Cuba Wins Gold Medal in Baseball
Cuba has won its third gold medal in Olympic baseball with a 6-2 win over Australia.
Frederich Cepeda hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning Wednesday to lift Cuba to a 2-0 lead. The Cubans scored four more runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Earlier, Japan claimed the bronze medal with an 11-2 rout of Canada, softening the blow of a shocking 1-0 loss to Australia in the semifinals.
Japan's team consisted entirely of professional players.
Austrian Woman Wins Olympic Triathlon
The first of 18 gold medals to be awarded Wednesday, on the 12th day of the summer Olympics in Athens goes to Kate Allen of Austria.
She won the women's triathlon at the coastal venue of Vouliagmeni with a combined time of 2:04:43.45 hours in the 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer cycle race and 10-kilometer run.
Loretta Harrop of Australia was within seven seconds of Allen to earn the silver medal ahead of third-place bonze medal winner Sue Williams of the United States, who was 25 seconds off the winning time.
Fridman Wins Israel's First Ever Gold Medal in Olympic Mistral Sailing Competition
Israel has captured its first-ever Olympic gold medal, with windsurfer Gal Fridman taking the men's Mistral sailing competition.
The 28-year-old Fridman finished second in Wednesday's final race - good enough to clinch the overall victory.
Second place went to Nikolaos Kaklamanakis of Greece, while the third place bronze medal was won by Nick Dempsey of Britain.
Fridman's victory came after Ricardo Santos of Brazil, the leader through 10 races, finished 17th in the finale.
In the women's Mistral competition, France's Faustine Merret won the gold, with Yin Jian of China taking the silver and Italy's Alessandra Sensini winning the bronze.
Russian Athlete Wins Hammer Throw with Olympic Record
Russia's Olga Kuzenkova has won a gold medal in the women's hammer throw with an Olympic record toss of 75.02 meters.
Cuban Yipsi Moreno captured the silver medal Wednesday with a throw of 73.36 meters, and teammate Yunaika Crawford took the bronze at 73.16.
In the women's 200-meter run, Jamaican Veronica Campbell won her country its first gold medal with a winning time of 22.05 seconds. Allyson Felix of the United States finished second at 22.18, and Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas picked up the bronze at 22.30.
And Fani Halkia of host country Greece won the gold medal in the women's 400-meter hurdles in 52.82 seconds. Romania's Ionela Tirlea-Manolache finished a distant second in 53.38, and Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova of Ukraine took the bronze in 53.44.
American Defending Olympic Champion Wrestler Gardner Defeated in Semifinals
U.S. heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner has lost his bid to repeat as Olympic champion after suffering a semifinal upset loss to Georgiy Tsurtsumia of Kazakhstan in overtime.
Tsurtsumia will face reigning world champion Khasan Baroev of Russia Wednesday, in the 120-kilogram final, while Gardner will try for a bronze medal in a match against Iranian Sajad Barzi.
The finals of three other weight classes will also take place Wednesday after competitors were decided in semifinal matches.
In the 84-kilogram division, Alexi Michine of Russia will face Swede Ara Abrahamian for the title. Third place will go to the winner between Viachaslau Makaranka of Belarus and Hamza Yerlikaya of Turkey.
In the 66-kilogram class, Farid Mansurov of Azerbaijan will face Seref Eroglu of Turkey for the gold medal, while Sweden's Jimmy Samuelsson meets Mkkhitar Manukyan of Kazakhstan for third place.
And in the 55-kilogram category, Istvan Majoros of Hungary goes for the gold against Russian Gueidar Mamedaliev. The bronze medal will be decided in a match between Oleksiy Vakulenko of Ukraine and Artiom Kiouregkian of host Greece.
Japan Takes Bronze Medal in Olympic Baseball Competition
Japan's all-professional team blasted Canada 11-2 to win the Olympic baseball bronze medal, softening the blow of a shocking 1-0 loss to Australia in the semifinals.
It was Japan's third Olympic baseball medal following bronze in 1992 and silver in 1996. Japan finished fourth in Sydney when professionals were allowed to play in the Olympics for the first time. After that, Japan formed an all-professional team for the first time for the Athens Games. Canada, beefed up by players from the U.S. minor leagues, finished fourth in their first Olympic outing since baseball became an official sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Australia and Cuba will play for this year's gold medal.
US Men's Olympic Basketball Team Plays Quarterfinals
Allen Iverson and Tim Duncan lead the United States men's Olympic Basketball team into the quarterfinals Thursday, as they face undefeated (5-0) Spain.
The American squad is made up of National Basketball Association stars, but has been a far cry from the U.S. Olympic "Dream Teams" of the past. For the first time ever, Team USA failed to top the standings at the end of the opening round, ending round-robin play with a 3-2 record.
The suddenly vulnerable Americans hope to put surprising losses to Puerto Rico and Lithuania behind them, as they face a Spanish squad that U.S. coach Larry Brown calls the best he has seen so far. A win would put the U.S. into a semifinal match-up against Greece or Argentina, while a loss would send it to the seventh place game.
In other quarterfinals Thursday, Italy plays Puerto Rico and China challenges Lithuania.
US Women's Basketball Strives for 3rd Consecutive Gold Medal
The United States 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 the semifinals Friday, 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.
In other quarterfinals Wednesday, Spain takes on Brazil while New Zealand challenges Australia.
Russian Wins Track Cycling Gold
Russia's Olga Slyusareva has won the gold medal in the Olympic women's cycling points race.
Slyusareva beat a field of 19 riders to win the final at the Olympic velodrome in Athens Wednesday.
Belem Guerrero Mendez of Mexico finished second to win the silver medal, with Maria Calle Williams of Colombia taking third place and the bronze.
For both Mexico and Colombia, it was their second medals of the Athens games.
Still to come today are finals that will decide medals in two other track cycling events, the men's Madison and the men's Keirin.
Wrestler Gives Azerbaijan First Gold of Athens Games
Wrestler Farid Mansurov has given Azerbaijan its first gold medal of the Athens summer Olympics.
Mansurov won the 66-kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling title Wednesday by defeating Turkey's Seref Eroglu in the final.
Mkkhitar Manukyan of Kazakhstan took the bronze medal.
In the 55-kilogram category, Hungary's Istvan Majoros won the gold by beating Russian Gueidar Mamedaliev in a close final.
Host country Greece got a bronze medal from Artiom Kiouregkian.
Later, the heavyweight (120-kilogram) final features Russia's Khasan Baroev against Georgiy Tsurtsumia of Kazakhstan. Tsurtsumia upset defending gold medalist Rulon Gardner of the United States to reach the final.
Russian Pair Wins Synchronized Swimming Gold
The Russian pair of Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Yermakova have claimed gold in the Olympic synchonized swimming duet event.
The defending world champions scored eight perfect 10's to beat out a Japanese pair Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda in the final Wednesday.
Japan took the silver, while Americans Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova won the bronze.
Brazil Wins Gold Medal in Men's Beach Volleyball
Brazilians Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego have won the gold medal in men's beach volleyball at the Summer Olympics in Greece.
Santos and Rego defeated Spain's Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera Thursday, 21-16, 21-15.
Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel of Switzerland won the bronze medal.