle, by a whisker from Australia's Eamon Sullivan in a thrilling race, after trailing at the half-way stage.

In the men's 200 breaststroke, Kitajima led all the way for his second gold of the Games. He also won the 100 breaststroke on Monday and both events in Athens, a rare Olympic achievement and the first time it has been done in the breaststroke.

He raised a finger in triumph as he left the poolside.

"I was not thinking about winning two gold medals at two consecutive Olympics," he said. "That was never my goal. I was just focused on doing my best in Beijing."

For France's Bernard, sprint gold made up for the agony of being overhauled in the last lap of the 4x100 freestyle relay final by the Americans.

"I can't believe it. I know I was feeling down after the relay but I didn't want to get beaten," he said. "I didn't panic. When I looked at the board, I thought 'wow I did it'."

Sullivan, who had broken Bernard's world record twice in the last week, said "the better man won on the day".

It was better news, though, for Sullivan's former girlfriend Stephanie Rice, the glamour girl of Australian swimming, who got her third gold of the Games in the women's 4x200 freestyle relay.

The Australian team screamed and hugged each other after chopping nearly six seconds off the world record and holding off a strong challenge from the Chinese. Sullivan and Rice had split up just before the Games to concentrate on their events.

China did better in the women's 200 butterfly, scoring a surprise one-two, with Liu Zige winning in a world record time from compatriot Jiao Liuyang. World champion Jessica Schipper, who led at half-way, had to settle for bronze.

"I just took it easy," the 19-year-old Liu told state television, brushing off the pressure of the home crowd to maintain a Phelps-like calm. "I am always like this," she said.

In the women's 100 freestyle, Australia's world record holder Libby Trickett needed a lucky break to sneak into the final, qualifying only after China's Pang Jiaying, who touched first in the second semi-final, was disqualified for a false-start.

After becoming the all-time most successful Olympian with 11 career golds, American swimming phenomenon Phelps had a quieter day, sailing through a semi-final in the 200 individual medley.

Phelps, though, saw friend and compatriot Ryan Lochte come in one-hundredth of a second faster in the second semi-final, setting up a mouth-watering clash in Friday's final.

"I just wanted to win my heat," Phelps said, implying he had something in reserve. "I guess it's going to be me and Ryan in the middle tomorrow. It's fine, it's all I wanted to do."

CHINA SAYS MEDALS UNDERLINE POWER SHIFT

In another of the Games' blue riband events, Chinese gymnast Yang Wei, unbeaten on the international stage since 2006, won the men's individual all-round round gold, thumping his chest and cupping his hands around his ears to accept the crowd's cheers.

It was a fitting end to eight years of frustration for Yang, who had won silver in Sydney and drawn a blank in 2004, and maintained China's 100 percent success rate in gymnastics.

"We have been waiting for this all-around gold for eight years. It is really hard," China head coach Huang Yubin told state television. "Yang Wei's absolute strength has no other rivals but himself."

There was relief, too, for Chinese shooter Du Li, who broke down in tears after missing out on the first gold of the Games. She steadied her nerves to win the 50m rifle three positions.

Despite Phelps's exploits, China lead sporting arch-rivals the United States in the medals table by 20 golds to 10, although that may change after track and field events next week.

The Chinese-language People's Daily, the official paper of the ruling Communist Party, said Asia's global growing clout was reflected in the medals table, and warned Western powers they would face more such challenges ahead.

Chinese fans have roared on their country's every success in Beijing but some play down the significance of coming first.

"What is important is to show China and to show Beijing to the whole world," said local businessman Sun Weiming, 46.

"Several months ago, everyone was talking about Tibet but foreigners need to know the truth about China, and we believe that through the Olympic Games the world will know the truth."

Many Chinese resent the focus on Tibet and Beijing's smog, though they remain scrupulously kind and hospitable to visitors for the Olympics. Critics say Beijing is using the Games to gloss over suppression of dissent.

Kitajima snares breaststroke double, Rickard second

2008-08-14T01:59:00.001-07:00

Australia's Brenton Rickard has taken silver behind Japan's Kosuke Kitajima in the men's 200-metres breaststroke at the Beijing Olympics.

Kitajima, who won the 100m breaststroke on Monday in world-record time, repeated the double breaststroke gold he claimed in Athens four years ago.

He won in an Olympic record 2:07.64, just outside the world record of 2:07.51 he set in Tokyo in June.

He held off a late challenge from Rickard, who was second in 2:08.88, with France's Hugues Duboscq taking the bronze in 2:08.94.

"I'm very relieved that I got the gold medal," Kitajima said.

The 25-year-old, who is the only swimmer to break 2:08 in the event, was not too disappointed to miss out on a new record.

"I was going OK until the last 50 metres, and then I ran low on energy, but it was a good swim and I am pleased with the time," he said.

Rickard became the first Australian since Glenn Beringen at Los Angeles 1984 to medal over the distance.

"Swimming in an Olympic final is what we all dream about doing," Rickard said.

"To get out there and stick to my plan, and put some of those other guys off their plans, is something I'm proud of."

