TUESDAY’S OLYMPIC ROUNDUP
By John Cherwa
Chicago Tribune
4:56 PM CDT, August 12, 2008
United States
BEJING – Archery: Khatuna Lorig, who competed for her native Georgia in
2000 and 1996 and the Unified Team in 1992, now represents the United
States. Seeded No. 26, she reached the quarterfinals of the women’s
individual competition by winning twice Tuesday. Her U.S. teammate
Jenny Nichols tied an Olympic record with 114 points out of 120 in
the first round but lost to ninth-seeded Nami Hayakawa of Japan in
the next round to be eliminated. Arrows fly again Thursday.
Badminton: It was a remarkable day for the U.S. team of Howard Bach
and Bob Malaythong as they became the first U.S. team to make it to
the quarterfinal round of men’s doubles. They beat the South African
team of Chris and Roelof Dednam, 21-10, 21-6 to advance. Things get
tough, however, as they play the No. 2 seed of Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng
of China on Wednesday.
Basketball: Dwyane Wade scored 19 points for the U.S. team as it
walked through to an easy 97-76 win over Angola. The team seemed
pretty casual about the game as Dwight Howard scored 14 points and
LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony each scored 12. The U.S. next plays
Greece on Thursday. In other games, Lithuania beat Iran, 99-67,
Croatia over Russia, 85-78, Greece over Germany, 87-64, Spain beat
China in overtime, 85-75, after Yao Ming fouled out; and Argentina
beat Australia, 85-68.
Beach Volleyball: It was 2 for 2 for the U.S. starting with Kerri Walsh
and Misty May-Treanor beating the Cuban pair of Dalixia Fernandez and
Tamara Larrea of Cuba, 21-15, 21-16 in the day’s first match. In the
evening, Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal also won over Julius Brink and
Christoph Dieckmann of Germany, 21-15, 21-13. Walsh and May-Treanor
face Norway’s Nila Haakedal and Ingrid Toerlen on Thursday.
Boxing: The lone U.S. boxer on Tuesday didn’t fare very well. Rau’shee
Warren lost to Lee Oksung of South Korea, 9-8. The U.S. team has been
a bit inconsistent at the Games.
Canoe/Kayak: Michal Martin of Slovakia hadn’t won the gold since
Atlanta in 1996, but he returned to form by winning the whitewater
single canoe competition on Tuesday. David Florence of Great Britain
got the silver and Robin Bell of Australia the bronze. The highest
U.S. competitor was Benn Fraker, who finished sixth. In the single
kayak whitewater slalom event, Alexander Grimm of Germany got the
gold, followed by Fabien Lefevre of France and Benjamin Boukpeti of
Togo. No U.S. kayaker made the finals.
Diving: China continued its medal parade in the women’s 10-meter
platform synchronized event as Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin took the
gold. Briony Cole and Melissa Wu of Australia got the silver and
Paola Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz of Mexico got the bronze. U.S. duo
Mary Beth Dunnichay and Haley Ishimatsu, both 15, finished fifth.
Equestrian: In Hong Kong, U.S. rider Gina Miles won silver in
the individual eventing along with McKinlaigh. They were second
to Germany’s Hinrich Romeike and Marius. Germany also won the team
eventing, edging Australia. Great Britain won the bronze. The U.S. team
of Miles, Amy Tryon, Karen O’Connor, Rebecca Holder and Philip Dutton
finished seventh. Next up Wednesday is team dressage.
Fencing: The U.S. came within a couple touches of a medal in the men’s
individual saber, but in the end Keeth Smart settled for sixth after
losing to fourth-place finisher Julien Pillet. The winner was Zhong
Man of China followed by Nicolas Lopez of France and Mihai Covaliu
of Romania. Other U.S. finishers were Tim Morehouse in 22nd and Jason
Rogers in 28th.
Field Hockey: The U.S. women’s team continued to surprise with its
second draw in two games. Kate Barber scored the tying goal in the
58th minute in its game against Japan. The U.S. is currently tied
with Argentina for third place with three points in Group B. Japan
and Germany hold the first two spots. The U.S. plays Germany on
Thursday. In other games, Australia beat Spain, 6-1, China topped
South Africa, 3-0 and Argentina and Great Britain played to a 2-2
tie. Gymnastics: Not much was expected of the U.S. on the men’s side of
the team competition. But after three rotations it was in first. After
the fourth rotation, it slipped to second and when it was all over
the U.S. team had a bronze medal. China easily won the gold as it
was the strongest team. Japan got the silver. The U.S. was made up
of Alexander Artemev, Raj Bhavsar, Joseph Hagerty, Jonathan Horton,
Justin Spring and Kevin Tan.
Handball: The men’s draw continued in a plodding manner. In Tuesday’s
play, Croatia beat Brazil, Russia over Egypt, France stopped China,
Spain just got by Poland, South Korea squeezed past Denmark and
Iceland beat Germany.
Judo: Ole Bischof of Germany beat Kim Jaebum of South Korea to win the
men’s half-middleweight competition. Tiago Camilo of Brazil and Roman
Gontiuk of Ukraine were each awarded a bronze medal. Travis Stevens
was the top U.S. competitor in ninth. In the women’s half-middleweight
division Ayumi Tanimoto of Japan beat Luci Decosse of France for
the gold. The bronze medals went to Elisabeth Willeboordse of the
Netherlands and Won Ok Im of North Korea.
