U.S. Flagbearer Eliminated from Kayak

The Olympics couldn’t have started any better for U.S. flagbearer Cliff Meidl. They couldn’t have ended any worse.

Meidl and Phillipe Boccara were eliminated from the two-man, 1,000-meter kayak event at Penrith, Australia, after finishing last in an opening heat today. Jordan Malloch, the U.S. entry in the solo 1,000-meter canoe, also was knocked out.

Angel Perez, the former Cuban Olympian who won a legal battle to represent the U.S., helped guide his four-man squad into Saturday’s finals with a third-place finish in a 1,000-meter heat.

Meidl and Boccara finished nearly six seconds out of eighth place and had the slowest time of the 18 entries.

SAILING: Defending champions Evhen Braslavets and Igor Matvienko of Ukraine were disqualified today for the third time in the 11-race men’s 470 series after a protest over an incident in race 10 Monday.

The U.S. 470 crew of Paul Foerster and Bob Merrick is in second, five points behind Australians Tom King and Mark Turnbull. The final race is Wednesday.

The U.S. women’s 470 crew of J.J. Isler of San Diego and Pease Glaser of Long Beach is third going into the deciding races Wednesday.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: The Russian team of Olga Brusnikina and Maria Kisseleva won the gold medal in duet synchronized swimming with a score of 99.580. Miho Takeda and Miya Tachibana of Japan won the silver, and Virginie Dedieu and Myriam Lignot of France won the bronze.