Rickard and Duboscq joined a small group who have broken 2:09 in the event.

Prior to Beijing, only Kitajima and former world record-holder Brendan Hansen had done it, although Daniel Gyurta of Hungary, Mike Brown of Canada and Paolo Bossini of Italy had done it in reaching the final.

"It was a pretty special thing to do, I have joined a select group," Rickard said.

"I guess the most important thing is that I did it in the final, when it mattered most.

"To get the silver medal is just great."

Aussie girls take shock relay gold

2008-08-14T01:57:00.000-07:00

Australia has taken a surprise gold medal in the women's 200-metres freestyle relay in world record time at the Beijing Olympics.

The team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda McKenzie blew away the previous record by 5.78 seconds in a time of 7.44.31.

China finished in second 1.62 seconds behind, with defending champions the United States in third, 2.02 seconds behind the Australians.

Rice, who claimed her third gold medal of the Games, led the Australian team into second after a fantastic opening leg of 1.56.57 before Barratt took the lead in the second 200m.

But Palmer proved to be the major surprise packet with an exhilarating swim of 1.55.22 setting up a 3.14-second advantage going into the final 200m.

Anchor swimmer McKenzie hung on in the closing stages to smash the US's world record from March 2007 and win Australia's first gold medal in the event.

It also ended the Americans' unbeaten sequence of three Olympic titles in the event since Atlanta in 1996.

China took the silver medal in 7:45.93 ahead of the United States in 7:46.33.

It was 20-year-old Rice's third gold in the Beijing pool following her medley double win, with all her gold medals coming in world record time.

"It's so exciting. This is my last Olympic event here so what a great note to finish on - world record and a first place," Rice said.

"We went in knowing we had a really good chance and I wasn't nervous even though I have never led off a relay before. I was trying to enjoy the moment.

"I feel amazing, I finished such a great meet as part of the relay."

The United States broke a national record but it was nowhere near good enough to compete against the strong Aussie women's team, which now has won five gold to the United States's one.

"I did my best and ran out of room at the end and that's all I could do. It's tough but we broke the American record by four seconds so we can't complain," US anchor swimmer Katie Hoff said.

In the record splits, Rice swam 1:56.60, Barratt 1:56.58, Palmer 1:55.22 and MacKenzie 1:55.91.

China leads gold race despite Phelps phenomenon

2008-08-13T18:44:00.000-07:00

China go into the sixth day of the Olympics on Thursday ahead of sporting arch-rivals the United States in the medals table despite Michael Phelps's exploits.

After becoming the all-time most successful Olympian with 11 career golds, American swimming phenomenon Phelps faces a relatively quieter day with just one semi-final to contest.

Topping the medals table is a tangible sign of China's new global status and Beijing has invested heavily in a Soviet-style sports system that finds potential champions at an early age.

Following another great day for its gymnastic, diving, weightlifting and shooting teams, China headed the overnight medals table with 17 golds to 10 for the United States.

South Korea and Germany followed with six golds while Italy, Australia and Japan had four.

Mirroring its increasing economic clout, China have replaced America's old Cold War foe Russia as their main Olympics rival.

So with American-dominated track events to start at the end of this week, the hosts face an intriguing battle to go one better than their second place in the overall 2004 Athens table.

Chinese fans have roared on their country's every success in Beijing but are playing down the significance of coming first.

"What is important is to show China and to show Beijing to the whole world," said local businessman Sun Weiming, 46.

"Several months ago, everyone was talking about Tibet but foreigners need to know the truth about China, and we believe that through the Olympic Games the world will know the truth."

A dazzling opening ceremony followed by five magnificent days of sport have, indeed, displaced the Western media's pre-Olympic spotlight on rights issues like Chinese rule in Tibet.

Many Chinese resent the focus on that and Beijing's smog at a moment of national pride, though they remain scrupulously kind and hospitable to visitors for the Olympics. Critics say Beijing is using the Games to gloss over suppression of dissent.

SWIMMING'S SUPERMAN

Half of the American gold medals in Beijing so far have come from one man -- or should that be Superman?

Phelps, 23, took two more golds in the Water Cube on Wednesday to make it five so far in Beijing after six in Athens.

"To be the most decorated Olympian of all time ... it's a pretty cool title," he said.

The 30,000 journalists covering the August 8-24 Games are running out of superlatives for the man who now has passed an elite pantheon on nine golds, including fellow Americans Mark Spitz the swimmer and Carl Lewis the sprinter and long-jumper.

The other two with nine golds are Paavo Nurmi, the "Flying Finn" distance runner, and Larysa Latynina, the Soviet gymnast.

Phelps has the comparatively easy matter of a 200 meters individual medley semi-final on Thursday before continuing his quest to beat Spitz's record of seven golds in a single Games.

Also in the pool, world record breakers Eamon Sullivan of Australia and Alain Bernard of France will face each other in the showpiece 100 meters freestyle final.

The most decorated Asian swimmer of all time, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, seeks a second gold in the 200m breaststroke.

