China Takes Gold Medal in Women's Volleyball
China has won the Olympic gold medal in women's volleyball, beating Russia.
Russia took the first two of five sets before China took over, ending the tiebreaker with a spike from Yuehong Zhang. Zhang Ping was top scorer for China, with 25 points. China's only other gold in women's volleyball came in Los Angeles in 1984.
Russia took the silver medal, just as it did in Sydney four years ago.
Powerhouse Cuba settled for the bronze medal, after taking the last three Olympic championships. Several of Cuba's star players retired after the Sydney games, leaving Cuba with a young team that still managed to best Brazil for the third-place spot.
US Defeats Lithuania for Olympic Basketball Bronze
The United States men's basketball team has defeated Lithuania 104-96 to win the Olympic bronze medal, after a disappointing tournament for the team of National Basketball Association players.
The U.S. team, which has won the last three Olympic championships, lost three times in Athens - once more than all U.S. teams combined in the previous 68 years of basketball competition.
Argentina Wins Olympic Gold in Football
Argentina has defeated Paraguay in the men's football (soccer) final to win its first gold medal in 52 years.
Argentina striker Carolos Tevez scored the game's only goal in the first half. The team hung on to win 1-0 and complete a perfect record of six shutouts for the Athens Games.
Argentina had not won Olympic gold in any sport since Tranquilo Capozzo and Eduardo Guerrero took the men's double sculls rowing title at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
Paraguay was missing its top-scorer Jose Cardozo due to injury and lost two more players near the end of the game, when Emilio Martinez was ejected for elbowing and Diego Figueredo received his second yellow card minutes from the final whistle.
Paraguay's silver medal was the first Olympic medal in the country's history.
US Men and Women Take 4x400 Olympic Title
The United States has won both the men's and women's 4x400-meter track event at the Summer Olympic Games.
With individual 400-meter champion Jeremy Wariner running the third leg of the race, the men finished nearly five seconds ahead of Australia and third-place winner Nigeria.
Earlier Saturday, the U.S. women beat rival Russia. Jamaica's team took the bronze.
Russia's Yelena Slesarenko took the women's high jump title, defeating South African world champion Hestrie Cloete and scoring an Olympic record of 2.06 meters. Ukraine's Viktoriya Styopina came in third.
Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen won the men's javelin competition, besting silver medallist Vadims Vasilevskis of Latvia and bronze winner Sergey Makarov of Russia.
Russia's Yuriy Borzakovskiy won gold in the men's 800 meter, while the men's 5,000 meters was won by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco.
China Wins 6th Diving Gold
Chinese diver Hu Jia has given China its sixth diving gold medal in the Athens Olympics, winning the men's ten-meter platform-diving title.
Hu pulled ahead in the final few dives of the competition, his scores rising above those of defending Olympic champion Tian Liang of China and Mathew Helm of Australia.
With a nearly perfect final dive, Helm sealed the silver medal, Australia's sixth diving medal for this Summer Games. Tian made mistakes on at least two dives and ended up with the bronze.
World platform champion Alexandre Despatie of Canada gave an inconsistent performance and settled for fourth place.
Russian Boxer, US Wrestler, British Runner Win Gold
Russia's Alexi Tichtchenko won the gold medal in the featherweight (57 kilogram) division in Athens Saturday. He outpointed silver medalist Kim Song-guk of North Korea 39-17 in four rounds. Germany's Vitali Tajbert and Jo Seok-hwan of South Korea shared the bronze.
Meanwhile, Cuban fighters continued their country's dominance with gold medals in the heavyweight and flyweight divisions.
Cuba's Odlanier Solis proved himself a worthy successor to his countryman and three-time Olympic heavyweight champion, Felix Savon, who won his final Olympic title in Sydney four years ago. Solis defeated Viktar Zuyev of Belarus to win the heavyweight title in Athens.
Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano bested Jerome Thomas of France in the flyweight division, while Russia's Alexei Tichtchenko beat North Korea's Kim Song-Guk in the featherweight category.
Manus Boonjumnong of Thailand took the light welterweight title, defeating Cuba's Yudel Johnson. Russian Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov outfought Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan in the middleweight division.
