Sport by sport

Basketball: It was a little closer than most expected, but the U.S. redeemed its poor performance in Athens by beating Spain, 118-107, for the gold medal Sunday. Argentina beat Lithuania, 87-75, in the bronze-medal game.

Boxing: The final day of boxing went this way. Light-flyweight Zou Shiming of China beat Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia when Purevdorj retired in the second round because of a shoulder injury. Bantamweight Badar-Uugan Enkhbat of Mongolia beat Yankiel Leon Alarcon, 16-5. In the lightweight final, Alexey Tishchenko of Russia beat Daouda Sow of France, 11-9. Welterweight Bakhyt Sarsekbayev of Kazakhstan beat Carlos Banteaux Suarez of Cuba, 18-9. Light-heavyweight Zhang Xiaoping of China beat Kenny Egan of Ireland, 11-7. And Roberto Cammarelle of Italy won when the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round after Zhang Zhilei of China suffered a severe head blow.

Rhythmic gymnastics: As expected, Russia won the gold. China moved up from third going into the final day to second. Belarus was third. The U.S. did not place a team in the final eight.

Handball: The men’s tournament finished with France beating Iceland, 28-23, for the gold. In the bronze match, Spain beat Croatia, 35-29. Poland beat Russia, 29-28, for fifth place, and Denmark beat South Korea, 37-26, for seventh.

Volleyball: In an emotional match against a seemingly better opponent, the U.S. men’s team won its first gold medal in this sport since 1988. And the win over Brazil was decisive, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23. Russia beat Italy for the bronze.

Water polo: The U.S. played Hungary tough, but in the end its defense broke down, causing a 14-10 loss. In the bronze-medal match, Serbia beat Montenegro, 6-4. In other placement matches, Spain beat Croatia, 11-9, for fifth; Greece beat Australia, 9-8, for seventh; and Italy beat Germany, 10-8 for ninth place.

-- John Cherwa

Orlando Sentinel