The youngest male athlete in the Beijing Olympics, 13-year-old Dwayne Didon from the Seychelles who only started swimming at nine, competes in the 50m freestyle heats.

Although from an Indian Ocean archipelago of 115 islands, Didon grew up in a highland village and came late to water.

"When my friends at school heard the news (of me going to the Olympics) they thought I was playing a joke on them," he said.

On land, or rather in the air, Chinese gymnast Yang Wei, unbeaten on the international stage since 2006, is favorite to add to the hosts' gold medal tally in the all-round final.

As well as successfully shifting focus away from politics to sport, China appears to have overcome a couple of embarrassing public relations issues.

Bloggers and others have taken Beijing to task for super-imposing fireworks over television images of the city at the opening ceremony and keeping a young singer out of sight while a more photogenic girl lip-synched for the cameras.

Critics have questioned Beijing's methods in its zeal to impress the world. But officials have argued such techniques are common around the world.

With a population of 1.3 billion people glued to the Olympics, pressure on Chinese athletes has been enormous.

Some have buckled, others have thrived.

"It was the heavens, the earth and the people all working in my favor," shooter Chen Ying said after winning a gold where two of her fancied team mates had failed to deliver.

Sullivan, Schipper search for more gold

2008-08-13T18:43:00.001-07:00

All eyes at the Olympic Games will be on the fastest men in the pool today when Australian Eamon Sullivan starts as the narrow favourite in the men's 100 metres freestyle.

Sullivan broke the world record in Monday's men's 4x100m relay but it was reclaimed again by Frenchman Alain Bernard in yesterday's semi final.

But Bernard only held it for a matter of minutes, as Sullivan regained the record, clocking 47.05 in his own semi-final.

Also in contention is veteran Dutchman and two-time defending champion Pieter van den Hoogenband who qualified third fastest.

If van den Hoogenband wins the 100m he will become the first man to win the same event at three Olympic Games.

Australian head coach Alan Thompson says there is a chance the winner could break 47 seconds.

"Who knows what's going to happen in the final," he said.

"A lot more pressure in the final. Who knows, and these guys have got to put it all together."

The women's 100m freestyle world record holder Libby Trickett says the pressure of swimming in an Olympic final could be an issue.

"Obviously being an Olympic final there'll be a lot more pressure and a lot more riding on it, so I'm not sure we'll see faster," she said.

"I hope we do because it's bloody exciting, but it's going to be a great race no matter what happens."

Jessicah Schipper also has a chance to add to her 100m butterfly bronze medal when she races in the 200m butterfly final.

Schipper qualified second fastest behind local favourite Zige Liu, while another Chinese swimmer Liuyang Jiao will pose stiff competition in lane three.

Brenton Rickard is also an outside medal chance in the 200m breaststroke facing 100m champion Kosuke Kitajima.

Finishing off the morning's finals in the pool will be the women's 4x200m freestyle relay with the US and France set to battle it out for gold.

In today's semi-finals, Leisel Jones and Sally Foster race in the 200m breaststroke, Hayden Stoeckel and Ashley Delaney in the 200m backstroke and Trickett and Cate Campbell in the 100m freestyle.

Aussies serve it up to Spaniards in doubles boilover

2008-08-13T09:34:00.001-07:00

Lleyton Hewitt avenged Tuesday night's straight sets exit at the hands of Rafael Nadal in the singles by stunning the Spaniard in the doubles on Thursday morning (AEST) at the Beijing Olympics.

Hewitt and Chris Guccione progressed to the quarter finals after beating Nadal and Tommy Robredo in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

The result was a major upset, with Nadal (108) and Robredo's (80) doubles rankings far outstripping the less-fancied Hewitt (634) and Guccione (253).

The win comes after the Australians prevailed over Argentinians Agustin Santiago Calleri and Juan Monaco on Monday evening in a marathon three-setter that continued long into the night.

That match clearly sapped the energy of Hewitt, who was soundly beaten by the incoming singles world number one Nadal the next day.

But Guccione and Hewitt made faster work of Wednesday night's match, and despite a tight last set the contest was over in an hour and 24 minutes.

The Australian pair will face top seeded Americans Mike and Bob Bryan in the next round.

Australian Rice wins women's 200m individual medley with world record

2008-08-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Rice of Australia celebrates after the final of women's 200m individual medley at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Stephanie Rice won the gold medal with 2 minute 8.45 seconds and set a new world record. (Xinhua/Chen Kai)
Photo Gallery>>>

Stephanie Rice of Australia competes during the final of women's 200m individual medley at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Stephanie Rice won the gold medal with 2 minute 8.45 seconds and set a new world record. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)
Photo Gallery>>>

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Stephanie Rice of Australia broke the world record to win the women's 200m individual medley gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Wednesday.

Rice clocked in 2:08.45 to beat her previous world record of 2:08.92 set in March, 2008.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe took the silver in 2:08.59 and Natalie Coughlin of the United States won the bronze in 2:10.34.

