Olympic briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

American duo stuns the field

SYDNEY, Australia -- Sydneysiders have long regarded Bondi Beach as a glittering gem.

To Americans Eric Fonoimoana and Dain Blanton, Bondi's sand will be etched forever in a stunning shade of gold.

In a match attended by International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, model Elle Macpherson and Brazilian tennis star Gustavo Kuerten, the U.S. pair shocked heavily favored Ze Marco de Melo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil 12-11, 12-9 to win the gold medal in beach volleyball.

"It's unbelievable," said Blanton, who with Fonoimoana duplicated the accomplishment of Americans Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes in 1996. "The only way we could play like that was to play against a team that good."

De Melo and Santos entered the Olympics as the top-ranked team on the professional tour, with five tournament titles this year. Fonoimoana and Blanton were ranked 10th and hadn't placed higher than third in a tournament all season. And the Brazilians had never lost to Blanton and Fonoimoana in their four meetings, three of them this year.

BASEBALL: South Korea defeated Japan 3-1 early today to win the bronze medal.

BOXING: Ricardo Williams Jr. reached the semifinals by outpointing Russian Alexandre Leonov 17-12 at 139 pounds. He became the second American to gain the semifinals. Jose Navarro lost 23-12 to Jerome Thomas of France at 112 pounds.

CANOE-KAYAK: Rather than force his way through a cold, rainy morning practice, American Stein Jorgensen competed a few hours later in a first-round heat of the men's 500-meter solo kayak and advanced to the semifinals. American Jordan Malloch failed to advance in the solo 1,000-meter canoe.

CYCLING: Jan Ullrich of Germany won the road race early today in 5 hours, 29 minutes, 8 seconds. Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakstan won the silver and Andreas Kloeden of Germany the bronze.

EQUESTRIAN: Germany won the team dressage early today with 5,594 points. The Netherlands won the silver with 5,492 and the United States the bronze with 5,098.

FIELD HOCKEY: Jay Stacy's 62nd-minute goal sent Australia into the semifinals with a 2-1 victory over South Korea. Australia's victory gave it 11 points from five matches, best in Pool B.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: For the first time since the sport made its debut in 1984, Americans failed to climb the medal stand. Anna Kozlova, a former Russian now living in Santa Clara, Calif., and Tuesday Middaugh, still on the mend from back surgery, settled for fourth behind a near-perfect Russian duo and teams from Japan and France.

VOLLEYBALL: Kerri Walsh's terrific all-around play helped the United States survive a five-game challenge from South Korea 26-24, 17-25, 25-23, 25-27, 16-14 to advance to the women's semifinals. The Americans face Russia, which swept China, for a chance to play for the gold medal. Cuba, seeking an unprecedented third straight gold medal, meets Germany in the other semifinal. Cuba advanced by shutting down Croatia's Barbara Jelic, the top scorer in the tournament, in a 25-18, 25-23, 25-21 win. Brazil cruised past Germany 25-22, 25-18, 25-17.

WEIGHTLIFTING: U.S. champion Shane Hamman set national records for the snatch and total lift while finishing second in the B group of the super heavyweight division. Hamman substantially broke his U.S. record in the snatch, lifting 4293/4 pounds, 161/2 pounds more than the record he raised during the Olympic trials in July. Hamman's total lift of 9253/4 pounds broke his U.S. record set at the trials.

WRESTLING: Matt Lindland, who successfully overturned his loss in the U.S. trials with a lengthy legal fight, lost 3-0 to Mourat Kardanov of Russia for the gold medal at 1671/2 pounds in Greco-Roman.

Another Russian, Varteres Samourgachev, defeated Juan Luis Maren of Cuba to win the 1383/4-pound class.

Sim Kwon-ho of South Korea captured the 119-pound class over Lazaro Rivas of Cuba. Mikael Ljungberg of Sweden took the 2133/4 pound class with a 2-1 overtime victory over Davyd Saldadze of Ukraine, and Garrett Lowney of the United States won the bronze.