Olympics roundup

By Compiled from Times wires

U.S. men fight back on the court

SYDNEY, Australia -- Vince Carter ran after a Russian player, pointing and yelling. Gary Payton and Vin Baker joined in, too, pushing and shoving the latest opponent to show neither fear nor awe.

The Americans got ugly on their way to the locker room at halftime of their quarterfinal game against Russia, and they had no remorse after their 85-70 victory.

"If the Russians had done it, they'd be cheering them," Payton said. With the basketball getting rougher and the scores getting closer, the Americans believe they are responding accordingly. And if the people back home -- or the rest of the world -- don't like it, well, that's just tough.

"We're being picked out because of who we are, Americans," Carter said. "I've seen other teams do the exact same thing, and nobody says anything."

Carter was the recipient of a cheap shot by a Russian guard, who elbowed him in the lower abdomen when he went up for an alley-oop dunk. He lay on the ground in pain for several seconds before getting up clutching his belly. As the first half ended, Carter mistakenly went after a different Russian.

The American coaches restrained Carter, but Payton and Baker continued mixing it up with Yevgeny Pachutin, who elbowed Carter. A referee had to bear hug Pachutin as he tried to retaliate.

The Americans fell behind early by 10 points and led by five at halftime, their smallest intermission lead since the United States started stocking the team with NBA players in 1992. The Americans scored their fewest points since the bronze medal game of 1988.

Kevin Garnett had 16 points and Carter 15. Australia held off Italy 65-62 in the first of the quarterfinals. France beat Canada 68-63, and Lithuania topped Yugoslavia 76-63 in the other two.

In the semifinals, France meets Australia and the Americans take on Lithuania.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Audrey Sauret scored 17 points and France finished fifth in its first Olympic appearance with a 71-59 victory over Russia. Renata Hirakova had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead Slovakia to a 64-57 victory over Poland for seventh place. Both teams made their Olympic debut.

CANOE-KAYAK: Angel Perez, a naturalized citizen who won consecutive legal battles over his eligibility, helped paddle the United States into the men's two-man 100-meter final by finishing third in a semifinal heat. Stein Jorgensen's solo bid in the 500 was zapped when he finished eighth of nine boats in a semifinal. Jorgensen entered the race as a tuneup for the K-4. Kathy Colin fizzled in her bid to make the women's solo and pairs finals. She was sixth of nine in the K-1 and with Tamara Jenkins finished sixth of seven in the K-2.

DIVING: China's Tian Liang and Hu Jia ranked 1-2 after the preliminaries of men's 10-meter platform. Third was defending champion Dmitry Sautin of Russia. Americans David Pichler and Mark Ruiz also qualified for the 18-diver semifinal.

EQUESTRIAN: The six-year battle between the two brightest stars in dressage took a dramatic turn early in the competition for individual medals.

Anky van Grunsven and Bonfire of the Netherlands overtook Isabell Werth and Gigolo of Germany atop the standings in the Grand Prix Special test.

Werth, the 1996 gold medalist, led after the team test Wednesday but scored 75.67 percent Thursday night to 78.13 percent by Van Grunsven, the '96 silver medalist. The combined percentage scores from the two tests put Van Grunsven comfortably ahead of Werth, 153.13 to 151.99.

Susan Blinks of Wellington improved on her team score on Flim Flam, scoring 71.2 percent for sixth place.

In the team show jumping event, Germany pulled off a narrow victory over Switzerland, 15 faults to 16. Otto Becker put in the two clear rounds on Cento that the Germans needed to repeat their gold-medal performance of Atlanta.

The bronze was decided by a jump-off, with Brazil beating France. The United States finished sixth.

FIELD HOCKEY: South Korea reached the men's final for the first time, defeating Pakistan 1-0 when Song Seung-tae converted a penalty corner in the 56th minute. Defending champion Netherlands needed a penalty shootout to defeat host Australia and advance to the gold medal game.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS: Defending world champion Alina Kabaeva of Russia took the lead after the first two rotations of qualifying.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING: World champion Russia led after the technical routine in the team event. The Americans struggled to a fifth-place showing in defense of their title.

TAE KWON DO: Steven Lopez rallied in the final round to win the United States' first gold medal in the Olympics' newest sport. He beat South Korea's Sin Jun-sik. South Korea's Jung Jae-eun won the women's under 128-pound division, defeating Tran Hieu Ngan of Vietnam. The silver was the first medal Vietnam has won in the Olympics.

SAILING: American Star skipper Mark Reynolds jumped within one point of the bronze medal position with three races left. He finished second in the eighth fleet race.

VOLLEYBALL: Russia ended the U.S. women's unlikely run for the gold with a 25-15, 23-25, 25-15, 26-28, 15-8 victory. The Americans, underdogs in the tournament, play Brazil for the bronze. Cuba gets a chance to go for an unprecedented third straight gold medal. It defeated the Brazilians 27-29, 25-19, 21-25, 25-19, 15-9.

WRESTLING: All four Americans in the Thursday night session were winners. Brandon Slay eliminated defending champion Bouvaissa Saitiev at 1671/2 pounds. Sammie Henson rallied from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Oleksandr Zakharuk of Ukraine 8-4 victory and reach the semifinals at 119. Lincoln McIlravy at 152 and heavyweight Kerry McCoy won the first matches in their pools.