Stephanie Rice of Australia reaacts after the final of women's 200m individual medley at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Stephanie Rice won the gold medal with 2 minute 8.45 seconds and set a new world record. (Xinhua/Chen Kai)
Photo Gallery>>>

World champ Qin/Wang maintain Chinese supremacy in 3m springboard

2008-08-13T09:32:00.003-07:00

China's Qin Kai (top)/Wang Feng compete during the final of the men's 3m synchro springboard at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Qin Kai/Wang Feng won the gold medal with a score of 469.08. (Xinhua/Zhao Peng)
Photo Gallery>>>

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Defending world champions Qin Kai and Wang Feng made it fourth Olympic diving title for China when they twirled to a comprehensive victory in the men's 3m springboard synchronized final here on Wednesday.

With their clean victory, dominant China has swept all of the four golds in synchronized diving events at the Beijing Games.

The Chinese duo, winners of 2008 Beijing World Cup and the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, led all the way in the final and amassed 469.08 points, nearly 50 points over their closest rivals Russian Dmitry Sautin and Yuriy Kunakov.

Legendary Sautin and his teenager partner finished runners-up at 421.98, beating Ukrainian pair Illya Kvasha and Oleksiy Prygorov at 415.05.

Qin and Wang, 21 and 29 respectively, seized the lead with their first back dive for which they achieved three maximum 10 scores. They continued to expand the gap and secured the gold after their fourth dive, a most difficult forward two-and-a-half somersault in pike position, well ahead of closest rivals by over 20 points.

They burst into laughters and gave each other a big hug after they saw their first ranking from a big screen in the National Aquatic Center, known as the Water Cube.

The second Olympian Wang, fourth of 3m springboard in Athens, presented flowers to his wife and kissed her who cheered for him on the auditorium.

"I'm too glad. I will make hard efforts to attend the next Olympics," said the 29-year-old Wang.

"We performed very well today. We have coordinated for more than 20 months. This gold is so important to my life," said Wang, who has collected up to 99 medals in all kinds of competitions, only short of an Olympic gold.

He believes the solid talents reserve and hard training lead to the great success of the Chinese Dream Team.

The Olympia debitant Qin said they did lots of preparation for the competition, and the final result was worthwhile.

Despite the unarguable victory of the Chinese, Wednesday's competition is full of magic.

Russian Sautin and his 18-year-old partner trailed closely the Chinese in the first four dives, but slumped to fourth after their fifth performance, a difficult inward three-and-a-half somersault in tuck position.

However, they managed to claw some of it back in the final decisive battle and stepped on the podium with the silver.

Furthermore, the bronze medalists, placed last out of the eight pairs after the second dive, pulled ahead since the third one, even surging past the Russian duo at the last but one dive.

After a final reverse three-and-a-half somersault in tuck position, they were delighted to secure a bronze medal.

"The medal is too important for us," said a delighted Kvasha.

"We had full confidence about ourselves when we dropped behind, and believed we could bring back a medal," said the 20-year-old.

It is legendary Sautin's second silver in his five Olympic trips. The 34-year-old has earned a total of seven medals at four previous Olympic Games, including two gold, one silver and four bronze.

"I was considering retirement after the Athens Games, but later I made a promise for competing in Beijing," said Sautin.

The iron man took nearly one year of 2005 to recover from a terrible shoulder injury, and afterwards, stepped again on his favorite springboard.

"Health is always vitally important," he admitted, adding he had strong confidence 10 years ago to beat the Chinese. However, his chronic back and waist injuries hauled some of his confidence to crush customary Chinese rivals at the Beijing Olympics.

A silver medal was also "inspiring", said the veteran, adding Beijing Games might be his last Olympic appearance.

World platform champion Alexandre Despatie of Canada and his 37-year-old partner Arturo Miranda, finished outside the medals in fifth for his third straight Olympics.

They dropped from third place to fifth after the difficult fourth dive, a forward three-and-a-half in pike position, for which they ranked only seventh-highest marks.

Chinese Wang, a good friend of Despatie, gave the latter lots of encouragement after his disappointing show on Wednesday.

"I hope he (Despatie) can adjust himself soon to compete in the individual event," said Wang, who had a same symbol with Despatie on their left arms, describing by them as a "sign of friendship".

The victory of Qin and Wang had reseized China's supremacy in the 3m springboard which the country failed to see in Athens four years ago.

The Chinese Dream Team had bitter memory in the same event at the Athens Olympics, when Peng Bo and Wang Kenan blundered in their final dive and were awarded zero point.

The gold just slipped out of their hands to Greek duo Thomas Bimis and Nikolaos Siranidis after a series unimaginable mistakes of other divers, leaving the Chinese lamenting the last place.

China has won 26 Olympic titles out of 40 in the last 24 years since its diving team manager Zhou Jihong gained the country's first diving gold in women's 10m platform in 1984 Los Angeles Games.

In the previous three synchronized events at the Beijing Games, another three pairs, namely, Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia, Lin Yue and Huo Liang, Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin, had secured the golds for China.

