Olympic highlights

By Times staff writer

Clipping Madame Butterfly's wings

No one could believe it, not even American swimmer Misty Hyman, but Australia's Susie O'Neill finally lost in the 200-meter butterfly. Hyman stunned the crowd, clocking 2:05.88 to win gold as O'Neill, who hadn't lost the event in four years, finished second. Also in the pool, Jenny Thompson led the U.S. 800 freestyle realy team to gold, and the Netherlands' Pieter van den Hoogenband ended the reign of Russia's Alexander Popov in the 100 free.

Norway eliminated China from the women's soccer field. China battled the United States in close losses in the '96 Olympic and '98 World Cup finals, and tied it in pool play last weekend. The Americans advanced to the medal round with a 3-1 victory over Nigeria. "I think it's a shame that a team like China's out of the tournament," U.S. captain Julie Foudy said. "We would have loved to have another shot at them."

All-around brilliance

With breathtaking precision, Russia's Alexei Nemov mastered nearly every apparatus, suffering only a slight stumble on the vault during his march to the men's all-around gold. "Destiny was on my side," he said. "God was on my side, so I ended with a gold."

Off-beat

Too many Americans

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released medals leaders per-capita, citing Australia, Slovakia, Estonia, Switzerland and Costa Rica as the leaders.

What time is it?

Sydney is 15 hours ahead of Tampa Bay, so as most people read their morning paper, today's events are wrapping up in Australia. We have converted schedules and other references to Tampa Bay time. For the latest results, check the Times Web site at http://www.sptimes.com/olympics.

While you were sleeping

Some of the events completed after deadline for today's paper: women's gymnastics all-around final, U.S.-Lithuania men's basketball, and finals in judo, archery, cycling, fencing and swimming, including Lenny Krayzelburg's bid for a gold in the 200 backstroke.