Olympics News

BEIJING - Outplayed and overwhelmed for most of the night, the Americans got the only shot they needed.

BEIJING - Tyson Gay reached back to grab the baton "and there was nothing." He's not the only American track favorite who will leave Beijing empty-handed. The American men's and women's 400-meter relay teams both misconnected on the final handoffs in their preliminaries Thursday, a pair of stunning setbacks that made it that much easier for the Jamaicans to say the Bird's Nest is really their house.

BEIJING - The U.S. women's basketball team passed its first test of the Olympics, beating Russia in its closest contest in Beijing. Now it's on to a fourth straight gold medal game.

BEIJING - Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor were prepared for the downpour, just as they were for a young Chinese team that was the latest to challenge their four-year reign over women's beach volleyball.

BEIJING - LaShawn Merritt has upset defending champion Jeremy Wariner to lead a U.S. sweep of the medals in the 400 meters at the Olympics.

BEIJING - IOC president Jacques Rogge criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt on Thursday for showing a lack of respect to other competitors after his record-breaking gold medal performances in the 100 and 200 meters.

BEIJING - Dayron Robles of Cuba has won the 110-meter hurdles, claiming a gold medal that Chinese organizers had long hoped would belong to Liu Xiang.

BEIJING - Police descended on a group of foreign pro-Tibet activists and some disgruntled business owners from Hong Kong on Thursday, taking both groups away minutes after they displayed protest signs in central Beijing.

BEIJING - The U.S. women's volleyball team has advanced to the gold medal game, defeating Cuba in three sets to guarantee the Americans their best Olympic finish since 1984.

HONG KONG - Eric Lamaze of Canada has ridden Hickstead to the gold medal in Olympic equestrian individual jumping.

BEIJING - Even with one of its best players watching from the bench, Australia had more than enough to get back to another women's basketball Olympic final.

Pitcher Yukiko Ueno went 28 innings in two days, including seven to shut down the U.S. softball team, 3-1, and give Japan the gold medal. It was the first loss for the Americans since Sept. 21, 2000 — 22 straight games.

BEIJING - A quick glance at the Olympic medal charts shows winners from every corner of the world. A closer look reveals two entire continents, South America and Africa, lagging far behind the others, to the consternation of their sports officials and the dismay of their fans.

BEIJING - The U.S. men and women both dropped the baton in the Olympic 400-meter relays Thursday night and failed to advance out of the first round.

WINDSOR MILL, Md. - Michael Phelps' mom is back in the Baltimore area after her unforgettable week at the Olympics.

BEIJING (AFP) - Britain's much-fancied Phillips Idowu claimed silver in the men's triple jump at the Beijing Olympics Thursday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the Beijing Olympics by upsetting unbeaten United States 3-1 to claim the softball gold medal on Thursday while sending the sport to a dramatic exit from the Summer Games.

BEIJING (AFP) - One thing China will take away from their home Olympics will be the series of breakthroughs in sports that previously eluded them and beach volleyball was added to that burgeoning list Thursday.

BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing police said Thursday it had handed out 10-day detention terms to six foreigners believed by an overseas activist group to be pro-Tibet campaigners involved in Olympic protests this week.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Tyson Gay's miserable Olympics continued on Thursday when he and U.S. team mate Darvis Patton contrived to drop the baton in their 4x100 meters relay heat.

BEIJING - World champion Nelson Evora of Portugal has won the triple jump gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Jamaica made a clean sweep of Olympic sprint golds on Thursday with victory in the women's 200 meters humbling the United States, the traditional track and field superpower.

BEIJING (AFP) - China's table tennis giants marched into the quarter-finals of the men's singles Thursday, but Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min was sensationally dumped from the tournament on a day of upsets.

NEW YORK - Trying to keep the Michael Phelps glow, NBC has agreed to televise next year's World Swimming Championships from Rome, along with the 2009, 2010 and 2011 national championships.

BEIJING (AFP) - LaShawn Merritt ran the race of his life when it mattered most to defeat defending Olympic and two-time world champion Jeremy Wariner in a 400-meter final showdown Thursday that ended with a US sweep.

BEIJING (AFP) - Veronica Campbell-Brown completed a sprint grand slam for Jamaica when she defended her Olympic 200 metres title gold on a day of heroes and villains on Thursday.

BEIJING (AFP) - Botched final handoffs eliminated the US men's and women's 4x100-meter relays and defending men's champion Britain in Olympic qualifying heats Thursday while Jamaican sprinters continued to run wild.

BEIJING - Chen Ruolin rallied on her last dive, earning four 10s, to win the gold medal on women's 10-meter platform, making China 7-for-7 with one event remaining in the Beijing Olympics.

BEIJING (AFP) - London Mayor Boris Johnson said Thursday he had been "blown away" by the Beijing Olympics but not intimidated, as he vowed his city would do just as well when it hosts the Games in 2012.