China's Chen Ying wins Olympic women's 25m pistol gold

2008-08-13T09:32:00.001-07:00

Chen Ying of China celebrates during the women's 25m pistol final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games shooting event at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Chen Ying shot 793.4 points to win the gold medal of the event.(Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Chen Ying shot 793.4 points to win the Olympic women's 25m pistol gold medal here on Wednesday.

Mongolai's Gundegmaa Otryad, who led the qualification round with 590points, had to settle for the silver with 792.2 points.

Germany's Munkhbayar Dorjsuren took the bronze with 789.2 points.

Chen Ying of China gestures during the women's 25m pistol final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games shooting event at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Chen Ying won the gold medal of the event.(Xinhua Photo/Bao Feifei)
Photo Gallery>>>

France gets first Olympic gold

2008-08-13T09:31:00.001-07:00

Steeve Guenot of France in blue celebrates during the men's Greco-Roman 66kg final of wrestling against Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan in red at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Steeve Guenot of France won the gold medal in the match.(Xinhua Photo/Lu Mingxiang)
Photo Gallery>>>

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- French wrestler Steeve Guenot won here Wednesday the first gold medal for his nation in Beijing.

Guenot defeated Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan in the men's 66kg Greco-Roman wrestling in the Olympic Games.

France sends a strong Olympic team to Beijing but their medal board lacked the color of gold before Guenot's feat, with only seven silvers and two bronzes in most time of the fifth day at Beijing Olympics.

After the comfortable victory, ecstatic Guenot jumped onto a spectators' stand to take a national flag and then unfurled it while running through the competition venue.

France's biggest hope for gold was foiled by China Tuesday night when its sabre fencer Nicolas Lopez was surprisingly defeated by Chinese fencer Zhong Man.

Steeve Guenot of France celebrates during the men's Greco-Roman 66kg final of wrestling against Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan in red at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Steeve Guenot of France won the gold medal in the match.(Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

Kvirkelia from Georgia wins Greco-Roman 74kg gold

2008-08-13T09:30:00.001-07:00

Manuchar Kvirkelia of Georgia celebrates during the men's Greco-Roman 74kg final of wrestling against Chang Yongxiang of China at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Manuchar Kvirkelia of Georgia won the gold medal in the match. (Xinhua/Lu Mingxiang)
Photo Gallery>>>

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Manuchar Kvirkelia from Georgia took the Greco-Roman 74kg gold at the Beijing Olympics here on Wednesday, beating Chinese wrestler Chang Yongxiang in the final.

The bronze medals went to Yavor Yanakiev from Bulgaria and Christophe Guenot from France.

Tsirekidze retains Georgia's Olympic gold in mid-weight judo

2008-08-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

Irakli Tsirekidze (blue) of Georgia competes against Amar Benikhlef of Algeria in men's 90kg final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Irakli Tsirekidze won the match and claimed the gold of men's 90kg of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event.(Xinhua Photo/Chen Jianli)
Photo Gallery>>>

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Irakli Tsirekidze from Georgia beat his Algerian opponent Amar Benikhlef with a slim advantage in the 90kg-class judo final, preserving the Olympic title for the Middle Asian country.

The 26-year-old Tsirekidze had not given any flaw in his defence against Benikhlef in the final and scored a koka by a penalty to his opponent for being negative, which led to the gold medal of the men's middleweight judo at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Ranked No. 1 in the world, the Georgian judoka proved his world title last year by giving a convincing performance throughout the competition. He managed two ippons and only surrendered one koka to his rivals.

Irakli Tsirekidze (blue) of Georgia reacts after beating Amar Benikhlef of Algeria in men's 90kg final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Irakli Tsirekidze won the match and claimed the gold of men's 90kg of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event.(Xinhua Photo/Wu Xiaoling)
Photo Gallery>>>

In the five-minute showdown lasted to the end, Benikhlef nearly twisted the Georgian for a come-from-behind victory at the last a few seconds. However, the Algerian failed to make a historical gold medal for his country and the whole Africa.

Nevertheless, Benikhlef who ranked 25th this year still achieved the best judo result at the Olympic Games with the silver medal for African people, following a bronze medal gained by his compatriot Soraya Haddad in women's 52kg category.

The bronze medals went to Hesham Mesbah, another African judoka from Egypt. He ipponed Frenchmen Yves-Matthieu Dafreville.

Sergei Aschwanden of Switzerland also made an ippon victory over Ivan Pershin from Russia to receive the other bronze medal.

Olympic Games award two bronze medals respectively to winners of bouts between semifinal losers and repechage winners.

Chinese Liu Chunhong breaks 3 world records in 69kg class weightlifting

2008-08-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

Liu Chunhong of China takes a snatch lift during the women's 69kg final of weightlifting at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Liu set a new world record in snatch lift with 128 kilos.(Xinhua Photo/Yang Lei)
Photo Gallery>>>

by sportswriter Wu Chen

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese strongwoman Liu Chunhong broke three world records to retain her Olympic title in the women's 69kg category on Wednesday at the Beijing Olympics.

Liu, 23, snatched 128kg, which is the first world record created by Chinese at Bejing Games, jerked 158kg, totaling 286kg.

