DAILY REPORT : WRESTLING : Powerful CIS Wins Three Golds in Greco-Roman Events

The Commonwealth of Independent States, led by super-heavyweight Alexandre Kareline, had a perfect day on the mat Wednesday, winning all three gold medals at stake in the Greco-Roman tournament.

Kareline, known as “the Siberian Bear,” capped a great team performance by pinning Tomas Johansson of Sweden at 3:27 in the last final of the evening.

Mnatsakan Iskandarian, a two-time world champion from the CIS, came from behind to defeat Jozef Tracz of Poland, 6-3, at 163 pounds.

Oleg Koutcherenko, the world champion the past two years, stopped Italian Vincenzo Maenza’s bid of making Olympic wrestling history by winning the 105.5-pound class for the first gold of the evening by the CIS. Maenza had won gold medals in 1984 and 1988. No Greco-Roman wrestler has won three in a row.

Michial Foy of Brooklyn Park, Minn., lost his first bout in the tournament at 198 pounds, a 10-6 decision to Gogui Kogouachvili of the CIS, but still remained in the chase for a gold medal.

Foy, who pinned Henri Meiss of France in 2:12 during the morning session, wrestles Hakki Basar of Turkey in a must-win bout this morning.

Buddy Lee of Woodbridge, Va., also kept alive his chances for a gold-medal match after splitting his two bouts at 137 pounds by stopping Japan’s Shigeki Nishiguchi, 5-4, at 5:28.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Armenian Militossian Picks Up Lightweight Gold

Israel Militossian, an Armenian competing for the CIS, won the gold medal in the lightweight division by equaling his Olympic snatch record.

Militossian had won the silver medal in the event four years ago in Seoul.

The 24-year-old from Leninakan was successful at 341 1/2 pounds (155 kilos) on his second lift to match the record he set in Seoul. He tried to improve to 347 pounds (157.5 kilos) but failed.

Militossian lifted 402 1/4 pounds (182.5 kilos) in the clean and jerk and then failed to tie the overall Olympic record of 755 pounds (342.5 kilos), set by Bulgaria’s Yanko Rusev 12 years ago in Moscow.

BADMINTON

Reidy Forfeits Singles Match, Teams With Lee for Victory

The rest paid off for Thomas Reidy as he teamed with Benny Lee to win a first-round doubles match.

Reidy, from Brooklyn, N.Y., and Lee, from Daly City, Calif., defeated Ricardo Fernandes and Fernando Silva of Portugal, 15-1, 15-10.

Earlier, Reidy had forfeited his first-round singles match to Kim Hak Kyun of South Korea so he could rest for the doubles match.

Lee lost his singles match to Bryan Blanshard of Canada, 15-3, 15-1.

ROWING

Seven U.S. Crews Advance to Semifinals in Repechages

Seven U.S. crews advanced to the semifinals in repechages, leaving 13 of the country’s 14 entries still in the competition.

The men’s pair with coxwain--John Moore of New York, Aaron Pollock of Hillsborough, Calif., and coxswain Steven Shellans of Wilsonville, Ore.--finished second in its repechage.

The men’s quad, made up of Chip McKibben of Balboa Island, Bob Kaehler of Huntington, N.Y.; John Riley of Coventry, R.I., and Keir Pearson of Portland, Ore, won its event.

Two women’s repechage crews advanced in the morning session:

The women’s four--Carol Feeney of Oak Park, Ill.; Amy Fuller of Westlake, Shelagh Donohoe of Lowell, Mass., and Cindy Eckert of Brookfield, Wis.--easily won its race.

The women’s double--Cynthia Ryder of Cambridge, Mass., and Mary Mazzio of Needham, Mass.--finished second to Great Britain.

YACHTING

With Little Wind Blowing, U.S. Sailors Don’t Blow Leads

A lack of wind hampered the competition, but U.S. sailors continued to lead in three categories.

Mike Gebhardt of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., was first in the men’s broadsailing regatta with 26.7 points after five races.

Flying Dutchman sailors Paul Foerster of Corpus Christi, Tex., and Steve Bourdow of New Orleans finished first in their race to maintain their lead with a total of 11.7 points.

Tornado sailors Randy Smyth of Ft. Walton Beach and Keith Notary of Merritt Island, Fla., continued to lead, even though they were disqualified in the third regatta for a premature start. Yachting competitors are allowed to discount their worst finish.

MEDALISTS

WRESTLING (105.5 pounds)

GOLD: Oleg Koutcherenko (CIS)

SILVER: Vincenzo Maenza (Italy)

BRONZE: Wilber Sanchez (Cuba)

(163 pounds)

GOLD: Mnatsakan Iskandarian (CIS)

SILVER: Jozef Tracz (Poland)

BRONZE: Torbjorn Johansson (Sweden)

(286 pounds)

GOLD: Alexandre Kareline (CIS)

SILVER: Tomas Johansson (Sweden)

BRONZE: Ioan Grigoras (Romania)

WEIGHTLIFTING (148 pounds)

GOLD: Israel Militossian (CIS)

SILVER: Yoto Yotov (Bulgaria)

BRONZE: Andreas Behm (Germany)