ROWING

AMERICANS END 40-YEAR DROUGHT The American men’s elite eight crew ended a 40-year drought in rowing gold medals, taking a big lead and fending off a late charge by runner-up the Netherlands.

Also yesterday, the U.S. women’s eight won the silver medal, finishing behind a Romanian boat they had edged in the initial heat. The Romanian women posted a 1.86-second victory, finishing in 6:17.70. After the United States, the Netherlands won bronze.

In women’s quadruple sculls, the Germans led all the way; Britain won the silver and Ukraine got the bronze. Russia won men’s quadruple sculls in 5:56.86, followed by the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

Romanians Constanta Burcica and Angela Alupei erased a 2-second deficit in the last half of their 2,000-meter race to defend their Olympic title. Germany won silver and the Netherlands took bronze.

In men’s lightweight double sculls, Poland held off France for the gold, while Vasileios Plymeros and Nikolaos Skiathitis gave Greece its first Olympic rowing medal, the bronze. Denmark won the men’s lightweight four, followed by Australia and Italy.

SOFTBALL

FERNANDEZ LEADS U.S. INTO GOLD MEDAL GAME Lisa Fernandez pitched a three-hitter and Crystl Bustos drove in two runs as the Americans rolled to their eighth shutout in eight days, beating Australia 5-0 to put them in the gold medal game. The Americans have won 78 straight games since last July, and have yet to yield a run in the Athens Games.

Later, Kerry Wyborn hit a three-run double and Tanya Harding pitched her fourth shutout of the tournament as Australia beat Japan 3-0, setting up a rematch today with the U.S. in the gold medal game.

BOXING

VARGAS ELIMINATED FROM MEDAL CONTENTION Heavyweight Devin Vargas couldn’t land the big punch he needed against Viktar Zuyev of Belarus, dropping a 36-27 decision in the latest in a string of losses for the U.S. boxing team. Vargas would have been guaranteed at least a bronze had he won.

Three of the nine U.S. boxers remain in medal contention, and none has an easy road to the semifinal medal round. Middleweight Andre Dirrell and super heavyweight Jason Estrada must beat Cubans to win medals and light heavyweight Andre Ward faces two-time world champion Evgeny Makarenko of Russia.

CYCLING

ULMER BREAKS WORLD RECORD World champion Sarah Ulmer of New Zealand continued her dominance in the 3,000-meter pursuit, breaking her own world record to win the gold medal.

Ulmer finished in 3:24.537, nearly two seconds faster than her world record set in Friday’s qualifying. Australia’s Katie Mactier won silver, while retiring Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel of the Netherlands got bronze – her sixth and final Olympic medal.

DIVING

NEWBERY CAPTURES RARE AUSTRALIAN DIVING GOLD Chantelle Newbery won Australia’s first gold medal in diving since 1924, easily holding off China’s Lao Lishi and Aussie teammate Loudy Tourky in women’s 10-meter platform. American Laura Wilkinson, the defending Olympic champion, was fifth.

WRESTLING

FENCING

FRANCE DEFEATS HUNGARY FOR TEAM EPEE TITLE French fencers earned their third gold medal in Athens, defeating Hungary 43-32 in the men’s team epee final. The U.S. placed sixth.

France’s Brice Guyart won the individual foil gold earlier, as did the French men’s saber team. France has won six total fencing medals.

VOLLEYBALL

AMERICAN WOMEN STAVE OFF ELIMINATION In danger of an embarrassing elimination from the women’s volleyball tournament, the United States finally played like a gold medal contender.

Logan Tom scored 19 points to lead the Americans to a win over Cuba and a spot in the quarterfinals. Cuba fell to third in the group and will play Italy in the next round.

Elsewhere, the Brazilians completed a perfect first round with a sweep of South Korea and will play the United States, the no. 4 seed from Pool B.

BASKETBALL

SMITH INJURED IN AMERICAN WIN Katie Smith, Team USA’s best outside shooter, reinjured her right knee early in a 100-62 win over China. The initial diagnosis was a sprain and Smith will undergo an MRI on today. The win extended the U.S. winning streak in the Olympics to 22.The United States already had secured first place in Group B.

Elsewhere, Oxana Rakhmatulina scored 15 points to lead Russia over Nigeria, 93-58. Russia had already secured a berth in the quarterfinals.

Lauren Jackson had 24 points and seven rebounds as Australia beat Brazil 84-66 to remain unbeaten. Evanthia Maltsi’s three-point play led Greece over Japan, 93-91, setting off a raucous celebration by a crowd of 7,000 fans.

TABLE TENNIS

CHINA’S ZHANG WINS SECOND GOLD China’s Zhang Yining won her second table tennis gold medal of the Athens Games, beating surprise finalist Kim Hyang Mi of North Korea four games to none in the women’s singles final. South Korea’s Kim Kyung-ah won bronze with a 4-1 win over Jia Wei Li of Singapore.

SHOOTING

EMMONS FIRES AT WRONG TARGET, LOSES GOLD American shooter Matt Emmons fired at the wrong target on his final shot, blowing a commanding lead in the 50-meter three-position rifle event and allowing Jia Zhanbo of China to take the gold.

The mistake dropped Emmons into eighth place with a score of 1,257.4 points. Michael Anti of the United States moved into second with 1,263.1 points. Christian Planer of Austria took the bronze at 1,262.8.

Andrea Benelli of Italy won the gold in skeet shooting, beating Marko Kemppainen of Finland in a shoot-off. Juan Miguel Rodriguez of Cuba won a three-way shoot-off with Nasser Al-Attiya of Qatar and Shawn Dulohery of the United States for the bronze.