Her coach Ma Wenhui run into the platform and hugged Liu.

"I didn't waste my hard training," Liu said.

Instead of an one-to-one battle between Liu Chunhong and Russian lifter Oxana Slivenko as predicted, Wednesday's event turned out to be a perfect one-person show of the Chinese woman Hercules at the Beijing University Aeronautics and Astronautic gymnasium.

Ma, Chinese women's weightlifting team coach, said before the event that it would be an intense competition and Liu may have to break the world record to be the winner.

Although Slivenko finished the snatch session with a disappointing 115kg, eight kilos less than her own world record while Liu easily snatched 120kg in her first attempt, the defending champion seemed to have her mind set on getting the records back.

She succeeded the second attempt of 125kg, bettering the previous score by two kilos, and she shattered the minute-old mark with a lift of 128kg in the third.

Slivenko then jerked 136kg and 140kg, securing the silver medal, and gave up the third attempt.

It's Liu's turn now.

She succeeded in her first attempt for 145kg and then asked a record-breaking 149kg and made a good lift.

The ambitious lifter didn't stop. In her last attempt, she jerked 158kg and totaled 286kg, rewriting the world record of jerk, previously owned by Russian Zarema Kasaeva, as well as the total, which was newly set by herself.

"The opponent was not as strong as we had imagined, however, I just concentrated on my own performance," Liu said.

Liu claimed her previous Olympic title four years ago also by smashing three world records.

She got injured in 2006 world championships after dominating the category for some four years and in her first come-back events, she lost to Slivenko at 2007 world championships.

Slivenko, who won golds in 2006 and 2007 world championships, got the silver with 255kg.

"It's really scary to compete in such a tournament as the Olympic Games. I was under huge pressure," she said, adding that she felt happy for Liu.

Natalya Davydova of Ukraine was settled for the third place with 250kg.

Phelps makes Beijing splash

2008-08-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

American swimmer Michael Phelps became the most successful Olympian of all time Wednesday, winning his 10th and 11th gold medals in record times.

The Phelps phenomenon is dominating headlines in the Beijing Games first week, while making the biggest splash on-line.

Dan Sloan reports.

Britain dominates coxless fours in style

2008-08-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

Britain continued their dominance of the men's coxless fours on Wednesday with a close win in their semi-final to keep on course for a third consecutive Olympic gold.

Britain, winners in Sydney with Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent on board and again in Athens, came through fast Australian and French crews to enter the final as favorites in one of the blue ribbon events of the regatta.

But the Netherlands, bronze medalists at the 2007 world championships and among the medal favorites, failed to make the final after finishing fourth behind Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Germany in the second semi-final.

World champions New Zealand also failed to make the final.

"We've come a long way from the heat and we'll have to step on again," Britain's Steve Williams, who won gold with Pinsent in Athens, told reporters. "And having seen where we've come in three days I'd back us (to do that)."

The home crowd had reason to cheer in the first A class semi-final when Zhang Xiuyun won comfortably to make the final where she will meet Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, the favorite and holder of two Olympic gold single scull medals and one silver.

In the men's smaller boats, New Zealand struggled with three-times world champion Mahe Drysdale finishing third behind his long-time rival Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Britain's Alan Campbell. All three still qualified.

New Zealand's men's double scull of Sydney Olympic single scull champion Rob Waddell, returning after a seven-year break, and partner Nathan Cohen also finished third to qualify for the final but they will have to race from one of the outside lanes.

"I don't think it was our best row ... but it's better to be in the outside lane than not be there," Waddell told reporters.

Spotlight on speed kings

2008-08-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

World record breakers Eamon Sullivan and Alain Bernard battle for 100 meters freestyle gold on Thursday when, for once, there is no medal for Michael Phelps to win.

Phelps will be in action in the semi-finals of his 200 individual medley title defense, having eased home first in the final heat and sixth-fastest overall, half a second behind pace-setter Ryan Lochte.

He also swims in the 100 butterfly heats in the evening.

"It was fine, that's all I wanted to do. I'm trying to conserve everything for the final," said Phelps, who became the most prolific Olympic winner of all time on Wednesday when two more golds raised his career tally to 11.

Lochte, bronze medalist behind Phelps in Sunday's 400 medley, has two semi-finals, having qualified fastest on Wednesday in both the 200 backstroke and 200 medley.

Lochte leads the way into the 200 backstroke semi-finals with a heat time just 0.06 seconds quicker than his team mate Aaron Peirsol, the defending champion.

Peirsol retained his 100 backstroke crown on Tuesday and is bidding to become the first man since East Germany's Roland Matthes in 1968 and 1972 to win both backstroke titles at two Olympics.

The big race on Thursday, though is the showpiece 100 freestyle final, Frenchman Bernard and Australian Sullivan having both broken the world record in Wednesday's semi-finals.

Frenchman Bernard, who lost the world record on Monday when Sullivan led off the Australian 4x100 freestyle relay in 47.24 seconds, grabbed it back on Wednesday in 47.20.

