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Day 5 of Olympics Brings Gold for Some, Major Upsets for Others - 2004-08-18


A total of 21 gold medals will be awarded on Wednesday at the Athens Olympics. Day five medals already awarded include archery, boating and shooting events, as well as judo, cycling, and weightlifting.

The first gold medal of the day went to Tony Estanguet of France, with a victory in the men's slalom Canoe. Slovakia's Michal Martikan crossed the finish line first, and was initially declared the winner. But he was later penalized for touching a gate, which dropped him to second place and the silver medal.

Slovakia's Elena Kaliska won the women's slalom Kayak.

Russia's Irina Korzhanenko became the first woman to win a gold medal at the ancient Olympia site that gave birth to the Olympics, recording a winning toss of 21.06 meters in the women's shot-put.

In cycling events, Dutchwoman Leontien Zijlaard van Moorsel won the women's time trial. She was still bruised from a crash during the women's road race on Sunday. Tyler Hamilton of the United States won the men's time trial.

Japan's Masae Ueno and Georgia's Zurab Zviadauri earned gold in 70-kilogram and 90-kilogram judo divisions respectively.

History was also made on the judo mat Wednesday, when 18-year-old Friba Razayee became the first woman ever to compete for Afghanistan at the Olympics. The young judo fighter lost her match against Spain's Cecila Blanco in 45 seconds. Under the rule of the Taleban, Afghan women were barred from competing in sports. The policy led Olympic officials to ban Afghanistan from the Sydney games four years ago.

Gold medals for women's shooting went to Bulgarian Maria Grozdeva in the 25-meter pistol and American Kimberly Rhode in the double trap.

Ukranian Nataliya Skakun won a gold medal in weightlifting. Competing in the women's 63-kilogram division, Skakun and Hanna Batsiushka of Belarus lifted the same composite total of 242.5 kilograms. But Skakun was declared the winner because she has a lighter body weight.

Batsiushka settled for the silver despite setting a new world record in the snatch (115 kilos), one of two lifts that make up the competition, along with the clean and jerk.

South Korea's Park Sung-hyun won the women's archery competition, defeating fellow-South Korean Lee Sung-Jin 110-108 to capture the gold medal. Park's win gives South Korea six straight gold medals in the event going back to 1984.

Wednesday's Olympic swimming events are under way, with Australian Jodie Henry setting a world record in the women's 100-meter freestyle.

Henry won the semifinal with a time of 53.52 seconds - breaking a record set by fellow Australian Lisbeth Lenton earlier this year.

Greek sprint stars Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou withdrew from the Athens Olympics Wednesday morning, following an International Olympic Committee hearing set to decide whether they should be banned from the Games for missing a mandatory drug test last Thursday.

Kenteris denied any wrongdoing, but the reigning 200-meter Olympic champion said he was stepping away from the Games "in the interest of his country." Thanou, the 100-meter silver medalist in the Sydney Games, also denied using illegal substances.

In non-medal competition, Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson played a dominating inside game, as the United States women's Olympic basketball team defeated South Korea 80-57.

Lee Mi-sun led South Korea with 16 points. In other matches, the Czech Republic beat China 98-83, Greece knocked off Nigeria 83-68, and Australia moved past Japan, 97-78.

There was a pair of major tennis upsets, as women's defending gold medalist Venus Williams of the United States and her second-seeded compatriot Andy Roddick were both defeated in the third round.

Roddick lost 6-4, 6-4, to number-16 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile on Wednesday, while unseeded Mary Pierce of France beat the number-six Williams, 6-4, 6-4. Americans Chanda Rubin and Lisa Raymond also lost. Rubin fell to second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-3, 6-1, while Lisa Raymond was eliminated by Alicia Molik of Australia 6-4, 6-4. Taylor Dent was the only U.S. player to advance, as he topped Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-4, 6-4.

In other results, world number one and top-seed Justine Henin-Hardenne, fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, number-eight Ai Sugiyama of Japan and 11th-seeded Francesca Schiavone were among the winners.

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