In men's 84-kilogram freestyle wrestling, Cael Sanderson of the United States defeated Moon Eui-jae of South Korea 3-1 to win the gold medal. Sazhid Sazhidov of Russia won the bronze.
Kelly Holmes of Britain won her second gold medal of the 2004 Games by winning the 1,500 meters Saturday over Tatyana Tomashova of Russia and Romania's Maria Cioncan. Holmes won the 800 meters earlier this week, becoming only the third woman in Olympic history to win a middle-distance double.
Ukrainian Women Win Bronze in Handball, Russian Wins Wrestling Gold
The Ukrainian women's handball team upset world champions France 21-18 to win the bronze medal in the 2004 Games, Saturday.
The victory was the first for Ukraine in the sport, and avenged their semifinal loss to France in the world championships. Ukraine also won despite the loss of head coach Leonid Ratner, who was ejected in the second period for disputing a call.
Denmark plays South Korea in the gold medal match Sunday.
In wrestling, Russian Mavlet Batirov defeated Stephen Abas of the United States to win the gold medal in the 55 kilogram freestyle event. Japan's Chikara Tanabe took the bronze.
In the women's under 67-kilogram taekwondo event, Luo Wei of China won the gold medal over Greek hopeful Elisavet Mystakidou, who took the sliver. Hwang Kyung-Sun of South Korea won the bronze.
Cuban Boxer Wins Gold in Flyweight Division
Cuban boxer Yuriorkis Gamboa won the gold medal in the flyweight (51 kilogram) division with a 38-23 point victory over France's Jerome Thomas Saturday in Athens. The bronze medal was shared by Germany's Rustamhodza Rahimov and Fuad Aslanov of Azerbaijan.
In wrestling, Ukraine's Elbrus Tedeyev easily beat Jamill Kelly of the United States to win the gold medal in the 66 kilogram freestyle division. Russia's Makhach Murtazaliev claimed the bronze medal.
In men's taekwondo, Stephen Lopez took home another gold medal for the United States by winning the under-80 kilogram division, outpointing Bahri Tanrikulu of Turkey. The bronze medal was won by Iran's Yossef Karami.
The United States is leading the total medal count with 94. Russia has 74, and China is in third with 59.
US Women Win Basketball Gold; Russians Score First Gold in Rhythmic Gymnastics
The United States women's basketball team won its third straight Olympic gold medal with a 74-63 win over Australia in Athens Saturday.
Outclassing their male "Dream Team" counterparts, the U.S. women went undefeated in the 2004 games, led by such stars as Tina Thompson, Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley. Australia ended up with the silver medal for the second straight Olympics. They came in second to the U.S. in the 2000 Games in Sydney.
Earlier, Russia won the bronze medal with a 71-62 win over Brazil .
In rhythmic gymnastics, Russia won the gold medal for the second straight time. Italy won the silver, while Bulgaria took the bronze.
Chinese Runners Win Historic Golds in Track & Field Competitions
China had never won an Olympic gold medal in athletics, but dramatically ended its long drought on Friday when Chinese runners took first in two events.
China claimed gold in both the men's 110-meter hurdles and the women's 10,000 meter race.
Xing Huina scored a huge upset in the women's 10,000, taking first over the two favored Ethiopians. And Liu Xiang tied a world record 12.91 seconds, with his dominant win in the men's hurdles.
The 20-year-old Liu said his win was a victory for all Asian people, proving that they can compete with anyone in sprint events.
Canada, Germany Win Gold in Men's Flatwater Racing Sprints
Canada's Adam van Koeverden won gold in the Olympic men's 500-meter K-1 kayak sprint Saturday. Australia's Nathan Baggaley won the silver and Ian Wynne of Britain won the bronze.
In the men's C-1 500-meter canoe race, Germany's Andreas Dittmer won gold, adding to the silver he won in Friday's 1,000-meter race. Dittmer had been Olympic champion in the 1,000 meters at both the Sydney and Atlanta games in 2000 and 1996.
Dittmer came from behind today, taking the lead in the final 100 meters from David Cal of Spain, the silver medalist, and Russia's Maxim Opalev, who had a strong early lead but faded to third at the end.