Sullivan snatched it straight back in the second semi-final, swimming 47.05 to enter the final as the fastest qualifier.

Title-holder Pieter van den Hoogenband finished third overall in a lifetime best 47.68 but played down his chances of winning the crown an unprecedented third time.

"No, I don't think so," the 30-year-old Dutchman replied when asked if he could complete the treble.

"It's a new generation, a new way of swimming. I'm happy to make the final for the fourth time in a row."

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima has every chance of becoming the first man to complete a second golden Olympic double in Thursday's 200 breaststroke final after breaking the Games record in 2:08.61 in the semi-finals.

World record holder Kitajima, who retained his 100 breaststroke crown on Monday, is followed into the final by Canada's Mike Brown (2:08.84) and American Scott Spann (2:09.08).

Teenagers Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang target China's first women's Olympic 200 butterfly title, with Liu, 19, quickest in the semi-finals in 2:06.25 and Jiao, 18, third overall in 2:06.42.

Australian world champion Jessicah Schipper was second-fastest in 2:06.34 and Athens champion Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland fourth on aggregate in 2:06.78.

Opals make it three in a row

2008-08-13T07:45:00.001-07:00

Australia's women's basketball team continued its sizzling form at the Olympics on Wednesday evening with a comprehensive 90-62 victory over Korea in their Group A match in Beijing.

The Opals are now joint top of the group with Russia after winning all three of their games.

The next game for Australia will be on Friday against Latvia.

Meanwhile "Girl power" again succeeded where Yao Ming's brute force has so far failed for China's men, the Olympic hosts beating New Zealand 80-63.

China took control early after a bizarre start when they raced to the wrong end of the court after losing the tip-off and gifted New Zealand a free lay-up, which they missed.

Former triathlete Chen Nan top-scored for the Chinese, the big centre scoring 26 points, while captain Miao Lijie added 15 in the team's second victory in Group B.

An expected win over Mali in their next game would secure China's place in the quarter-finals.

European champions Russia were the first team to book a quarter-final spot with a 71-65 Group A victory over Belarus while Latvia squeezed past Brazil 79-78 for their first win.

Spain beat the Czech Republic 74-55 in Group B for their second win.

Olyroos crash out after winless group stage

2008-08-13T07:44:00.001-07:00

Australia's men's football team suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Ivory Coast in their final group clash on Wednesday evening, bowing out of the Olympics without a win from three matches.

A clinical Salomon Kalou strike in the 81st minute proved the difference between the two sides, with the Olyroos unable to produce a goal in a match they needed to win to have any chance of proceeding to the quarter-finals.

Sheffield United winger David Carney had a chance to find the back of the net for Australia in the first half but his shot was blocked on the line by the last-ditch Ivory Coast defence.

Billy Celeski also found himself in a position to score in the second half but his free header was off target for the Olyroos.

The Ivory Coast 'Elephants' had a wealth of possession and produced a number of chances but it was not until nine minutes from the end of regulation time that they finished the game off.

After some flowing lead-up work from the Ivorians, Kalou calmly slotted the ball into the top-right corner past goalkeeper Adam Federici to consign Australia to an early exit.

Earlier in the tournament the Olyroos drew 1-1 with Serbia and lost 1-0 to Argentina, finishing bottom of the group with a solitary point.

What makes Phelps so special?

2008-08-13T06:17:00.001-07:00

Michael Phelps showed no sign of letting up in his pursuit of breaking Mark Spitz's record for the most amount of medals won in one Olympic Games.

First he romped home in the 200m butterfly in a new world-record time.

He gave all swimmers around the world hope when he moaned he couldn't see down the last 100m due to his goggles filling up with water!

This is usually only a problem that faces young swimmers at club level. I'm just thankful he didn't stop and look for the lifeguard to tighten the strap.

And then there was the 4x200m relay - if ever there was one of his gold medal opportunities that was nailed on, it was in this race.

With such strong middle distance team-mates the world record always looked under threat. However, to break the magic barrier of 7.00 minutes was simply phenomenal.

Lets take a look at what makes Phelps so special:

Long torso

All swimmers look pretty much the same when in their swimming suits but if you take time to truly weigh up Phelps' physique he looks almost like a cartoon character.

If you were guessing his height from looking at his legs, you would more than likely say less than six foot. Switch your gaze to his freakishly long torso and you you probably say he would be more like a 6ft 8in!

The issue most people have with swimming is the legs drag through the water and in many instances can slow them down. His long torso and short legs reduce this drag and allow for maximum propulsion.

Wing span

Just like most people have a shoe size that is the same length as the distance from their wrist to the elbow, we all generally have a wingspan that is similar to our height.

Michael Phelps' wingspan based on his height should be around 196cm. His actual wingspan is 208cm and this provides perfect levers for him to pull himself through the water.

Low body fat

When Phelps steps out the water after one of his final swims you can generally see what he had for breakfast! It would seem there is no fat on him at all and at a guess I would say it was around 4% and obviously based on power to weight ratio this allows him to maximise his effort into speed.

I'm sure if you checked any doctor's chart a 6ft 4ins, 83kg man would definitely be seriously underweight.

