Olympics roundup

By Compiled from Times wires

Chinese dominate in diving

SYDNEY, Australia -- It was no contest. It never was.

In the final diving event, the men's platform Saturday, China's Liang Tian won the gold and teammate Jia Hu won the silver.

In the final the two Chinese combined to score 14 perfect 10s on various dives. The rest of the 12-man field scored one 10. That went to bronze medalist and defending gold medalist Dmitry Sautin of Russia.

There were no 10s for the two American divers. Mark Ruiz, 21, from Orlando, finished sixth; two-time Olympian David Pichler, 32, finished ninth.

The totally unexpected women's platform gold by Laura Wilkinson was the only U.S. medal, making this the worst performance ever by a U.S. Olympic team. Not since 1912 has the United States not won at least two medals (not including the boycotted 1980 Games in Moscow).

"We got two people in just about every final," U.S. coach Jay Lerew said. "I think that's good. It's very difficult just to make the finals anymore. I'm pleased with our team."

The Chinese team won five gold diving medals, an Olympic record in a year in which four events were added -- men's and women's synchronized platform and springboard -- and they added five silver medals.

Tian, the platform winner, got five of the 10s and totaled 724.53 points. Hu, a 17-year-old who was a late replacement for an injured teammate, finished with 713.55 points, and six of seven judges gave him 10s (the French judge gave him a 9.5) on his back 31/2 somersault in a tuck position.

Sautin was 45.27 points out of first and not much closer to second. The field was outclassed.

"Diving is China's strong point," Tian said. "There's no secret. It's probably because of our physique and because we work very hard. Being an Olympic champion is every athlete's dream. To win the title is the sweetest."

BOXING: Wijan Ponlid of Thailand beat Bulat Jumadilov of Kazakstan 19-12 to win the gold medal in the 112-pound class.

CYCLING: Though Lance Armstrong was disappointed with a bronze medal in the men's time trials, Mari Holden was thrilled with the silver medal in the women's time trials. Holden came in a surprising second at 21 minutes, 12 seconds, behind Leontien Zulaard of the Netherlands, who won the gold at 20:46.

FIELD HOCKEY: The Netherlands retained the men's title, defeating first-time finalist South Korea 8-7 in a clash decided on penalty strokes.

Australia rode Troy Elder's hat trick to beat three-time champion Pakistan 6-3 in the bronze medal game.

MODERN PENTATHLON: Dmitry Svatkovsky of Russia moved from fifth on the final event to win the gold medal.

Olivier Clergeau of France was leading but faded in the final event, the cross-country. Svatkovsky beat Clergeau by nearly a minute to take the gold, with Clergeau dropping to eighth.

EQUESTRIAN: Margie Goldstein-Engle of Wellington advanced to the final round of show jumping aboard her horse, Hidden Creek's Perin.

Goldstein-Engle was one of nine riders with four faults. Four riders advanced with no penalties and five others advanced with eight faults, including American Lauren Hough.

RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS: Russia won the gold medal in the group competition, edging Belarus in a tiebreaker. Both teams finished with 39.500 points, but Russia won when each team's highest and lowest scores -- which had been tossed out -- were put back in.

SAILING: Denmark's crew of Jesper Bank, Henrik Blakskjaer and Thomas Jacobsen won the gold medal in the Soling class, and Iain Percy of Britain won the Finn class.

TAE KWON DO: Kim Kyong-hun of South Korea beat Daniel Trenton of Australia 7-2 to win the men's heavyweight gold medal. Chen Zhong of China beat Natasha Ivanova of Russia for the women's heavyweight title.

The new Olympic sport ended with South Korea taking three golds and one silver in eight events.

TEAM HANDBALL: Russia beat Sweden 28-26 to win the men's gold medal. Spain beat Yugoslavia 26-22 for the bronze.

VOLLEYBALL: Rallying from a two-game deficit, Cuba stormed back to win a record third consecutive gold medal with a thrilling 25-27, 32-34, 25-19, 25-18, 15-7 victory over Russia.

Cuba has won every major international competition since the 1992 Games, building an amazing 35-3 record in world championships and Olympics.

WATER POLO: Russia's Dmitri Gorchkov scored with 9:55 gone in the sudden death session to give the Russians a 8-7 victory over defending champion Spain in the semifinals. In the other semifinal, favorite Hungary edged Yugoslavia 8-7. Hungary holds the record with six golds, but it had not won a medal since its bronze in 1980. Hungary's Gergely Kiss scored the winner with 5:34 remaining. Chris Humbert's third goal, with 1.4 seconds left in extra time, lifted the United States to a 9-8 victory over Croatia in the fifth-place contest.

WRESTLING: The United States' two-day winning streak ended abruptly with Brandon Slay and Sammie Henson losing in finals.

Americans had won 12 consecutive matches before Henson lost 4-3 to Namig Abdullayev of Azerbaijan at 119 pounds and Slay lost 4-0 to Alexander Leipold of Germany at 1671/2 pounds.

Terry Brands and Lincoln McIlravy, former Iowa wrestlers, lost close decisions in the semifinals and wrestled today for bronze medals. Kerry McCoy and Charles Burton lost tight matches in the quarterfinals for fifth place.

FIELD HOCKEY: The Netherlands retained the men's title, defeating first-time finalist South Korea 8-7 in a clash decided on penalty strokes.

Australia rode Troy Elder's hat trick to beat three-time champion Pakistan 6-3 in the bronze medal game.

MODERN PENTATHLON: Dmitry Svatkovsky of Russia moved from fifth on the final event to win the gold medal.

Olivier Clergeau of France was leading but faded in the final event, the cross-country. Svatkovsky beat Clergeau by nearly a minute to take the gold, with Clergeau dropping to eighth.