Rowing: The U.S. had mixed success during repechage heats on
Tuesday. In the men’s eight the U.S. boat finished first in one
heat. Another first came in the women’s double sculls. There was
a second-place finish in the women’s quadruple sculls in another
heat. And the men’s four took a third of four boats in one run and
the women’s pair also finished third of four in another heat.
Sailing: The U.S. got some good news in the laser radial class as
Anna Tunnicliffe has the lead after two races. Evi Van Acker of
Belgium and Sarah Steyaert follow. In the 470 men class, Nathan
Wilmot and Malcolm Page of Australia lead after four races. Stuart
McNay and Graham Biehl of the U.S. sit way back in 23rd. In the 470
women class, Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson of Australia are on
top with Amanda Clark and Sara Mergenthaler of the U.S. in 13th. In
the RS:X men’s division Shahar Zubari of Israel lead and Benjamin
Barger of the U.S. is 24th. In the women’s class, Yin Jian of China
leads and Nancy Rios is 26th.
Shooting: The U.S. picked up a very unexpected gold medal when
Glenn Eller won the men’s double trap. He led going into the final
round, missed his first two targets, but got it together to win. The
silver went to Francesco D’Aniello of Italy followed by Hu Binyuan of
China. The U.S. just missed another medal when Jeff Holguin finished
fourth. In the men’s 50 meter pistol, the winner was Jin Jong Oh of
South Korea followed by Kim Jong Su of North Korea. Tan Zongliang of
China was third. The U.S. finishers were Daryl Szarenski in 14th and
Jason Turner in 21st.
Soccer: The U.S. women’s team had little trouble dispatching New
Zealand, 4-0, to reach the quarterfinals. The U.S. got goals from
Heather O’Reilly, Amy Rodriguez, Lindsay Tarpley and Angela Hucles. In
other games, Germany beat North Korea, 1-0, Brazil stopped Nigeria,
3-1, China shut out Argentina, 2-0, Sweden beat Canada, 2-1 and Japan
crushed Norway, 5-1. In the quarterfinals, the U.S. faces Canada;
Brazil plays Norway, Sweden faces Germany and China will host Japan.
Softball: The U.S. team looked extremely strong in an 11-0, five-inning
pasting of Venezuela. Jennie Finch and Monica Abbott combined for
the shutout. The 11 runs were an Olympic record. In other games,
Canada beat Taiwan, 6-1, China crushed the Netherlands, 10-2, and
Japan beat Australia, 4-3.
Swimming: With an uneventful round of prelims on Tuesday night,
the day will be remembered for the morning finals. Michael Phelps,
Natalie Coughlin and Aaron Peirsol all won golds. Phelps won in world
record time (1:42.96) in the 200 free with Park Taehwan of South
Korea finishing second and the Peter Vanderkaay of the U.S. getting
the bronze. Coughlin only got an American record, but she’ll take
it. She won the women’s 100 backstroke with Kristy Coventry of
Zimbabwe second and Margaret Hoelzer of the U.S. third. Pierson
completed the trifecta by winning the 100 backstroke. His world
record time (52.54) was ahead of teammate Matt Grevers and Arkady
Vyatchanin of Russia. The U.S. also picked up a silver in the women’s
100 breaststroke. Australia’s Leisel Jones took the gold, followed
by Rebecca Soni and Mirna Jukic of Austria.
Tennis: It was a pretty good day for the Williams sisters with two
singles wins and a doubles win. As a team, they had to rally from
one set down to beat Iveta Benesova and Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech
Republic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. In singles, Serena beat Australia’s Samantha
Stosur, 6-2, 6-0, and Venus beat Benesova, 6-1, 6-4. The two big names,
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both won their matches easily.
Volleyball: The U.S. team remained strong days after the murder of
the coach’s father-in-law with a 3-games-to-1 win over Italy. It
left the U.S. team undefeated after two games and atop the Pool A
standings. The U.S. won, 24-26, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21. In other matches,
Russia beat Germany 3-2, Poland shut out Egypt, 3-0, Brazil got by
Serbia, 1-0 and China beat Venezuela, 3-2.
Water polo: The U.S. men’s team remained undefeated but played a game
a little closer than it might have hoped. It beat Italy, 12-11. It
is tied with Croatia atop Group B with a 2-0 record. In other games
Montenegro beat Canada by an unheard of 12-0, Spain over Australia,
9-8, Hungary stopped Greece, 17-6, Croatia beat Serbia, 11-8 and
Germany beat China, 6-5.
Weightlifting: North Korea picked up another medal when Pak Hyon
Suk won the gold in the women’s 63 kg class. Irina Nekrassova of
Kazakhstan was awarded the silver and Lu Ying-Chi got the bronze. The
lone American was Natalie Woolfolk, who finished 12th. In the men’s
69 kg classification, Liao Hui of China was first, followed by
Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu of France and Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan of
Armenia. There was no U.S. lifter in the competition.
Wrestling: Spenser Mango was the U.S. hope in the 55 kg class and
he made it to quarterfinals before he lost to Park Eun-Chul of
South Korea. He finished in eighth. The winner was Nazyr Mankiev of
Russia. The silver went to Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan and the
two bronze medals went to Roman Amoyan of Armenia and Park Eun-Chul
of South Korea. In the 60 kg class, the winner was Islam-Beka Albiev
of Russia, Vitally Rahimov of Azerbaijan got the silver. The bronze
medla went to Nurbakyt Tengizbayev of Kazakhstan and Rusian Tiumenbaev
of Kyrgyzstan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
