2004 Olympics: Other Sports

OLYMPIC BRIEFS

12:05 AM CDT on Monday, August 30, 2004

From Staff and Wire Reports

ATHENS, Greece – Neither of the U.S. men's freestyle wrestlers who competed Sunday added to the medals won Saturday night.

Oklahoma State graduate Daniel Cormier lost in the 211 ½-pound semifinals to Russia's Khadjimourat Gatsalov, 5-0. He then dropped the bronze-medal match to Iran's Alireza Heidari, 3-2.

Joe Williams was defeated in the 163-pound quarterfinals by Kazakhstan's Gennadiy Laliyev, 3-2 in overtime.

On Saturday, Cael Sanderson won the gold medal at 185 pounds. Jamill Kelly and Stephen Abas earned silver medals at 145 ½ and 121 pounds, respectively.

Heidari's dominance of Cormier was similar to that of last year's world championships, a match that turned ugly when Cormier became enraged at Heidari's on-mat victory celebration and shoved him in the back.

To Cormier, who was sanctioned and forced to apologize following the Heidari shoving, the consequences of the loss were far worse. He came to Athens seeking to win a medal in honor of his infant daughter, who was killed in a car accident just over a year ago.

Overall, the United States won six wrestling medals – one fewer than in Sydney – despite the addition of women's wrestling.

Colombian cyclist Maria Luisa Calle Williams has been stripped of her bronze in the points race after testing positive for a banned stimulant. That gives the bronze medal to American Erin Mirabella, who moves up from fourth.

Brazil backed up its No. 1 world ranking with a gold-medal finish, beating rival Italy in the men's volleyball final.

Gilberto Godoy Filho had 20 points to lead the Brazilians to a 25-16, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22 victory. Brazil has been a major international power for the last decade, but this was its first Olympic medal since a gold in 1992.

Hungary extended its dominance of Olympic water polo, winning an eighth gold medal after rallying to beat Serbia-Montenegro, 8-7, in the final.

Russia, the silver medalist at Sydney in 2000, beat Greece, 6-5, for the bronze.

The United States upset Italy, 9-8, behind three goals apiece from Tony Azevedo and Jesse Smith for seventh place.

In the title game, Gergely Kiss scored four goals and Tamas Kasas had two for Hungary.

Aleksandar Sapic, the tournament's leading scorer with 18 goals, got the ball with a chance to tie it in the closing seconds, but didn't get a shot off in time.

World champion Croatia won the men's handball gold medal, finishing an undefeated run with a 26-24 victory over Germany.

The Croatians won in Atlanta in 1996 but failed to qualify for the Sydney Games four years ago. They won the world championship in Portugal last year.

Russia beat Hungary, 28-26, to claim the bronze Saturday.

Korea's Moon Dae-sung unleashed a wicked roundhouse kick that knocked out local favorite Alexandros Nikolaidis of Greece in the first round of the taekwondo heavyweight final.

Moon was leading, 1-0, when he landed a high kick to the Greek fireman's head. The blow knocked Nikolaidis' helmet askew and he collapsed on the mat for several seconds before officials helped him up.

Nikolaidis got the silver medal, while Pascal Gentil of France successfully defended his bronze from the 2000 Sydney Games in the over 80-kilogram category, beating Jordan's Ibrahim Kamal, 6-2.

In the women's 67-kilogram final, China's Chen Zhong defeated Myriam Baverel of France, 12-5, to successfully defend her gold medal from Sydney.

Adriana Carmona of Venezuela took the bronze.

Tibetan protesters and police briefly scuffled at the main Olympic stadium complex, just hours before organizers of the 2008 Beijing Games were to receive the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony.

After passing through a security checkpoint, six activists from the International Tibet Support Network unfurled a black flag with five bullet holes replacing the Olympic rings and began marching toward the main stadium.

They were stopped by police and security guards who seized the flag in a brief scuffle. Olympic rules forbid political banners in venues.

"We feel that this is the flag that Beijing truly deserves," spokesman Tenzin Sewo said.

China maintains Tibet has been part of its territory for at least seven centuries, but many Tibetans say they were an independent nation for most of that time.