updated 6:57 p.m. ET Aug. 27, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - A failed baton handoff doomed the U.S. 400-meter relay team, terminating Marion Jones’ last chance for a medal at the Athens Games.

An hour after she finished fifth in the long jump, Jones was unable to make the handoff to 100-meter silver medalist Lauryn Williams midway through the relay. Williams left too early and Jones could not reach her with the baton until it was too late.

Jamaica won Friday night in a time of 41.73 seconds. Russia won the silver medal at 42.27 seconds. France got the bronze at 42.54 seconds.

Jones, running second, was close to the lead as she approached Williams. But she reached once, shouted as she reached a second time, then finally was able to give the baton to Williams on the third attempt — nearly running into her younger teammate.

By then Williams was already out of the handoff zone. She stopped running, and Jones put her arm around Williams as the two walked to the end of the track.

Earlier, Tatyana Lebedeva led a Russian medal sweep in the long jump, relegating Jones to fifth place in her only individual event of the Olympics.

Lebedeva, who won a bronze in the triple jump four days earlier, leaped 23 feet, 2½ inches to take the gold. Irina Simagina was second with a jump of 23-1¾, and Tatyana Kotova won the bronze.

Tim Mack cleared an Olympic-record 19 feet, 6¼ inches to lead a 1-2 American finish in the pole vault. Toby Stevenson cleared 19-4¼ for the silver medal as the United States took the top two places in the event for the second Olympics in a row. Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy, the 2003 world champion, won the bronze with 19-2½.

Liu Xiang of China tied the 110-meter hurdles world record and set a new Olympic mark, winning the gold medal in 12.91 seconds. Liu won the first gold medal in track for a male Chinese athlete. U.S. trials champion Terrence Trammell won silver in 13.18, while Anier Garcia of Cuba took bronze.

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Osledidys Menendez of Cuba won the gold medal in the women’s javelin, falling one centimeter short of her world record. Menendez’s best throw was her first one — 234 feet, 8 inches (71.53 meters), shattering the Olympic record by more than eight feet. Silver medalist Steffi Nerius of Germany was a distant second and Mirela Manjani of Greece took the bronze.

Xing Huina of China surged past Ethiopia’s Ejegayehu Dibaba in the final turn night to win the women’s 10,000 meters. Ethiopian Derartu Tulu was third.

Robert Korzeniowski of Poland added to his record collection of gold medals in race walking with his unprecedented third consecutive Olympic victory in the 50-kilometer walk. It was a final triumph for the 36-year-old Pole, who says he is retiring after the Olympics.
Russians Denis Nizhegorodov and Aleksey Voyevodin were second and third.

Men's Basketball
Manu Ginobili scored 29 points to lead Argentina past the United States, the country that used to dominate the sport, 89-81 win in the semifinals.

For the first time since 1988, the gold medal will not go to the Americans. And for the first time since pro players were added for the original Dream Team in 1992, the United States will not be the Olympic champion.

The United States will play Lithuania, which lost 100-91 to Italy in the other semifinal, for the bronze medal Saturday. Argentina will play Italy for the gold.

Women’s Basketball
Sheryl Swoopes made three big plays in the final minutes to help the United States to a 66-62 semifinal victory over Russia. The Americans, who won gold at the past two Olympics, will face Australia in the final Saturday.

With her team clinging to a 60-58 lead, Swoopes buried a jumper from the left wing with 3:54 remaining, just beating the shot clock. She deflected a Russian shot at the other end, then scored again, hitting a 10-footer from the left baseline to make it 64-58 with 3:15 left.

Lauren Jackson, the WNBA’s MVP with the Seattle Storm last season, had 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead Australia past Brazil 88-75. That set up a rematch of the gold medal game in Sydney four years ago, when the United States beat the Aussies 76-54.

Evanthia Maltsi scored 29 points and Greece capped an impressive debut in Olympic basketball, finishing in seventh place with a 87-83 win over New Zealand.

Hana Machova scored 22 points to lead the Czech Republic to a 79-68 victory over Spain.

Men’s Soccer
Iraq’s surprising Olympic soccer run came up short with a 1-0 loss to Italy in a bronze medal game that couldn’t escape reminders of violence in the war-torn country.

Just before kickoff, the teams exchanged words of condolence for Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who was killed by Iraqi militants seeking to force Italy’s troops out of Iraq. Italian players also wore black armbands to honor Baldoni.

On the field, Alberto Gilardino scored his fourth goal of the tournament in the eighth minute to seal Italy’s first soccer medal since it won gold at the 1936 Berlin Games.
The loss meant the Iraqis go home without a podium finish, after seeking to win the nation’s first medal of any kind since 1960.

Argentina and Paraguay meet in Saturday’s final.

Men’s Volleyball
Brazil showed why it’s ranked first in the world of men’s volleyball with a dominant three-set win over the United States. With Gilberto Godoy Filho, Dante Guimaraes Amaral, and Gustavo Endres leading a lightning-quick attack, the Brazilians crushed the Americans’ hope for a gold medal.

