Track cycling, sailing, equestrian and wrestling medals highlighted action Wednesday at the Athens Olympics. The semifinal field was set for men's water polo.
The United States maintained its slim lead at the top of the medal standings with 25 gold and 76 overall. China has 24 gold with 52 total. Australia moves into third place with 42 medals including 16 gold.
Cheered on by thousands of her countrymen, Fani Halkia of Greece pulled off a stunning upset to win the Olympic Games women's 400 meter hurdles gold medal. The 25-year-old Greek timed 52.82 seconds while European champion Ionela Tirlea-Manolache of Romania won silver (53.38). Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova of Ukraine took bronze (53.44).
Veronica Campbell of Jamaica won the gold medal in the 200-meter sprint with a time of 22.05 seconds. Allyson Felix of the United States won the silver (22.18) and Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas took bronze (22.30).
An Olympic record meant gold for Olga Kuzenkova of Russia, who threw the women's hammer 75.02 meters. Cubans took the other two podium positions with Yipsi Moreno winning silver (73.36) and Yunaika Crawford taking the bronze (73.16).
In track cycling, Ryan Bayley of Australia won the gold medal in the men's Keirin race. Jose Escuredo of Spain won silver with Shane Kelly of Australia taking bronze. German Rene Wolff had placed third, but was disqualified for interference during the final stages of the race.
Australia rode to gold in the men's Madison cycling race with a total of 22 points. Switzerland won the silver with 15 points. Britain took the bronze with 12.
Cyclist Olga Slyusareva of Russia won the women's points race with a total of 20. Belem Guerrero Mendez of Mexico won the silver with 14 points. Maria Luisa Calle Williams of Colombia took the bronze with 12 points.
Cuba defeated Australia, 6-2, to win the Olympic baseball gold medal. The Cubans pounded out 13 hits, including a two-run home run by Frederich Cepeda, a two-run double by Eduardo Parent and a two-run single by Eriel Sanchez. Japan won the bronze by beating Canada, 11-2.
Greco-Roman wresting continued with four medal events. Istvan Majoros of Hungary beat Gueidar Mamedaliev of Russia, 3-1, in overtime to claim the 55-kilogram class. Artiom Kiouregkian of Greece won the bronze. Farid Mansurov of Azerbaijan beat Seref Eroglu of Turkey, 4-3, to top the 66-kilogram division. Mkkhitar Manukyan of Kazakhstan won the bronze.
Russian Alexei Michine beat Ara Abrahamian of Sweden in an overtime tiebreak, winning the gold medal in the 84-kilogram class. Viachaslau Makaranka of Belarus won the bronze. Khasan Baroev of Russia beat Georgiy Tsurtsumia of Kazakhstan, 4-2, to win the 120-kilogram division. Rulon Gardner of the United States, the gold medal winner four years again in Sydney, won the bronze.
Beach volleyball wrapped up with the men's final. Reaching the top of the podium were Brazilians Ricardo Alex Santos and Emanuel Rego. They beat Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera of Spain, 21-16, 21-15. Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel of Switzerland won the bronze, beating Julien Prosser and Mark Williams of Australia, 19-21, 21-17, 15-13.
On horseback, Anky van Grunsven of the Netherlands won the individual dressage gold medal. Ulla Salzgeber of Germany won the silver. Beatriz Ferrer-Salat of Spain got the bronze.
Weightlifting concluded with the heaviest class and a record tying lift. Hossein Rezazadeh of Iran won the gold by equaling his own world record in the 105-kilogram class with 472.5 kilos. Viktors Scerbatihs of Latvia got the silver. Velichko Cholakov of Bulgaria won the bronze.
Kate Allen of Austria survived the grueling women's triathlon to earn a gold medal. Loretta Harrop of Australia took silver and Sue Williams of the United States ended with bronze.
Russian world champions Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova took top honors in duet synchronized swimming with a score of 99.334. Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda of Japan placed second (98.417). Americans Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova were third (96.918).
On the water in windsurfing, Israel won its first Olympic gold medal ever when Gal Fridman won the men's mistral category. Greek sailor Nikolaos Kalamanakis took the silver while the bronze went to Nick Dempsey of Britain.
Until Wednesday, Israel's Olympic haul was just one silver and three bronze. Fridman dedicated his medal to the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Games.
Faustine Merret of France won the women's Mistral gold medal. Yin Jian of China won the silver. Alessandra Sensini of Italy took the bronze.
In other Olympic action, Russia beat Serbia Montenegro, 3-1, in the men's volleyball quarterfinals and will play Italy, which defeated Argentina 3-1.
Russia also defeated Germany, 12-5 in men's water polo and will play defending champion Hungary in the semifinals. Serbia-Montenegro defeated Spain, 7-5, and will take on host country Greece.
The U.S. women's basketball team continued its quest for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal with an easy 102-72 quarterfinal victory over host-country Greece.
Shannon Johnson scored 21 points for the Americans Wednesday, while Tina Thompson added 20. Anastasia Kostaki led Greece with 26 points. In Friday's semifinal, the U.S. plays Russia, a 70-49 quarterfinal winner over the Czech Republic. Ilona Korstin scored 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Russians.
The other semifinal has Brazil taking on Australia. Brazil beat Spain, 67-63 thanks in part to 27 points from Janeth Arcain. Australia stayed unbeaten with a huge 94-55 quarterfinal victory over New Zealand. Australia earlier defeated Brazil by 18 points in the preliminary round.
In the men's field hockey tournament, the Netherlands beat Germany, 3-2 to reach a gold medal match against Australia, which scored a 6-3 win over Spain. Germany meets Spain for the bronze medal.