World

Third Time A Charm For China

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 18, 2000 / 9:04 AM EDT / CBS

The Chinese men's gymnastic team finally has the medal they've always craved.

The underachieving silver medalist in the last two Olympics, China easily won the men's team gold medal Monday night.

"Getting a gold in this event is just a dream for us," said Huang Yubin, the Chinese coach. "We've fought for this for 40 years. We hoped we could take this aspiration into the new millennium. All drinks taste of champagne."

Ukraine won the silver medal, but it wasn't even close to catching the Chinese as they finished a whopping 1.613 points behind. Russia, the defending gold medalists, took the bronze.

There will be no parties in the United States. Looking for their first team medal since 1984 - and their first in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932 - the Americans blew it, finishing fifth.

In the pool American swimmers Lenny Krayzelburg and Megan Quann showed they can beat the world's best each winning gold medals for the United States at the Olympic pool.

At the aquatic center, the Ukrainian-born Krayzelburg pulled away from Australian Matthew Welsh to win the 100-meter backstroke and collect his first gold medal. His Olympic record time of 53.72 seconds was just .12 off the world mark he set at the same pool last year.

"It's better than anything I've ever done in my life," Krayzelburg said.

Quann, competing in her first Olympics at age 17, won the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:07.05.

Australian teen sensation Ian Thorpe earned a silver medal to go with two golds he already has won, but he had to be about as glum as the U.S. gymnasts.

Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband outswam Thorpe in the 200-meter freestyle, tying the world record he set the day before with a time of 1:45.35.

The 17-year-old Thorpe had thrilled his nation by setting a world mark and winning the 400 freestyle Saturday. Minutes later, he anchored the Aussie 400 free relay squad that upset the United States and smashed another world record.

But Thorpe couldn't win his third gold or reclaim the record Van den Hoogenband took from him on Sunday. After two days of having his face plastered across every front page and TV screen in Australia, Thorpe finished second in 1:45.83.

While Thorpe dropped to 2-1 in Olympic events, the U.S. teams in boxing, baseball, softball, women's basketball and women's volleyball all stayed unbeaten Monday with easy victories in the early phases of their tournaments.

The United States and Olympic host Australia shared the lead in the medal count with 13 each at the end of competition Monday.

BOXING: Six fights, six wins for the United States.

Ricardo Rocky Juarez, a 125-pounder, won his first bout Monday and so did 165-pound boxer Jeff Lacy to keep the American unbeaten streak alive at the Sydney Games. Both fights were stopped in the third round under the mercy rule because the Americans were up 15 points.

SOFTBALL: No n-hitter for the United States. Just another shutout.

Crystl Bustos homered twice as the U.S. softball team beat Cuba 3-0 in the second game of the Olympic tournament.

Lori Harrigan pitched a solo no-hitter in the Americans' first game, a 6-0 win over Canada.

DRUGS: A weightlifter from the drug-tainted Romanian team competed on Monday over the objections of the IOC.

Olympic officials threw the Romanian team out of the Sydney Games on Sunday because two male lifters tested positive for drugs.

But the squad got a reprieve. The International Weightlifting Federation decided to fine the Romanian Olympic Committee and let four ``clean'' lifters compete.

That gave Marioara Munteanu a chance to lift Monday. She finished seventh in the women's 116@1/2-pound class.

CYCLING: For the first time in three Olympics, Erin Hartwell won't be making a trip to the medal podium.

Hartwell was part of a U.S. squad that finished 10th out of 12 in the prelims of the men's 4,000-meter team pursuit. Derek Bouchard-Hall, Mariano Friedick and Tommy Mulkey were the other riders. Britain had the fastest qualifying time, an Olympic record of 4 minutes, 4.030 seconds.

Hartwell won a cycling bronze in Barcelona and a silver medal in Atlanta.

BASKETBALL: Katie Smith drained three 3-pointers on the way to scoring 15 points as the U.S. women's basketball team stayed undefeated in the Olympic tournament with a 90-61 win over China.

The U.S. team started slow, as it did in its opening win over South Korea, but took the lead midway through the first half and never trailed Cuba after that.

SAMARANCH: About 350 mourners turned out Monday for a Mass to honor Maria Teresa Samaranch, wife of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Mrs. Samaranch, 67, died shortly after the Sydney Games opened, while her husband was flying home to Spain to be at her side. She had reportedly been ill with cancer for several months.

Australian swimming icon Dawn Fraser, who sat with Samaranch at the opening ceremonies, was among those who attended the Mass at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in downtown Sydney.

VOLLEYBALL: This one was easy for the U.S. women's volleyball team.
After upsetting China in the opening match of the Olympic tournament, the Americans beat overmatched Kenya 25-16, 25-6, 25-16 on Monday. Next up for the United States is Croatia, which also is unbeaten.

BASEBALL: Jon Rauch struck out 13 and John Cotton had five RBIs as the United States routed South Africa 11-1. The game was called after seven innings because the Americans were winning by 10 runs.