Team USA Guns For Gold

As Wednesday, day 13 of the Sydney Olympics, began, American athletes set their sights on winning more medals as the specter of drug use continued to haunt the games.

A hearing is scheduled Wednesday before the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the appeal of Romanian gymnast Andreaa Raducan, who tested positive for using a stimulant found in cough syrup she was using and was stripped of her gold medal.

Romanian state television said Tuesday that the country's gymnastics team had returned the two other medals it won when its women gymnasts swept the all-around, with Simona Amanar taking silver and Maria Olaru bronze in addition to Raducan's gold.

Also Wednesday, Marion Jones heads back to the track a day after attending news conference at which husband and coach C.J. Hunter denied that he had taken a steroid and announced that attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. will be representing him in his battle against doping charges.

The IOC announced on Tuesday that Hunter, a world champion shot putter, has tested positive four times this year for steroid use.

"I'm going to defend myself vigorously," Hunter said. "We've put together a great team and I'm quite positive that when everything is said and done, I'll be exonerated."

The normally gruff, 330-pound Hunter nearly broke down several times during his comments to reporters as he said he didn't know why he had tested positive at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, on July 28.

Later in the session, Hunter joined his nutritionist in blaming an iron supplement that may have been contaminated. His wife had not taken the supplement, Hunter said.

• TRACK & FIELD: Track and field competition resumes on day 13 in Sydney after a day off.

  100-meter gold medalist Jones competes in qualifying for both the women's 200 and the long jump.

  Competition begins in the men's decathlon, and there are finals in the women's 100 hurdles and 400 hurdles, women's discus, the men's 800, and the men's 400 hurdles.
  Olympic 1,500 meters champion Svetlana Masterkova's hopes of retaining her title vanished on Wednesday as she failed to finish her opening heat in Sydney on Wednesday.

  The Russian, who also won the 800 meters in Atlanta, pulled up with a leg injury during the second heat.

• TENNIS: American Monica Seles is leaving Sydney with a bronze medal. She beat Australian tennis pro Jelena Dokic 6-1, 6-4. The women's final features Venus Williams of the U.S. playing Dominique Van Roost of Belgium.
• SOFTBALL: The U.S. is celebrating a second straight gold medal in softball. The Americans beat Japan 2-1 this morning in a heavy rain. The winning run scored when a Japanese outfielder slipped on the wet grass and dropped the ball. Australia won the bronze medal.
• BASEBALL: Tommy Lasorda will try to add a gold medal to his two World Series rings early Wednesday. His U.S. baseball team faces Cuba in the final after Japan and South Korea loc horns for the bronze.

  The Americans got to the gold medal game when Doug Mientkiewicz belted a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Americans a 3-to-2 win over South Korea in the semifinals. South Korea plays Japan for the bronze medal.

• BASKETBALL: There are quarterfinals in women's basketball. Australia faces Poland, Russia meets Brazil, France plays South Korea and the U.S. hits the hardcourt versus Slovakia.
• BOXING: Four of the five remaining U.S. boxers at the Olympics fight on day 13. Jose Navarro meets Jerome Thomas of France in a flyweight quarterfinal, Ricardo Williams meets Russian Alexandre Leonov in a light welterweight quarterfinal, featherweight Ricardo Juarez battles Thailand's Somluck Kamsing, and Jermain Taylor and German Adnan Catic clash in a light middleweight quarter.
• CYCLING: Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is on his bike. He rides in the men's road race.
• SAILING: The two U.S. 470 skippers, Paul Foerster of Rockwall, Texas, and J.J. Isler of San Diego, are in medal contention. Foerster is second and Isler is third going into the deciding 470 races.

  Finn skipper Russ Silvestri of Tiburon, California, sits in fifth place overall with five races left in his event.

  Four-time Olympian Mark Reynolds of San Diego is seventh in the Star class with five races to go.

• TAEKWONDO: Taekwondo competition begins, and there will be medal matches in two divisions. Juan Moreno of Miami is in his third Olympics and is a medal contender in the men's 58-kilogram division. Kay Poe of Houston is ranked number one in the world in the women's flyweight division.
• WATER POLO: Men's water polo continues with six games. The U.S. squad is 1-and-3 and has to beat winless Greece to have a chance to qualify for the quarterfinals.
• WRESTLING: There are gold medal matches in four divisions of Greco-Roman wrestling.

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