OLYMPIC ROUNDUP: With 10 golds, Phelps stands alone

Associated Press
Published: August 12, 2008

BEIJING — A mythical Mount Rushmore of Olympic champions used to be pretty easy to assemble. The four spots would’ve gone to the only athletes with nine gold medals: Americans Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz, Russia’s Larysa Latynina and the Flying Finn, Paavo Nurmi.

Now, Michael Phelps has joined them — and left them in his wake.

Phelps got No. 9 late Monday night in the 200-meter freestyle, getting so far ahead so quickly that most of the race it looked as if he’d been given a head start. His third gold medal in Beijing came in world-record time, just like the other two.

Then Phelps moved ahead of the crowd, breaking his own world record with a time of one minute, 52.03 seconds in the 200-meter butterfly late Tuesday night. He was scheduled to compete in the800 freestyle relay later in the night.

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh took the silver and Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda won bronze.

With the win, Phelps became the most-gilded Olympian ever. A win in the 800 free relay would put him more than halfway toward his goal of eight in ’08, which would break Spitz’s record for a single Olympics.

“He’s not just winning, he’s absolutely destroying everything,” teammate Aaron Peirsol said. “It’s awesome to watch.”

Swimming

After Phelps won the 200 free, avenging the only individual race he lost in Athens, Americans won the next two events at the Water Cube and got second in the one after that.

Natalie Coughlin became the first woman to repeat as champion of the 100 backstroke, winning with an American record of 58.96, then Peirsol set a world record in becoming a repeat champion in the men’s version.

Rebecca Soni won silver in the 100 breaststroke, an event she picked up only after Jessica Hardy’s positive drug test.

More U.S. medals from the pool: Matt Grevers, silver in Peirsol’s race; Peter Vanderkaay, bronze in Phelps’ race; and Margaret Hoelzer, bronze in Coughlin’s race.

Men’s gymnastics

The Chinese were supposed to win. The Americans weren’t even necessarily supposed to be in the finals, not after losing Paul and Morgan Hamm to injuries in the 10 days before the Olympics.

China was a heavy favorite because it won seven of the last eight world titles.

With no Olympic veterans, nobody expected much from the Americans. They were second after four events, then slipped behind Japan going to their final apparatus, the pommel horse, which is their weakest routine.

It all came down to Sasha Artemev, the second replacement, who helped the U.S. clinch the bronze medal.

Women’s soccer

Heather O’Reilly scored 40 seconds into the match, leading the U.S. past New Zealand 4-0 and into the quarterfinals. Better yet, they won their group, avoiding a match with title contender Brazil.

The other goals came from Amy Rodriguez, Lindsay Tarpley and former University of Virginia star Angela Hucles.

Here’s the quarterfinals slate: United States vs. Canada; Brazil vs. Norway; Sweden vs. Germany; and China vs. Japan. The winners of the first two games, and the last two games, will meet in the semis.

Softball

The Americans are back to their old tricks on the softball diamond, beating former UVa standout Ruby Rojas and Venezuela 11-0 for their 15th straight Olympic victory.

Jennie Finch was the pitching star, with the homers coming from Natasha Watley, Crystl Bustos and Caitlin Lowe, whose shot

didn’t leave the yard.

In other openers, Japan beat Australia 4-3; Canada’s Laura Bay Regula — the sister of Boston Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay — allowed one hit in five innings and Megan Timpf drove in three runs in a 6-1 win over Taiwan; and China beat the Netherlands 10-2.

Rowing

The U.S. men’s eight crew and former UVa rower Wyatt Allen advanced to the final with a win in the second-chance race, keeping alive hopes of defending the Olympic title. 

Men’s basketball

Coming off a 31-point win over host China and knowing that next up is Greece — the team that stunned them two years ago in the semifinals of the world championship — the “Redeem Team” merely had to take care of business against Angola. They did, winning 97-76 behind 19 points from Dwyane Wade, 14 from Dwight Howard and 12 from LeBron James.

Spain trailed by 14 going into the fourth quarter against China, then won 85-75 in overtime after Yao Ming fouled out early in the extra session.

Greece smothered Dirk Nowitzki, limiting him to 13 points in an 87-64 victory. The former NBA MVP spent most of the final quarter on the bench resting for the next game.

In other games, Manu Ginobili scored 21 points as Argentina bounced back from a loss to beat Australia 85-68, Linas Kleiza scored 22 points to lead unbeaten Lithuania past Asian champion Iran 99-67 and Croatia beat Andrei Kirilenko and Russia 85-78.

Tennis

Serena won. Venus won. Then, they won together — three victories in one day for the Williams sisters.

Each swept their way into the third round in singles, then together knocked off a Czech duo in doubles.

In men’s singles, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both advanced with ease, with Nadal dropping only three games total against Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

. Federer next faces Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

who beat him at the last Olympics.

Americans Lindsay Davenport and Liezel Huber won their first-round doubles match, as did the No. 1-seeded men’s duo, Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States.

In women’s singles, Jelena Jankovic moved atop the rankings and celebrated with a victory. James Blake, the lone remaining U.S. player in men’s singles, also won, as did No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Boxing

Rau’Shee Warren worked four years to become the first two-time American boxing Olympian in 30 years. Then, in his first match, he made the huge mistake of spending the last 35 seconds trying to protect a lead when he actually was behind and needed to go on the attack. He lost 9-8 and left the ring in tears.

