ATHENS - The world's strongest little man didn't let a lot of big talk get to him.
Halil Mutlu won his third consecutive gold medal at 123 pounds (56 kg) Sunday, ignoring his biggest rival's prediction the Little Dynamo was ready to lose.
Mutlu, his career in doubt two years ago following two serious injuries, joined Turkish predecessor Naim Suleymanoglu and Greece's Pyrros Dimas and Khaki Kakiasvilis as three-time gold medalists in the sport.
China's Wu Meijin, the two-time defending world champion recently called Mutlu "old and no longer formidable." Guess again.
Mutlu remained unbeaten against all active weightlifters. He hasn't lost since finishing second at the 1995 worlds and has won 16 of his past 17 world-level competitions.
Beach volleyball: U.S. rolls
Top-ranked Americans Misty May and Kerri Walsh defeated Japan's Chiaki Kusuhara and Ryoko Tokuno 21-9, 21-16 in preliminary pool play.
May spent much of the summer rehabilitating a pulled abdominal muscle while Walsh played with others and worried about her favorite partner's status. They played five matches in Hermosa Beach in July before May decided she needed more time to recover.
On Sunday night, May showed no signs of an injury, leaping and diving with confidence and ease.
"It's fine. No problem," she said. "It felt great to get out there."
Earlier, Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger rallied from a set down to beat Australians Andrew Schacht and Josh Slack in a match filled with exciting rallies and drama.
The 12th-seeded Americans staved off two match points in the second set and won 22-24, 24-22, 15-13.
Cycling: A winning move
Sara Carrigan snuck past Judith Arndt in the final straightaway to win the gold in the women's road race.
The Australian sat on Arndt's wheel for much of the final lap, making Arndt her buffer in a stiff headwind. And when Arndt looked over her left shoulder in the final meters to see if anyone was closing in, Carrigan darted right and sailed by for the victory, winning the 73.8-mile race in 3 hours, 24 minutes, 24 seconds.
Kristin Armstrong finished eighth, marking the third top-10 finish by an American.
Tennis: U.S. goes 5-for-5
Playing in his first Olympics, Andy Roddick admitted it was "definitely something different" than anything he has been a part of before.
"I was a little more nervous today than I would be normally for a first-round match," said the 21-year-old American, who struggled a bit to overcome Brazil's Flavio Saretta 6-3, 7-6. "I don't think you can be the same because of all that's going on here."
On the first day of competition, Venus Williams and the doubles team of Martina Navratilova and Lisa Raymond won in straight sets. Chanda Rubin defeated Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 6-7 (10-8), 6-0, and Tampa resident Mardy Fish won 7-6 (9-7), 1-0 when Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman retired with a pulled abdominal muscle.
Fourth-seeded Tim Henman of Britain was upset, losing 6-3, 6-3 to Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic. Henman also lost his opening singles match at the 2000 Games and was beaten in the second round in 1996 at Atlanta.
Volleyball: Emotional loss
The name of the Olympic venue for men's volleyball is Peace and Friendship Stadium.
The idealism existed in title only as the U.S. men angrily exchanged words following their loss to Italy.
Players said the intensity from a close game carried a bit too far.
"They were talking, saying bad things," U.S. setter Lloy Ball said. "I was just trying to defend my team."
The United States nearly forced a fifth game but blew a lead late in the fourth set, losing its opener, 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23). The Americans' Olympic-match losing streak was extended to nine.
Soccer: Iraq wins again
Iraq defeated Costa Rica 2-0 in a game where a boisterous crowd not only provided atmosphere but temporarily halted play as jubilant Iraqi fans ran onto the field.
Hawar Mulla Mohammed slammed a bouncing ball into the net from 18 yards out in the 67th minute to put Iraq ahead, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Mohammed sprinted around the endline and up the sideline, where he was mobbed by his teammates.
Within moments, a couple of Iraqi fans jumped out of the crowd to join the celebration. About two dozen others followed, running around the field and the area surrounding it. Police and security personnel responded, but it took about three minutes to clear the pitch of fans and debris.
Other events
ROWING: The U.S. women's and men's eights set world records during their heats. The women finished in 5:56.55, and the men completed the course in 5:19.85.
JUDO: Matato Uchishiba won Japan's third gold in the men's 145 pounds (66 kg). Yuki Yokosawa failed to make it 4-for-4 with a loss to China's Xian Dongmei in the women's 114 pounds (52 kg).
SHOOTING: Russia's Alexei Alipov won gold in trap with a perfect final round. He shot all 25 targets in the final to finish with an overall score of 149, tying the Olympic record. Olena Kostevych of Ukraine won the gold in women's 10-meter air pistol after a shootoff.
FENCING: Timea Nagy of Hungary defended her epee title, beating France's Laura Flessel-Colovic 15-10. Nagy also beat Flessel-Colovic in the 2000 semifinals.
