updated 6:57 p.m. ET Aug. 23, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - The U.S. softball team won its third straight gold medal with a nearly unblemished romp through the Olympics, capped by a 5-1 victory Monday over an Australian team, that, like the rest of softball’s elite, never had a chance.

The Americans zeroed in on a gold medal, and were four outs from mowing through the tournament without giving up a run before the Aussies scored a run.

Lisa Fernandez pitched a four-hitter and Crystl Bustos homered twice in the Americans’ best all-around game of the tournament. The U.S. team pounded three home runs off Aussie ace Tanya Harding.

The United States completed a three-game sweep of the silver medal-winning Aussies. The Americans outscored Australia 20-1 at the Olympics and finished the nine-game tournament by outscoring the field 51-1. The run total was just one of more than a dozen Olympic records that fell to the U.S. squad.

Women’s Soccer

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Minutes after missing a wide open net, Heather O’Reilly scored in the ninth minute of overtime to give the United States a 2-1 victory over World Cup champion Germany and a place in Thursday’s gold-medal game.

The Americans will face Brazil for the gold. Brazil defeated Sweden 1-0 in Patras in the other semifinal on a goal from Pretinha in the 64th minute. Germany will play Sweden for the bronze.

Mia Hamm set up the goal with a short cross from the right, pushing back the pass toward a cluster of three players about 6 yards from the net. O’Reilly, the only teenager on the team of U.S. veterans, got her foot on the ball, pushing a shot to the left of goalkeeper Silke Rottenberg.

The win gives the Fab Five — long-standing U.S. stars Hamm, Julie Foudy, Joy Fawcett, Brandi Chastain, and Kristine Lilly — a chance to go out as champions in their final tournament together.

Track and Field
The United States swept the men’s 400 meters with Jeremy Wariner of Grand Prairie, Texas, leading the way in 44.00 seconds. Otis Harris of Columbia, S.C., was second in 44.16 while Derrick Brew, of Raleigh, N.C., took the bronze in 44.42.

Hungary’s Robert Fazekas won the discus with an Olympic-record toss of 232 feet, 8 inches (70.93 meters), beating the past two gold medalists. Lithuania’s Virgilijus Alekna, the defending champion, settled for the silver after never improving on his opening toss of 229-3 (69.89). Hungary's Zoltan Kovago won the bronze at 219-11 (67.04).

Frangoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon won the gold in the women's triple jump with a leap of 50 feet, 2½ inches (15.30 meters). Chrysopigi Devetzi of Greece won the silver medal. Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia got the bronze.

Kelly Holmes of Britain won the gold medal in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.38. Hasna Benhassi of Morocco won the silver in 1:56.43, while Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia took the bronze with the identical time, 0.08 seconds ahead of Maria Mutola of Mozambique in fourth.

Athanasia Tsoumeleka of Greece won the gold medal in the 20-kilometer walk, holding off Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia in a personal best of 1:29.12. Jane Saville of Australia, disqualified after leading as she approached the stadium in Sydney four years ago, took bronze.

Meseret Defar of Ethiopia won gold in the women's 5,000-meter run with a time of 14 minutes, 45.65 seconds. Isabella Ochichi of Kenya won the silver in 14:48.19 seconds. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia took the bronze.

After the first day in the decathlon, Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan leads with 4,689 points, while Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic is second with 4,594. Bryan Clay of Azusa, Calif., is third, followed by Britain’s Dean Macey and Tom Pappas of Knoxville, Tenn., the reigning world champion.

Russia’s Irina Korzhanenko was stripped of her shot put gold medal, the first athlete of the Athens Games to lose an Olympic title because of doping.

The 30-year-old Korzhanenko was the first woman to win a gold medal at the sacred site of Ancient Olympia but tested positive for the steroid stanozolol after Wednesday’s competition. The backup B sample confirmed the initial finding.

Gymnastics
Italy’s Igor Cassina edged American Paul Hamm in a tiebreaker to win the gold medal in the high bar finals, an event marred by a 10-minute delay while fans booed the score given to Russian star Alexei Nemov. Cassina and Hamm, the all-around champion, each scored 9.812. Isao Yoneda of Japan won the bronze and Nemov finished fifth.

Romania picked up two more medals in the floor exercise finals, with Catalina Ponor winning her second gold of the night, and teammate Nicoleta Sofronie taking silver. Patricia Moreno of Spain won bronze.

Ponor’s floor exercise victory marked her third gold of these games. She won another on beam Monday to go with the team gold medal the Romanians captured earlier this week.

All-around champion Carly Patterson of the United State won her third medal of these Olympics and the sixth for the U.S. women’s team, taking silver behind Ponor on the beam. Alexandra Eremia of Romania took bronze. Romania also won six medals overall to match the United States for the highest total among the women.

Gervasio Deferr of Spain won the men’s vault title, giving Spain its second Olympic gold medal in men’s gymnastics. Evgeni Sapronenko of Latvia won the silver, while former world champion Marian Dragulescu of Romania took the bronze.

