There was high drama in the pool, on the basketball and tennis courts and in the courtroom at the Summer Games in Athens Monday.
World record-holding swimmer Ian Thorpe of Australia won the men's 200-meter freestyle gold medal Monday, powering past Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands and American Michael Phelps.
In a showdown billed as the "Race of the Century," Thorpe moved past the Dutch swimmer on the final lap to touch the wall in an Olympic record time of one minute, 44.71 seconds. Van Den Hoogenband took the silver in 1:45.23, while Phelps earned the bronze with an American record time of 1:45.32. The defeat ended the 19-year-old Phelps's quest to match fellow-American Mark Spitz's Olympic record of seven gold medals at one Games.
One day after the United States men's Olympic basketball team suffered a shocking 19-point loss to Puerto Rico, the U.S. women's team improved its record to 2-0 with an 80-61 win over the Czech Republic.
After falling behind by nine points on Monday, Team USA battled back for the victory with a dominating performance on the boards and two big scoring runs. Lisa Leslie led the United States with 15 points. In other early games Monday, New Zealand topped South Korea 81-73 and Japan took advantage of excellent three-point shooting to defeat Nigeria 79-73.
An International Olympic Committee hearing in Athens to decide whether Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou should be banned from the Games for missing a mandatory drug test last week has been delayed until Wednesday.
The track stars' lawyer was granted the two-day delay Monday, after convincing the IOC tribunal the athletes should be able to attend and speak for themselves. The Greek sprinters are still receiving hospital treatment for cuts and bruises they reportedly suffered in a motorcycle accident after missing the test.
The disciplinary hearing will determine if the pair, who have been already been suspended by the Greek Olympic Committee, should be banned from the Games.
In judo, South Korea's Lee Won-Hee won the gold medal in the men's 73-kilogram class, defeating Russia's Vitaly Makarov in the final match. Germany's Yvonne Boenisch won gold in the women's 57-kilogram class with a win over North Korea's Kye Sun-Hui in the final.
China's Chen Yanqing won the Olympic gold medal in the women's 58-kilogram class of weightlifting Monday. Ri Song-Hui of North Korea took silver while Thailand's Wandee Kameaim won bronze.
China's Zhu Qinan won the Olympic gold medal in men's 10-meter air rifle on Monday with a world-record score of 702.7. The previous best mark was 702.5. His teammate Li Jie took the silver with 701.3. Australian Suzanne Balogh has won the Olympic gold medal in women's trap shooting, finishing ahead of Spain's Maria Quintanal and South Korea's Lee Bo-Na, who took the bronze.
Australia's women's field hockey team has continued its drive toward a third straight Olympic gold medal, with 3-0 win over South Africa. After a shocking 2-1 loss to Germany Saturday, the Hockeyroos bounced back to earn their first points in the competition. In another match-up, reigning women's world champion Argentina defeated Japan 3-1.
A member of Denmark's Olympic sailing team has been charged in the traffic death of a British pedestrian in Athens. Nilas Holm was detained by Greek police after he struck and killed Errol Strachan while driving to an event late Sunday. The Danish sailor was released after being charged with manslaughter and speeding.