“I don’t even know what happened,” he said.

France’s Jerome Thomas, a two-time flyweight medalist, lost. Meanwhile, bantamweight Gu Yu extended China’s great start with a 17-7 victory that left Britain’s Joe Murray crying about judges being too partial toward the home country. China’s relatively inexperienced team won four other first-round bouts.

“I knew they were going to give him everything he wanted,” said Murray, who beat Gu in the quarterfinals of last fall’s world championships.

The International Amateur Boxing Association already reviewed and denied a protest by the Ukrainian team over a loss Monday night.

Volleyball

Wearing the initials TB on one shoe and BB on another, the U.S. men paid tribute to their coach’s in-laws in their four-set victory over Italy.

The letters were for Todd and Barbara Bachman, the in-laws of coach Hugh McCutcheon. Todd was killed and Barbara seriously wounded in a knife attack at a tourist site Saturday. McCutcheon has left the team to be with his wife, 2004 U.S. Olympian Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon; it’s not known when he’ll return.

Shooting

Glenn Eller is a member of the U.S. Army. He’s also the new double-trap champion, having set an Olympic record with his score. So it’s no surprise that his spot in the military is being part of the Army Marksmanship Unit. Fourth went to Jeff Holguin, another Army marksman.

South Korea’s Jin Jong-oh edged North Korea’s Kim Jong Su to win the men’s 50-meter pistol despite a poor final shot.

Canoe-Kayak

Slovakia’s Michal Martikan won the single canoe slalom, just like he did 12 years ago in Atlanta. He’s taken silver at the last two Olympics. American Benn Fraker finished sixth.

Germany’s Alexander Grimm won the single kayak slalom. Togo won its first-ever medal in any Summer Olympics when Benjamin Boukpeti took bronze. He also became the first black man to ever medal in a slalom event, according to the International Canoe Federation.

Way to go, Togo.

Diving

Teenagers Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin won the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform title, making the hosts 3 for 3 in diving thus far with five events left.

Individual platform is theirs to lose. The 15-year-old Chen and Wang, who turned 16 on Monday, are ranked 1-2.

Americans Mary Beth Dunnichay and Haley Ishimatsu, a pair of 15-year-olds, were fifth among eight teams.

Women’s gymnastics

China’s He Kexin, who fell off the uneven bars during Sunday’s preliminaries, will be back on the apparatus in the finals today. It’s the only event He will do.

As expected, American Samantha Peszek will be on the sidelines for the finals because of a twisted left ankle.

Beach volleyball

Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor keep looking good in their bid for a second straight gold, improving to 2-0 with a straight sets victory over Cuba that virtually assures them of a spot in the medal round. It was their 103rd consecutive victory.

Wrestling

There were surprise winners of the first two Greco-Roman golds and both were Russians: 19-year-old Islam-Beka Albiev in the 60-kilogram division and 21-year-old Nazyr Mankiev in the 55-kg field.

Weightlifting

China’s Liao Hui won the men’s 69-kg category, making the hosts 5-for-5 in events it has participated in.

North Korea’s Pak Hyon Suk won the women’s 63-kg division. American Natalie Woolfolk finished fourth in the B-competition and Carissa Gump was sixth.

Judo

Athens champion Ayumi Tanimoto of Japan won the women’s 63-kg class and Germany’s Ole Bischof won the men’s 81-kg division.

Badminton

Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong have gone where no American badminton tandem has ever gone — the quarterfinals. Next up, though, is a second-seeded Chinese pair with a loud, loyal following.

Equestrian

American Gina Miles, riding McKinlaigh, won the individual silver medal in eventing. Gold went to German Hinrich Romeike, riding Marius.

Germany won the gold in team eventing in an exciting showdown with Australia that went down to the final two riders.

Water polo

Jeffrey Powers had three goals, Tony Azevedo added two and the Americans barely escaped with a 12-11 victory against Italy in preliminary play. At 2-0 in the Group B pool, they’re in solid position to advance to the quarterfinals even with Serbia and gold-medal favorite Croatia in the next two games.

Field hockey

The U.S. women again tied a highly ranked team, matching Japan at 1-1, but could use a victory to get into the next round.

Fencing

China’s Zhong Man won men’s saber fencing, making him the second fencing winner ever from his country. American Keeth Smart lost in the round of eight.

Sailing

American favorite Anna Tunnicliffe topped the rankings in Laser Radial sailing after two opening races, while Australia maintained its lead in both the men’s and women’s 470 dinghy classes.

China’s 2004 windsurfing silver medalist Yin Jian remained on top in her quest for the host country’s first-ever sailing gold, as did Israeli Shahar Zubari in his bid for his nation’s second Olympic gold ever.

Archery

American Jennifer Nichols tied an Olympic record in the first round, then was ousted in the second round. Teammate Khatuna Lorig moved on, as did South Korea’s top-seeded trio.

Team handball

Three men’s games were decided in the final 2 minutes: Russia over Egypt, South Korea over Denmark and Spain over Poland. Other winners were Croatia, France and Iceland.