Valeri Goncharov of Ukraine won the gold medal in parallel bars, defeating Hiroyuki Tomita of Japan by 0.012 points. Two-time reigning world champion Li Xiaopeng of China took bronze.

Men’s Basketball
The United States routed overmatched Angola 89-53 in its final game of the preliminary round.

Tim Duncan finished with a team-high 15 points in limited minutes, and the Americans dominated with a 52-17 edge in rebounding as NBA commissioner David Stern watched from a seat 10 rows behind the American bench.

The Americans had to wait until Greece defeated Puerto Rico 78-58 in Monday’s final game to learn their next opponent -- unbeaten Spain. The other quarterfinal matchups will be Greece-Argentina, Puerto Rico-Italy and China-Lithuania.

Robertas Javtokas scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Ksistof Lavrinovic added 18 as Lithuania remained unbeaten through five games with a 100-85 victory over Australia.

Spain beat New Zealand 88-84, knocking the Kiwis out and keeping defending world champion Serbia-Montenegro in medal contention.

China then clinched the final quarterfinal berth in Group A by upsetting Serbia-Montenegro 67-66 behind 27 points from Yao Ming. Serbia-Montenegro, the two-time defending world champion, has no chance at a medal and will play Angola for 11th place.

Massimo Bulleri made two free throws with 3.9 seconds to give Italy a 76-75 win over Argentina.

Beach Volleyball
Misty May and Kerri Walsh beat fellow Americans and friendly rivals Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs 21-18, 21-15 in the semifinals.

The No. 1 Americans will play for the gold Tuesday against second-seeded Brazilians Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar, who defeated Australians Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson 21-17, 21-16.

In men’s action, Spaniards Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera ousted Australians Julien Prosser and Mark Williams 21-18, 21-18.

Spain will face top-ranked Brazilians Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, who outlasted fifth-seeded Swiss pair Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel 21-14, 19-21, 15-12 in the other semifinal.

Men’s Volleyball
Defending gold medalist Serbia-Montenegro grabbed the top seed in its pool with a grueling five-set victory over upstart Greece. Veteran Vladimir Grbic slammed the winning kill off blocker Theodoros Chatziantoniou to give the Serbs their fourth straight win.

Poland qualified for the last open spot in the quarterfinals with a dramatic five-set victory over Argentina after starter Sebastian Swiderski sprained his ankle in the third set and couldn’t continue. Dawid Murek killed nine of his 10 attack attempts in the first two sets for the Poles (3-2), who will play Brazil in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

The United States beat Brazil, the No. 1 team in the world, in a match where both teams used their reserves exstensively. Both teams had already clinched spots in the next round.

The Americans finished pool play at 3-2 and will face host Greece in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Serguey Tetyukhin scored 18 points to help Russia hold on for a five-set victory over Italy, but the Italians — by avoiding a sweep — won the tiebreaker and took second in Pool B.

Stephane Antiga had 14 points for France in a four-set victory over Tunisia, but the French were eliminated with Poland’s win.

In a match with no bearing on the medal round, the Netherlands swept Australia behind 17 points from Richard Schuil.

Canoe-Kayak
Seven-time kayaking gold medalist Birgit Fischer of Germany — trying to become the first woman to win Olympic medals 24 years apart — had a strong start. Her four-person kayak never trailed in its 500-meter heat.

The American women’s K-4 boat finished last in the same five-kayak heat but remains in contention. An Olympic format allows boats finishing outside the top three to enter a semifinal.

Cycling
Three quick races, about 40 seconds of hard pedaling time, and it was all over for U.S track cyclist Jennie Reed, who was eliminated from the opening rounds of the sprint competition.

She finished second in the consolation race, placing her 10th in a 12-woman field.

Australia easily defeated Britain for the gold medal in the 4,000-meter team pursuit, adding the Olympic title to its three consecutive world championships in the event. Australia finished in 3:58.233 seconds. Britain finished in 4:01.760. Spain beat defending gold medalist Germany for the bronze.

Diving
Alexandre Despatie led the Olympic 3-meter springboard preliminaries, keeping the powerful Chinese out of their customary top spot. Despatie, the first Canadian to win a world title on the 10-meter platform last year, was first with 517.59 points.
Peng Bo of China was second with 495.45. Russia’s Alexander Dobroskok was third with 489.75; Japan’s Ken Terauchi was fourth with 456.15.
The United States had mixed results in an event that Americans have won 15 out of 17 Olympics from 1920 to 1992.

Equestrian
Debbie McDonald of Hailey, Idaho, moved into contention for an individual dressage medal with an energetic, fault-free round on Brentina that scored 74.840 percent. She moved to fourth overall, with a two-day average of 74.067 percent.
The United States hasn’t won a medal in individual dressage since 1932.

Sailing
American sailors John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree held onto their lead in the Tornado catamaran class and Paul Cayard jumped up three spots in the Star class on another bizarre afternoon on the Saronic Gulf.

A northerly Meltemi — the wind that whips through the hills around Athens — was predicted to bring at least 13 knots of breeze onto the gulf, but it never developed.

While the Tornados got in their two scheduled races, the Stars got in just one before the breeze died. The boats drifted under the brutally hot sun for about three hours before attempts to start the second race were abandoned.