Brazil will play second-ranked Italy, which swept Russia, in Sunday’s final, and the United States takes on Russia for the bronze medal.

The Americans will play for their first medal since 1992, when they won a bronze in Barcelona.

Canoe-Kayak
German kayaker Birgit Fischer won her eighth gold medal on Friday, becoming the first woman to win Olympic medals 24 years apart.

Fischer, 42, was part of the four-person kayak the rallied in the second half of the 500-meter final, winning by two-tenths of a second over Hungary, with Ukraine taking bronze.

Fischer won her first gold at 18 in Moscow, becoming the youngest women ever to win an Olympic kayaking event. She now has 11 total medals and will be a strong contender for another on Saturday, when she races in the pairs kayak final.

Spain’s David Cal surged ahead of Germany’s Andreas Dittmer, the defending gold medalist and three-time defending world champion, to win the 1,000-meter single canoe event. Attila Vajda of Hungary ended up in third.

In the single kayak 1,000-meter race, two-time world champion Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway won the gold, Ben Fouhy of New Zealand took the silver and Adam van Koeverden of Canada held on for bronze.

The Swedish kayak pair of Markus Oscarsson and Henrik Nilsson won their 1,000-meter event, improving on their silver in Sydney. Italy was second and Norway third, giving Larsen his second medal of the day.

The Germans took their second gold when the canoe pair of Christian Gille and Tomasz Wylenzek won their 1,000-meter final. Russia held off Hungary for second.

In the men’s K-4 1,000, the Hungarians crossed the line first, ahead of Germany in second and Slovakia in third.

Diving
Caesar Garcia and Kyle Prandi failed to advance out of the 10-meter platform preliminaries, meaning that American divers would have their first Olympic shutout in 92 years.

Garcia, of Baton Rouge, La., finished 23rd with 388.77 points. Prandi, of Strongsville, Ohio, dropped from second place to 21st after the second round and wound up 29th out of 33 divers with 346.53 points. Only the top 18 divers moved on.

Mathew Helm of Australia was the top qualifier with 513.06 points. Alexandre Despatie of Canada, silver medalist in 3-meter springboard, was second with 500.55.

The United States was once the world’s diving superpower, winning 41 of the 62 gold medals available between 1904 and 1976.

The balance of power began to shift in the 1980s, despite the brilliance of Greg Louganis, and this year’s team joined the 1912 squad as the only ones that failed to win at least one Olympic medal.

Cycling
Norway’s Gunn-Rita Dahle dominated the women’s mountain bike field for her 15th consecutive win in an internationally sanctioned race.

Since May 2003, Dahle — whose time was 1 hour, 56 minutes, 51 seconds — has won 28 of 32 races she’s entered.

Mary McConneloug of Fairfax, Calif., the lone American in the Olympic women’s field, placed ninth. Canada’s Marie-Helene Premont won the silver in 1:57:50, and reigning world champion Sabine Spitz of Germany got the bronze in 1:59:21.

Men’s Water Polo
Tamas Kasas scored three goals and Hungary moved within one victory of an eighth Olympic water polo gold medal after beating archrival Russia 7-5 in the semifinals.

Captain Tibor Benedek scored the go-ahead goal for a 6-5 lead. Later, Kasas scored a third time to give Hungary a two-goal cushion.

Serbia-Montenegro, bronze medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games, led all the way against Greece to set up a showdown with Hungary in the championship match. Aleksandar Sapic scored Serbia-Montenegro’s last goal, increasing his haul to 16 for the tournament.

Tony Azevedo scored three goals to lead the United States to a 6-5 win over Australia. The U.S. advanced to a playoff for seventh place. The Americans led 3-0 in the first half and 5-2 in the third period. Pietro Figlioli scored three. The U.S. team will face Italy, which defeated Croatia 11-7 thanks to three goals from center Fabio Bencivenga.

Ivan Zaitsev scored seven goals as Kazakhstan got its first win of the tournament in the 11th-place game. Egypt, the first African team in Olympic water polo since 1968, finished last.

Men’s Field Hockey
Bjoern Michel scored 10 minutes into overtime lifted Germany to a 4-3 victory over Spain in the bronze-medal game. It was the world champions’ first Olympic medal since winning gold in Barcelona in 1992.

Pakistan’s Sohail Abbas scored on three penalty corners to carry his team to fifth place with a 4-2 victory over New Zealand. India beat South Korea 5-2 to take seventh place, dropping the Koreans, who won the silver in Sydney, into eighth. Britain needed penalty strokes to claim ninth place after playing South Africa to a draw.

Men’s Team Handball
Ivano Balic scored nine goals to lead Croatia, the reigning world champion, past Hungary 33-31 in the semifinals. Mirsa Dzomba scored eight and Goran Sprem had six goals for Croatia, while Carlos Perez lead Hungary with eight.

