Olympics-Swimming-No regrets for golden girl Thompson
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Jenny Thompson ended a golden Olympic swimming
career on Saturday with another victory and another world record in another
relay -- and no regrets....
Olympics-Swimming-Hackett beats a hero to become a legend
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Australia's Grant Hackett killed off a national hero
to create his own legend on Saturday when he beat his countryman Kieren Perkins
to win gold in the men's 1500 metres freestyle.
The 1500 is the longest, most difficult event on the Olympic swimming calendar.
Some might also call it the most boring but in Australia, the world's biggest
island, the 30-lap marathon is the single biggest event of the Games....
Olympics-Swimming-U.S. still world's top swim nation
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - American swimmers emerged dripping from the Sydney
Olympic pool on Saturday with their world crown firmly in place, having left the
rival Australians in a 14-gold medal wake....
Olympics-Athletics-Jones wins first gold
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Marion Jones won her first gold medal of the Sydney
Olympics on Saturday when she sped to victory in the women's 100 metres final.
The 24-year-old American, who is aiming for an unprecedented five track and
field titles at one Games, clocked 10.75 seconds....
Olympics-Athletics-Marion Jones factbox
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Factbox on Marion Jones of the United States, who
won the Olympic women's 100 metres title in 10.75 seconds on Saturday.
Born: October 12, 1975, Los Angeles, United States....
Olympics-Athletics-Indian qualifies for women's 400 semis
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - K M Beenamol of India qualified on Saturday for the
semifinals of the women's 400 metres at the Sydney Olympics.
Beenamol was unknown until Friday when she topped qualifying for the second
round, but the 25-year-old could not match that on Saturday, with her time of
51.81 seconds the slowest of the 16 qualifiers....
Olympics-Athletics-Greene wins 100 metres final
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Maurice Greene of the United States won the Sydney
Olympics men's 100 metres title on Saturday.
Greene, the world record holder and current world champion, clocked 9.87
seconds....
Olympics-Swimming-Hall nearly missed Sydney Games
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - American Gary Hall, who won two gold medals in the
Olympic pool this week, said he nearly missed the Games after refusing to pay a
fine for appealing against a ban for marijuana use.
Hall appealed against a three-month suspension imposed in 1998 by world
swimming's governing body FINA after he tested positive for marijuana but the
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the ban last year....
Olympics-China's Ge,Gu take gold in clean badminton sweep
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - China continued its domination of badminton at the
Sydney Olympics on Saturday, taking out gold, silver and bronze medals in the
women's doubles.
Top seeds and 1999 world champions Ge Fei and Gu Jun defended the gold they won
in Atlanta in 1996 with a convincing 15-5, 15-5 win in just 35 minutes over
compatriots and second seeds Huang Nanyan and Yang Wei....
Olympics-Boxing-Thai Kamsing through to last eight
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Thailand's Olympic featherweight champion Somluck
Kamsing reached the quarter-finals on Saturday but will have to beat American
world champion Ricardo Juarez to get a medal.
Kamsing, who in 1996 became the first Thai to win an Olympic gold, eased past
Uzebekistan's Tulkunbay Turgunov 7-2 to secure his place among the last
eight....
UDPATE
2-Olympics-Indonesia stand in way of big China day
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - China won another badminton gold at the Sydney
Olympics on Saturday but face an uphill battle against Indonesia in the premier
men's badminton event of the Games.
China also put a lock on another gold after brushing aside Singapore and Taiwan
in table tennis....
Olympics-Greene and Jones stamp their supremacy
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - American sprinters Maurice Greene and Marion Jones
stamped their supremacy on the Sydney Olympics on Saturday as they swept to
momentous victories in the men's and women's 100 metres.
Jones, aiming to become the first female track and field athlete to win five
golds at a single Games, took her first with awesome ease, clocking 10.75
seconds to win by more than three metres from Greek Ekaterini Thanou and Tanya
Lawrence of Jamaica....
Olympics-Badminton-China's Ji takes men's singles title
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - China's Ji Xinpeng won gold in the badminton men's
singles at the Olympics on Saturday, beating Indonesia's hope, number two seed
Hendrawan 15-4 15-13.
Seventh-seeded Ji, who won the Japan Open earlier this year, has left a trail of
top players in his wake on his way to the top of the podium, upsetting number
one seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and world number one Peter Gade of Denmark
to make the final....
Olympics-Weightlifting-Showman Dimas to light up Athens
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - If organisers of the Athens 2004 Olympics are
seeking an athlete to pull in the crowds, they should look no further than their
own weightlifter Pyrros Dimas.
The showman of his sport, Dimas won a record equalling third Olympic gold medal
in weightlifting with plenty of panache on Saturday....
Olympics-Athletics-Jones speeds to emotional victory
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Marion Jones sped to an emotional victory in the
Olympic women's 100 metres final on Saturday in a perfect start to her campaign
for an unprecedented five track and field gold medals.
Jones broke down in tears after jogging a victory lap wrapped in the U.S. flag
and confessed to feeling relief as much as elation after setting a season's best
of 10.75 seconds, 37 hundredths of a second ahead of Greek Ekaterini Thanou....
Olympics-Table Tennis-Odendaal gets to watch, but not play
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - South African table tennis player Surita Odendaal,
who was controversially omitted from her nation's team for the Olympics, is
watching events in Sydney at the invitation of her sport's international
federation.
Odendaal qualified to compete in Sydney but was stunned when her National
Olympic Committee said it would not select anyone ranked outside the top 16 in
the world....
Olympics-Boxing-Harrison keeps British hopes alive
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Super-heavyweight Audley Harrison kept British
boxing hopes alive at the Olympics on Saturday by stopping Russian Alexei Lezin
in the last round to reach the quarter-finals.
Harrison, the only Briton remaining in the tournament, needed to find something
special as he trailed the experienced Russian 8-6 with one minute 10 seconds
left....
Olympics-Athletics-Zelezny blasts historic hat-trick
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Jan Zelezny defied the advancing years as he won an
unprecedented third successive Olympic javelin gold on Saturday to carve his
name into the history books.
The Czech veteran, dogged by a raft of back and shoulder injuries in recent
seasons, blasted out a throw of 90.17 metres with the third of his six throws to
secure the title....
Olympics-Table Tennis-Chinese finish 1-2 in men's doubles
SYDNEY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Wang Liqin and Yan Sen upset fellow Chinese pair
Kong Linghui and Liu Guoliang in four sets on Saturday night to win the Olympic
Games men's double gold medal.
Wang and Yan played brilliant defensive table tennis to beat the defending
champions 22-20 17-21 21-19 21-18....