Jeremy Wariner stepped into Michael Johnson's shoes and led a US sweep in the 400 meters on Monday, powering down the stretch to edge Otis Harris for his first major title.
Wariner clocked 44 seconds, his personal best and fastest in the world this year, to stretch the Americans' winning streak in the event to 20 years and pick up where the retired two-time champion Johnson left off.
PHOTO: AFP
Harris won the silver in 44.16, and Derrick Brew took the bronze in 44.42.
PHOTO: AP
"It means a lot. We all thought we could go out there and go 1-2-3. We did our best, we fought hard, and we all came out on top," Wariner said, showing no sign of emotion. "It hasn't sunk in yet."
Wariner has Johnson's old coach, Clyde Hart.
Kelly Holmes took away her friend Maria Mutola's 800-meter Olympic title in a close race that saw the defending champion shut out of the medals.
Francoise Mbango Etone gave Cameroon its first Olympic medal in athletics when she won the triple jump at 15.30 meters.
"I was very proud to get the medal and set the African record," she said. "I want to dedicate this medal to the whole of Africa."
Meseret Defar of Ethiopia pulled away with 200 meters left to win the 5,000 in 14:45.65. Isabella Ochichi of Kenya took the silver in 14:48.19 and another Ethiopian, world champion Tirunesh Dibaba, won the bronze in 14:51.83.
World record holder Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey finished 12th in 15:12.64, nearly a minute off her mark of 14:24.68.
Discus record
Robert Fazekas of Hungary set an Olympic record of 70.93 meters to win the gold in the discus. Defending champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania had to settle for silver at 69.89 and Zoltan Kovago of Hungary took the bronze at 67.04.
Mutola, the three-time world champion from Mozambique, appeared on the way to another gold when she took the lead coming into the final straight. But Holmes closed in and passed her friend and training partner in the finish.
"I just dug in -- my legs could not go fast enough down the home straight," Holmes said.
Mutola faded in the final few strides as Hasna Benhassi of Morocco and Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia both nipped the former champion on the line. Benhassi and Ceplak both clocked 1:56.43, but the photo finish gave the silver to the Moroccan.
Holmes, a bronze medalist at the 2000 Sydney Games and fourth at Atlanta in 1996, finished in 1:56.38.
For Holmes, it's her first major title after a series of near-misses, including finishing second in the 800 at the 2003 world championships, and third in that event and second in the 1,500 at the 1995 worlds.
Mbango Etone, twice silver medalist at world championships, finally won the gold by holding off Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece. Devetzi, who jumped 15.32 in the heats, one centimeter below the Olympic record, could not repeat and cleared 15.25 to take silver.
Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia, who was seeking long jump-triple jump double, had to settle for bronze at 15.14.
Decathlon
Dmitry Karpov of Kazakhstan moved ahead after five events of the decathlon at 4,689 points. World record holder Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic was second at 4,594, and Bryan Clay of the US was third at 4,454.
Allyson Felix led three American women into the semifinals of the 200 meters, winning her heat in both the first and second rounds. She had the best time of 22.39 seconds in the first round and ran a 22.69 in the second round.
Also advancing were France's Christine Arron, who was eliminated in the 100 semifinals after being favored to win that race, and 44-year-old Merlene Ottey.
Gu Yuan of China set an Olympic record in women's hammer throw, qualifying at 71.65 meters.
World champion Perdita Felicien of Canada won her heat in 12.49 to cruise into the final of the 100-meter hurdles and two-time world champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, unbeaten in 39 races, won his preliminary heat in 48.51.
Gymnastics
Screaming spectators halted the horizontal bar apparatus final on Monday, forcing the suspension of competition and showing their anger over judging woes that have haunted Games gymnastics.
Spectators booed and whistled their disgust at judges when 2000 Olympic bar champion Alexei Nemov of Russia received a 9.725, putting him third of three performers after a particularly spectacular show.
In a surreal scene, controversy-marred Olympic all-around champion Paul Hamm of the US stood and waited to begin his routine while the crowd jeered not at him but at judges.
Minute upon minute the crowd heaped its anger and disgust upon the score for Nemov, who was stunned by the unprecedented expression of devotion. He waved and applauded the crowd several times.
Officials' pleas for silence were nearly inaudible and totally ignored by the raucous crowd.
Judges revised Nemov's score to 9.762 -- still third of three -- and the crowd still whistled and booed until Hamm, his start delayed more than six minutes, walked back onto the mat and began his performance.
Judoka dies
Eleni Ioannou, a member of the Greek Olympic judo team who was hospitalized in critical condition after falling from her third-floor balcony more than two weeks ago, died yesterday. She was 20.
The Red Cross hospital said Ioannou died in the intensive care unit where she had been hospitalized since Aug. 7 with multiple fractures to her head and body.
Ioannou, a competitor in the 78kg-plus event, fell from the balcony after an argument with her boyfriend, 24-year-old Giorgos Chrisostomides.
He jumped from the same balcony two days later and remains hospitalized in critical condition at Athens' Evangelismos hospital.
Table tennis
South Korean Ryu Seung-min destroyed China's dream of sweeping all the golds at the table tennis for a third consecutive Olympics with victory over Wang Hao in a gripping men's singles final on Monday.
Ryu, the world number three, outlasted fourth-ranked Wang Hao in a relentlessly frenetic match in which the pair traded heavy topspin forehands to eventually win 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-13, 11-9 in 45 minutes.
Ryu's victory makes him the second South Korean to ever win an Olympic table tennis singles gold, following Yoo Nam-kyu's victory in the men's singles in 1988.
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