When trying to win Olympic gold medals it works fairly well!

Power of recovery

All athletes produce lactic acid when their aerobic system can no longer keep up with producing the amount of energy required to perform.

As a matter of course all swimmers need to swim down to get rid off this 'acid' so they are ready to perform at their potential the next time they race.

Phelps has extraordinary powers of recovery; as well as not producing usual levels of lactic acid he also needs only minimal recovery before he is ready to go again.

On Tuesday he swam a sensational race in the 200m freestyle - and was back in the pool moments after the medal ceremony for the 200m butterfly heats.

"In between the 200m free and the fly heats I have probably had in total about 10 minutes to myself," he told to US TV. That takes phenomenal mental focus too.

Tools of the trade

With large hands and size 14 feet he has all the right equipment to swim super fast. Without these paddles and fins to get him through the water he would not be equipped to make an assault on all the world records.

Mindset

Similar to Tiger Woods this man just does not know how to quit.

With 11 Olympic gold medals to his name already and a possible three more up for grabs in Beijing plus a similar medal assault in London could Michael Phelps not only end up being the greatest Olympian in history but also the greatest sportsman ever?

Cat purring as U.S. blanks Australia

2008-08-13T06:13:00.001-07:00

Cat Osterman tossed a no-hitter and Crystl Bustos crushed a two-run homer to power the United States to a 3-0 victory over Australia on Wednesday for their 16th consecutive Olympic softball victory.

In two games, the Americans have yet to allow a hit, Osterman's seven-inning gem following a five-inning masterpiece from Jennie Finch and reliever Monica Abbott in an 11-0 rout of Venezuela.

The Americans have lost just four times on the way to winning three Olympic gold medals and the Australians have taken two of those scalps, once at the 1996 Atlanta Games and again four years later in Sydney.

But in the rematch of the 2004 gold medal final the Australians sputtered, falling to 0-2 in Beijing following a 4-3 loss to Japan in their opener.

With the U.S. clinging to a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning, Bustos, who slammed an Olympic record five home runs in Athens in 2004, clinched the victory with her second homer of the Beijing Games.

"The pitch wasn't bad," Australian pitcher Tanya Harding told reporters. "I was more annoyed about getting the runner on base before her."

In other preliminary round play, China improved to 2-0 with a 7-1 decision over Olympic debutantes Venezuela.

The Venezuelan's celebrated their first run in Olympic competition when 41-year-old catcher Zuleyma Cirimele drove across Yuruby Alicart in the fourth inning.

Free, Ginn in good shape for pairs final: coach

2008-08-13T06:11:00.001-07:00

Australian men's pairs rowing coach Chris O'Brien says he was happy to see Duncan Free and Drew Ginn gain a safe passage through to the final in Beijing on Wednesday.

Free and Ginn finished first in their semi-final at the Shunyi rowing course on the outskirts of Beijing with a time of 6:34.29, ahead of the United States and Germany.

"It's always good to get them out of the way because it's the final hurdle on your way to the final," O'Brien said.

"You don't know what people are going to throw at you so you've really got to throw it out there and see what's going to happen.

"Fortunately today we threw it out there, it stuck, and they were able to take some good margin there early and as a result really able to control the race."

He said Free and Ginn have sent out a message to their opponents.

"They've beaten all the potential gold medal contenders already and I think most importantly they've got the mental wood on a few of those crews," he said.

"They've broken them, and broken through them in the last 400 metres on a number of occasions and I think that's very, very significant going into an Olympic final."

In other results, Australia's women's rowing eight progressed through to the Olympic final after a fourth-place finish in their semi-final.

The men's doubles sculls pairing of Scott Brennan and David Crawshay finished first in their semi-final to move through to the finals.

The men's four is also into the final after an impressive second-place finish in its semi-final.

Meanwhile Pippa Savage went out of the women's single sculls with a fifth-place finish in her semi-final.

Peter Hardcastle is also out after finishing sixth in the men's single scull semi-final.

Another Armstrong wins cycling gold

2008-08-13T06:10:00.001-07:00

No, she's not related to Lance Armstrong. But Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong is proud to share some traits with the seven-time Tour de France winner, whom she describes a wonderful role model.

"I get that question quite a bit -- if Lance and I are related," Armstrong said after beating Briton Emma Pooley and Karin Thurig of Switzerland to win the women's 23.5-km time trial at the Great Wall of China.

"The answer's no, but I feel like we have a lot of similarities. We both come from a triathlon background; we both have the same mentality."

Armstrong placed eighth in the road race in Athens, then in 2006 became only the third American in history to win a world championship in the women's time trial.

Before she started cycling competitively Armstrong was a swimmer and triathlete, competing in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in 1999.

She was diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the hips and told to stop doing high-impact sports like running. She began cycling as therapy for her condition then started competing.

"The sport of cycling in America isn't huge. I think that the audience is every four years at the Olympics or when Lance Armstrong is winning the Tour.

"So I hope that winning the gold medal will bring the fans out more than just one day every four years."