U.S. women's softball team strikes gold on diamond

ATHENS — From Athens to Crete, American women dominated the spotlight Monday at the 2004 Summer Games.

The U.S. women's softball team completed an overpowering run to the gold medal, by pounding Australia 5-1 in Athens. In Crete, the American women's soccer team needed overtime to stop Germany, 2-1, not only advancing to the gold-medal but avenging a semifinal loss in the last World Cup.

But the U.S. men had their moments, too, highlighted by a gold-silver-bronze sweep in the 400-meter run.

Slugger Crystl Bustos lead the way in the U.S. softball squad's gold-medal victory. She slammed two home runs, driving in three runs, and that was all the U.S. team needed to finish its Olympic run with a 9-0 record and a 51-1 edge in runs.

For U.S. coach Mike Candrea, the victory capped an emotional ride from tragedy to elation.

His wife, Sue Candrea died of a brain aneurysm while traveling with the team on its pre-Olympic tour. She was 49.

"Courage is not something that means you're brave," Candrea said after the U.S. women had defeated Australia 5-1 in the Olympic softball gold medal game. "Courage means getting through tough times. This team gave me courage.

"I will never forget the ride this team put me on. It's helped. That's all I can say."

The United States has won all three gold medals since the sport was added to the Olympic Games in 1996, but this was its first undefeated run to the title. One mark did fall, however, when the Aussies became the first team to score on the Americans in these Games.

Veteran Lisa Fernandez gave up two of her four hits in the first inning, pitched a complete game for the United States. A bloop double by Sandra Allen, that dropped between converging fielders in shallow right field was followed by Stacey Porter's single to spoil the shutout streak.

Bustos pounded both of her homers off Aussie ace Tanya Harding, and Stacey Nuveman hammered another as the Americans built a 5-0 after three innings.

Harding, a former UCLA star who defeated the U.S. team in the 1996 Games in Atlanta, lasted just 2 1/3 innings. She left after yielding seven hits and five runs.

"We dominated from beginning to end," said Nuveman. "It was a total team effort, I mean obviously we were led by Lisa Fernandez but everybody had their day, had their chance to shine. I can not be more excited about the way this ended, with a gold medal around our necks."

In track, Jeremy Wariner, Otis Harris and Derrick Brew pulled away from the field in the 400-meter run, giving the United States a rare sweep of the medals. Wariner ran a personal best 44.0 second race with Harris at 44.16 and Brew at 44.42.

Meanwhile the U.S. men's basketball team made short work of Angola in a rare meaningless game.

The U.S. men, who already have qualified for the quarterfinals despite two losses, battered 89-53 winless Angola on Monday afternoon. The team's opponent will be determined by the outcome of a game between Greece and Puerto Rico late Monday. Tim Duncan led the U.S. team with 15 points. Carlos Boozer and LeBron James each scored 11.

But from here on in, the U.S. men have no room for error.

"It's always been clear," said USA forward Lamar Odom. "It never got dark, even with the losses. We knew the competition was going to be tough, but we also know that everybody is 0-0 right now.

Away from the fields of competition, Russian shot-putter Irina Korzhanenko, the first woman to win an Olympic medal at ancient Olympia, was stripped of her gold medal Monday after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol. The gold went to Cuba's Yumileidi Cumba Jay.

Women's wrestling made its Olympic debut Sunday, with Americans reaching Monday's semifinals in two of four weight classes.

Sara McMann took silver, falling to Kaori Icho of Japan, 11-5.

She had advanced to the finals by pinning Greece's Stavroula Zygouri in 50 seconds of their 63-kg (138 1/2 pounds) semifinal. McMann was to met Japanese world champion Kaori Icho in the gold-medal match later Monday.

But highly regarded Patricia Miranda (48 kilos, 106-pounds), who cruised through her pool matches, fell 9-0 to Ukraine's dominant Irina Merleni in her semifinal. Merleni later won the gold and Miranda decisioned Angelique Berthenet of France, 11-4, for the bronze.

Toccara Montgomery (72 kilos, 158 1/2 pounds) and Tela O'Donnell (55 kilos, 121 pounds) each went 1-1 Sunday, but were eliminated Monday. Saori Yoshida of Japan topped Tonya Verbeek of Canada for the gold medal at 55 kilos.

Early Monday, Greece's Athanasia Tsoumeleka of Greece won the women's 20-kilometer walk in 1:29.12. The cheers grew as she wound her way through the Olympic Park, fighting off Russia's Olimpiada Ivanova and crossing the finish line with a wave and a smile.

American sprinters Allyson Felix, Muna Lee and LaShaunte Moore advanced to the second round of the 200-meter dash.

The U.S. got out to a fast start in the decathlon, Bryan Clay was third five events and world champion Tom Pappas was fifth.

Debbie McDonald of Hailey, Idaho, who is looking to become the first U.S, medalists in dressage since 1932, moved to fourth place in the standings on Monday. Competition continues through Wednesday.

The U.S. added to its haul of gymnastics medals Monday as women's all-around champ Carly Patterson finished second to Romania's Catalina Ponor on the beam.

Also Monday:

— Korea's Ryu Seung-min captured gold medal in men's table tennis on Monday, beating Wang Hao of China.

— In men's 3-meter diving, Troy Dumais of Ventura, Calif., was in fifth place after the preliminaries.

— Australia captured the gold medal in the men's 4,000-meter team pursuit.

— Jeff Smoke qualified for the semifinals in the 1,000-meter men's flatwater kayak doubles with partner Andy Bussey of Pinehurst, N.C.

Other gold medal winners included Frangoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon in the women's triple jump, Kelly Holmes of Britain in the women's 800-meter run; Robert Fazekas of Hungary in the discus; Gervasio Deferr of Spain in the men's vault; Goncharov of Ukraine on the parallel bars; and Wang Xu of China in the women's 72-kg (158 1/2-pound) wrestling final.