Germany topped Russia 21-15 in a low-scoring match and will face Croatia for the gold medal on Sunday. The Germans used a four-goal run in the second half to pull away. Goalkeeper Henning Fritz made 14 saves and Stefan Kretzschmar scored five goals for the Germans.

Host Greece advanced to the fifth-place game after beating South Korea. Spyros Balomenos scored eight goals for the Greeks, who will face France on Saturday. The French rallied from a two-goal deficit at halftime to top Spain. Spain and South Korea will play for seventh place.

Modern Pentathlon
Three-time world champion Zsuzsanna Voros of Hungary won the gold medal in the women’s modern pentathlon.

Voros had a 41-second head start on her nearest rival entering the final 3-kilometer run and had time at the end to grab a Hungarian flag from the stands and unfurl it while jogging down the home stretch.

American Mary Beth Iagorashvili, of Munkwonago, Wis., was 15th overall. She was fourth in Sydney in 2000, the first women’s Olympic pentathlon. Teammate Anita Allen, a captain in the U.S. Army from Star City, Ind., was 18th.

Taekwondo
American Nia Abdallah won the silver medal in taekwondo, advancing all the way to the final before losing 2-1 to Jang Ji-won of South Korea in the under 57-kilogram class. Iridia Salazar Blanco of Mexico won the bronze.

Later, Hadi Saei Bonehkohal of Iran won the gold medal in the men’s 68-kilogram division, beating Chih Hsiung Huang of Taiwan 4-3. Song Myeong-seob of South Korea got the bronze.

Abdallah, from Houston, was the first American woman to win an Olympic match in taekwondo, added as an official sport in Sydney in 2000.

Boxing
Andre Ward advanced to the final of the 81-kilogram division by defeating Uzbekistan’s Utkirbek Haydarov 17-15. Ward, from Oakland, Calif., scored two punches in the final seconds to become the only U.S. fighter to advance to a gold-medal bout.

In the final Sunday, he will face Magomed Aripgadjiev of Belarus.

Andre Dirrell of Flint. Mich. lost his semifinal bout to Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan 23-18 in the 75-kilogram class.

The powerful Cuban team advanced seven fighters to the finals and British teenager Amir Khan came advanced in the 60-kilogram division.

Rhythmic Gymnastics
Mary Sanders, the only U.S. rhythmic gymnastics representative, failed to make it out of qualifying, finishing 15th out of 24 gymnasts. Only the top 10 advanced to Sunday’s all-around final.

Defending world champion Alina Kabaeva of Russia was first with 105.875 points. Fellow Russian Irina Tchachina finished second. Anna Bessonova of Ukraine was third.

Though Sanders was ninth at last year’s world championships, she had little chance of making the final after a questionable score on the first day of qualifying in the hoop routine.

The Americans protested, but it was rejected by the International Gymnastics Federation. That left Sanders in 18th place after half of qualifying, too far down to make any kind of meaningful move.

Synchronized Swimming
The Russians, overcoming a glitch in their music that forced them to start over, completed a sweep of the synchronized swimming golds with a team performance that received perfect 10s across the board in artistic impression. The Japanese took silver and the Americans were third.

Tammy Crow helped the Americans win the bronze. The 27-year-old Californian pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter in a February 2003 wreck that killed her boyfriend, Cody Tatro, and 12-year-old Brett Slinger. The sentence was delayed so Crow could compete in the Olympics.

Wrestling
Kerry McCoy was tossed by Marid Mutalimov of Kazakhstan 11 seconds into overtime, a 3-point move that sent Mutalimov into the medal round at 264½ pounds and a somber McCoy home to Bethlehem, Pa. He announced his retirement immediately afterward.

McCoy’s was the only American loss in 11 matches.

Cael Sanderson, the most successful college wrestler ever while going 159-0 at Iowa State, won three times at 185 pounds and will meet Cuba’s Yoel Romero in the semifinals Saturday.

Equestrian
Chris Kappler, of Pittstown, N.J., took bronze in show jumping and was relieved not just to win a medal but to learn his horse — which broke down on the course — was not seriously hurt.

Kappler’s horse, Royal Kaliber, was taken from the Olympic arena in a trailer and examined at the onsite veterinarian clinic. Officials said the horse, which strained a front leg tendon during a timed jumpoff, would be fine.

Ireland’s Cian O’Connor won the gold riding Waterford Crystal. Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa won silver by default after Kappler pulled up. He had eight faults in the first round and jumped clean in the second.

Women’s Team Handball
Denmark moved within one game of its third consecutive gold medal by beating Ukraine 29-20. Katrine Fruelund scored nine goals for Denmark, while Line Daugaard added five and Josephine Touray had four. Nataliya Lyapina scored five goals for Ukraine.

South Korea knocked out France, the current world champion, 32-31. After trailing 30-23, France scored five straight goals, but the Koreans held on for the win. It was the fourth straight time that South Korea has beaten France in a major competition.

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