Russia Foils U.S. Medal Hopes

For the second time in these Olympics, an American men’s fencing team fell just short of a medal. And, again, a close call at the end went against the U.S.

After upsetting second-seeded Germany in the quarterfinals on Saturday, the U.S. lost to China in the semifinals, then to Russia in the bronze-medal bout, 45-38.

Italy won the gold medal, 45-42, fending off a late run by China.

In their medal match, the Americans were tied at 35, then trailed, 41-38, when Dan Kellner and Youri Moltchan both recorded touches. The referee awarded the point to Russia, and Moltchan went on to close it out.

It was reminiscent of the agony their saber counterparts endured Thursday, when close calls on the deciding points went against them in a semifinal loss to France and the bronze bout against Russia.

“I thought we fenced really well,” said Kellner, of Warren, N.J. “There was one or two bad bouts and maybe one or two bad calls that came at a crucial time.”

ARCHERY

U.S. Edged for Bronze

The United States failed to win the bronze medal in the men’s team event, losing to Ukraine, 237-235.

South Korea beat Taiwan, 251-245, for its third archery gold of these Olympics.

Americans Vic Wunderle, Butch Johnson and John Magera beat Sweden, 246-242, in their first match of the day, then upset Italy, 243-240, before losing to Taiwan, 244-243.

BASEBALL

Greece Gets First Win

Greece won for the first time in the Olympics, getting 14 hits from its Greek American lineup to beat Italy, 12-7.

Italy and Greece are each 1-5 in the tournament, with one game left, and -- like the Netherlands and Taiwan -- have no chance to advance to the medal round.

In other games, Japan (5-1) beat Taiwan, 4-3, and Cuba (5-1) defeated Canada, 5-2. Australia (4-2) beat the Netherlands, 22-2, and is assured, along with Canada (4-2), of advancing to the semifinals.

CYCLING

Britain Wins Gold

Bradley Wiggins of Britain won gold in the men’s individual pursuit, finishing the 4,000-meter final in 4 minutes 16.304 seconds.

Wiggins’ time was 4.132 seconds ahead of silver medalist Brad McGee of Australia. Spain’s Sergi Escobar took bronze.

The German men’s team sprint trio edged Japan for gold, finishing in 43.980.

EQUESTRIAN

U.S. Settles for Bronze

The U.S. medal hopes in team dressage were buoyed early when Debbie McDonald of Hailey, Idaho, scored 73.375 on her mare Brentina, putting the Americans briefly in the lead.

The U.S., however, couldn’t quite dig its way out of the hole from its two lower scores on Friday and had to settle for bronze.

Germany took gold with an average team score of 74.653. Spain was second at 72.917 and the U.S. third at 71.5.

ROWING

Americans Reach Finals

Americans Aquil Abdullah, 31, and Henry Nuzum, 27, finished sixth among seven finalists in men’s double sculls.

They were the first U.S. finalists in 20 years.

Abdullah is the first African American male to make the U.S. Olympic team. Current IOC member Anita DeFrantz was the first African American rower to qualify for the Olympics -- in 1976.

France won gold in 6:29.00, Slovenia silver in 6:31.72 and Italy bronze in 6:32.93. Abdullah and Nuzum finished in 6:36.86.

SAILING

Foerster, Burnham Win

Experience triumphed over youth as the U.S. team of Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham won the gold in the men’s 470 class over a British crew in a sparkling display of match racing.

The gold was the first for American sailors in Athens.

Burnham, the oldest member of the U.S. sailing team at 47 and a silver medalist in the 470 in 1992, celebrated with a back flip into the Saronic Gulf .

Kazuto Seki and Kenjiro Todoroki of Japan got the bronze.

SHOOTING

Germany Wins Gold

Ralf Schumann of Germany shot 102.9 in the final round to win gold in the men’s 25-meter rapid-fire pistol. Russian Sergei Poliakov took silver, and his countryman, Sergie Alifirenko, won bronze.

TRAMPOLINE

Nikitin Edges Champion

Yuri Nikitin of Ukraine won men’s gold with 41.5 points, topping five-time world champion Alexander Moskalenko of Russia.

Moskalenko, who came out of retirement to win trampoline’s first gold medal in Sydney, took silver with 41.2 points. World champion Henrik Stehlik of Germany won bronze with 40.80 points.

VOLLEYBALL

Millar Leads U.S. Win

The U.S. men’s volleyball team preserved its chance of advancing to the medal round by beating Australia in four sets.

Middle blocker Ryan Millar, in his best match of the Olympics, led the American attack in a 25-19, 23-25, 25-13, 25-19 victory.

The U.S. team (2-2) positioned itself for the fourth and final quarterfinal berth in its group.

The Americans finish the preliminary competition Monday against top-ranked Brazil.

WATER POLO

Russians Top Americans

Alexander Eryshov and Revaz Chomakhidze each had three goals as Russia beat the United States, 9-7, forcing the Americans into a make-or-break match against Serbia-Montenegro on Monday for a spot in the quarterfinals.

The match started badly for the Americans, with Chomakhidze scoring after 20 seconds and Russia racing to a 3-0 lead. Tony Azevedo converted an extra-man chance with five seconds to go and made it 3-1 after the first quarter.

“It’s possible to come back from 0-3, but it’s extremely difficult against a team like Russia and we shouldn’t have got into that situation,” said Wolf Wigo, U.S. captain.

World and Olympic champion Hungary, which had a 14-4 win over Kazakhstan, is 4-0. The Russians and Serbs are 3-1, and the Americans are 2-2 after consecutive losses.

In earlier Group B matches, Germany (3-1) upset 1996 champion Spain, 11-5; No. 2-ranked Italy (3-1) beat Egypt, 14-3; and Greece (3-1) edged Australia, 10-9.

Spain, which won consecutive world championships in 1998 and 2001 and reached the Olympic semifinals in Sydney, is in danger of missing the next round.

The women’s quarterfinals are today. The U.S. and Australia get a break after finishing at the top of their groups in the preliminaries.