Italians Repeat in Team Epee

Italy defended the team epee title it won in Atlanta by defeating perennial powerhouse France in the gold medal match Monday night.

Cuba beat Korea to win the bronze medal.

France, which lost the title match 39-38, has won two golds, two silvers and a bronze in the last six Olympics. Starting with the 1980 Moscow Games, France--the 1996 bronze winners--failed to medal only at Barcelona in 1992.

SAILING: One of the lone signs of life in the painfully slow Olympic regatta was that of U.S. skipper Jeff Madrigali inching up one spot in the Soling fleet.

Madrigali, of Novato, Calif., finished second today, moving into sixth place midway through the fleet racing schedule. A second race was uncertain due to light winds on the Pacific Ocean.

Scheduled racing in the 49er skiff class had to be postponed when it was revealed paint used for the flag-bedecked spinnakers had begun causing tears in the synthetic, silicon-coated sailcloth.

CYCLING (TRACK): In the women’s 3,000-meter individual pursuit, Leontien Zijlaard of the Netherlands finished in 3 minutes, 33.360 seconds to beat Marion Clignet of France, who was timed in 3:38.751.

Yvonne McGregor of Britain won the bronze medal race in 3:38.850, beating Sarah Ulmer of New Zealand by eight-hundredths of a second.

During qualifying for the men’s match sprint, Marty Nothstein of Trexlertown, Pa., had the fastest ride over the 200-meter course, 10.166 seconds.

ROWING: Both U.S. eights lost in heats and must go to another qualifying round later in the week.

The three-time world champion men’s squad fell behind Croatia early and never caught up. The Americans appeared resigned to defeat and eased at the end to save their strength.

The women flamed out after leading a tight race for the first 1,000 meters, finishing third to the Netherlands and Canada. Knowing they too will be racing again Wednesday, the Americans closed with half-hearted strokes pulled from slumped shoulders.

At least the women’s lightweight double sculls won its heat, giving the United States its only first-place finish in 14 events over the first two days of qualifying. The U.S. is the only country competing in every event.

KAYAK: Early in a slalom run that had to be perfect, American Rebecca Giddens made a mistake. Then another one. Valuable experience was all she earned on the day before her 23rd birthday.

She finished seventh among the 15 women, nearly 12 points behind gold medalist Stepanka Hilgertova of Czech Republic.

“I knew then that I wasn’t going to medal,” said Giddens, the lone American in the final. “So I went out just to have a solid run after that. And I did.”

Fellow American Davey Hearn also was left looking for silver linings after finishing 12th and last in the canoe finals won by France’s Tony Estanguet.

MEN’S FIELD HOCKEY: Three-time gold medalist Pakistan stung Britain with its worst defeat in Olympic history, 8-1.

“It was humiliating,” British Coach Barry Dancer said.

The most goals Britain had surrendered in its Olympic history was in a 7-0 loss to Australia in the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Malaysia held reigning champion the Netherlands to a scoreless tie.

BADMINTON: Men’s quarterfinals had Atlanta gold medalists Ricky Subaja Ahmad and Rexy Mainaky of Indonesia being beaten by the 1999 world champions, Ha Tae-Kwon and Kin Dong-moon of South Korea, 15-5, 15-9.

Top-seeded Tony Gunawan and Candra Wijaya of Indonesia rallied in the first set to beat Britain’s Simon Archer and Nathan Robertson, 15-13, 15-11.

Another Indonesian pair lost. Malaysians Tan Fook Choong and Wan Wah Lee beat Eng Hian and Flandy Limpele, 15-10, 15-9.