Table Tennis
Ryu Seung-min beat China’s Wang Hao in six games, becoming the first South Korean to win the men’s table tennis gold medal since the sport was added at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

Ryu, ranked third in the world, won 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9, ending China’s long run of men’s singles titles. Wang Liqin of China won the bronze.

Men’s Water Polo
Hungary finished preliminaries unbeaten and secured an automatic semifinal place in Olympic water polo by edging Russia 7-6 in a rematch of the Sydney 2000 decider.

Russia can finish either second or third in Group A, depending on the outcome of Monday’s later match between Serbia-Montenegro and the United States.

Marc Torsten Politze and Heiko Nossek scored two goals apiece, and Germany rallied for a 6-6 tie with Australia to secure a place in the quarterfinals from Group B.

Spain kept its chance of advancing alive, if Greece beats No. 2-ranked Italy in a later match. Salvador Gomez and Gabriel Hernandez scored three times each for Spain in a 12-4 win over Egypt.

Mile Smodlaka scored two goals, and Croatia held off a late comeback against Kazakhstan for its first win of the tournament.

Wrestling
Sara McMann couldn’t hold an early lead in her 138½-pound gold medal match with world champion Kaori Icho of Japan and lost 3-2, meaning the United States exited the debut of Olympic women’s wrestling without any golds.

The Americans, who had four world silver medalists last year, came away with only two medals: McMann’s silver and Patricia Miranda’s bronze at 105½ pounds.

Irini Merleni of Ukraine beat Chiharu Icho of Japan to win the gold medal in the women’s 105½-pound class. Miranda took the bronze by beating France’s Angelique Berthenet.

Saori Yoshida of Japan shut out Tonya Verbeek of Canada to win the gold in the 121-pound class. Anna Gomis of France took the bronze.

Lise Legrand of France won the bronze in the 138½-pound class, defeating Stavroula Zygouri of Greece.

Wang Xu of China beat Gouzel Maniourova of Russia to win the gold the 158½-pound (72 kg) class. Kyoko Hamaguchi of Japan took the bronze.

Men’s Field Hockey
Teake Taekema scored twice for the Netherlands, which defeated Australia 2-1 to stay undefeated in preliminary round play. It will face Germany in the semifinals.

Australia placed second in Group B and will face Spain, which topped Group A.

Germany needed only a tie to advance to the next round, but trailed late in the second half until Bjoern Emmerling scored in the 66th minute to tie South Korea 2-2.

Spain advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 win over Egypt behind two goals by Eduardo Tubau. Hayden Shaw scored twice for New Zealand, which beat South Africa 4-1 to clinch third place in Group B.

Pakistan routed Britain to finish with three wins. Pakistan will advance to 5th through 8th place classification rounds, while the best Britain can place is ninth. Matias Vila scored on a penalty corner in the final minute to lift Argentina into a tie with India.

Women’s Team Handball
South Korea surprised world champion France (2-2). Kim O-Kyeung scored eight goals for the South Koreans (3-1). Isabelle Wendling scored eight for France which will finish third in Group B. It also lost to two-time Olympic champion Denmark. France and South Korea both advanced to the quarterfinals.

Denmark pounded Angola 38-22 in the other Group B game. Denmark had already clinched the group and ended up 4-0. Angola finished 0-3-1.

In Group A, Ukraine rallied to beat Hungary, 23-22, in a game that decided the top position in Group A. The Ukranians trailed by four at halftime, but led by eight goals from Nataliya Lyapina, they remained undefeated at 4-0. Hungary ended pool play at 3-1 but both advanced to the quarterfinals.

China defeated Brazil, putting both teams at 2-2 — enough to advance to the quarterfinals.

Weightlifting
Bulgaria’s Milen Dobrev lived up to his top seeding and took the gold medal in the 207-pound division of the Olympic weightlifting tournament.

Dobrev, the reigning world champion, made clean lifts on each of his first five tries. He failed on his sixth and final attempt, but just laughed and kissed the weights, knowing his total of 898 pounds already had clinched first place.

Junior world champion Khadjimourad Akkaev, a 19-year-old from Russia, took silver with a total of 893 pounds. Fellow Russian Eduard Tjukin got the bronze.

Boxing
American super heavyweight Jason Estrada gave perhaps the most lackluster performance yet by a U.S. boxer Monday night, losing a chance for an Olympic medal by dropping a 21-7 decision to Cuba’s Michel Lopez Nunez.

Meanwhile, Russian featherweight Alexei Tichtchenko ousted world champion Galib Jafarov of Kazakhstan, winning 36-26 to advance to the semifinals.

Two world champions advanced with easy wins on the second day of quarterfinals at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. Russian super heavyweight Alexander Povetkin and bantamweight Aghasi Mammadov both clinched a medal — since bronzes are awarded to both semifinal losers.

Two more fighters from the powerful Cuban team advanced to the semis. Bantamweight Guillermo Rigondeaux and super heavyweight Michel Lopez Nunez encountered no problems, but featherweight Luis Franco was beaten by Germany’s Vitali Tajbert.

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