Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 1:21 AM

Australia's softball team has taken the bronze medal after losing a marathon match against Japan at the Beijing Olympics.

Japan progressed to the gold medal match with a 4-3 win in the 12th inning after the two teams were equal at 2-2 after seven innings.

Despite having runners on third base multiple times during the extra innings, the Spirit could only manage one run at the top of the 11th when Stacey Porter ran home after a hit by captain Natalie Ward.

But the Japanese replied straight away before holding the Australian's scoreless at the top of the 12th and sealing a date with the United States with their next at bat.

The Australia's forced the match to extra innings thanks to a last-gasp home run by Kerry Wyborn over centre field when the Spirit were down two outs at the top of the seventh and final innings.

It is the Aussies' fourth minor medal since softball's inception after claiming a bronze in Atlanta, bronze in Sydney and silver in Athens.

It is Australia's last match at an Olympics because softball has been left of the program for the 2012 London Games.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 1:43 AM

The Boomers have been comprehensively thrashed 116-85 by the United States in their Beijing Olympics quarter-final.

Despite staying in touch with the star-studded Americans in the first quarter, thanks mainly to some brilliant outside shooting, the tournament's clear favourite flexed its muscles to streak clear after the first break.

The turning point came after a 30-19 second quarter by the US, which finished the game with a massive 11 more offensive rebounds.

NBA MVP Kobe Bryant and Cleveland superstar Lebron James both led the way with 25 and 16 points respectively, with Carmelo Anthony pitching in 15 of his own.

For Australia, US collegiate Patrick Mills was the standout with 20 points and combined well with fellow youngster Joe Ingles who produced a late cameo of 11 points. Glen Saville picked up 13 points.

"No matter how much you score it doesn't change the outcome, we lost by 30 points, but it was a great feeling to be out there," the 20-year-old Mills said.

"Personally it is just a great feeling to be involved in the greatest basketball tournament in the world."

Australia's star Andrew Bogut was limited to 11 minutes of game time and four points due to injury and early foul trouble.

Los Angeles Laker Bryant scored 11 of his game-high 25 points during a 14-0 run to start the second half, extending a 55-43 lead at the break to 89-61 at the start of the final period.

Frustrated with Australia's physical play in the early part of the game, the US upped the intensity on the defensive end in the third, diving for loose balls and turning missed Aussie shots into high flying fast break points.

"At the start of second half we wanted to come out and we had a particular set we wanted to run. I had a lot of good looks and knocked them down," Bryant said.

"We know they are a good team, they execute very well, (but) our biggest strength is our depth, we are going to wear you down."

As in previous games, the US shared the ball on the attack and found the open man, hitting 57 per cent from the field, including 12 out of 29 on three pointers.

"Standing on the sideline you are 25 down and it is late in the game and you look at the scorers table and they are bringing in Kobe and Carmelo, it was too much for us," Boomers coach Brian Goorjian said.

"Defensively, they are playing great together and everyone is making contributions... they will be tough to beat."

The team of NBA stars breezed through five preliminary round Olympic match-ups winning by an average of 32 points and appearing increasingly intent on turning a disappointing bronze at Athens 2004 into Beijing gold.

Many of James's 16 points came as he attacked the rim for hard fought points in the first half. Centre Chris Bosh and Deron Williams both had 10 points.

Team USA began the game running with Dwight Howard scoring from inside and Anthony hitting from the perimeter as the NBA stars opened an early 15-6 lead and look poised to blow the game away.

But five points by center Chris Anstey and a three pointers from Mills and David Barlow pulled the Boomers to within 25-24 at the end of the first quarter.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 2:44 AM

Jamaica's Usain Bolt has roared to victory in the 200 metres final in a world record 19.30 seconds to secure the first men's Olympic sprint double since 1984.

In a run no less sensational than his world record performance in the 100m final, Bolt destroyed the field to clinch his first major title in his specialist event.

Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles initially took silver in 19.82 and bronze went to defending champion Shawn Crawford of the United States (19.96) after his compatriot Wallace Spearmon was disqualified for running out of his lane.

But the United States later lodged an appeal against Martina, saying he also ran out of his lane, and it was upheld.

It means that Crawford was elevated to the silver medal, with compatriot Walter Dix taking the bronze.

American Carl Lewis was the last man to win both sprints at the same Games in 1984 in Los Angeles and Bolt became just the ninth athlete to achieve the feat.

The previous world record was 19.32, set by American Michael Johnson in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics final.

Bolt started well again to hit the front before he came off the bend and he powered down the straight to win by at least five metres.

"I'm number one," he mouthed at TV cameras, beating his chest and blowing kisses at the 91,000 crowd in the Bird's Nest.

"I feel good. I have just proved to the world I am a true champion and with hard work anything is possible," he told BBC TV.

"This is more than I can handle really, I'm a bit overwhelmed. I didn't think a 200m record was on because I felt tired after the heats.

"But I told everyone I was going to come out here and leave everything on the track and I did just that."

Bolt had won the 100m in swashbuckling style at the weekend, clocking 9.69 to shave 0.03 off his own world record.

This time he again joked on his way to the block, firing an imaginary arrow in the air, but looked deadly serious as he opened up a big gap and steamed through the finishing line to surpass Johnson's longstanding mark.

'Superman 2'


"Superman 2 - incredible," Johnson told BBC TV.

"Incredible performance by Usain Bolt once again. He finished up in an incredible time. This was an incredible performance, he wanted that record. Congratulations Usain Bolt.

"He got an incredible start. I looked at his start and just went wow. It was more amazing than the 100 metres... guys that tall should not be able to start like that."This is his favourite event, he went for it, he came in focused on it, knowing he would most likely win the gold.

"My concern was he would not have the ability to hold that speed for the entire race but he showed he has been working on that.

"He used every ounce of energy, he wanted that record."

Nine men have now won the double sprint in Olympic history.

Bolt, who turns 22 on August 21, had "Happy Birthday" played to him over the stadium loudspeakers some 90 minutes early as he danced around the track on a victory lap.

He has established himself as the joint hero of the Games along with American swimmer Michael Phelps, who took an unprecedented eight golds.

Just as Phelps's exploits in the Water Cube have thrilled Americans, so Bolt has swelled national pride across his Caribbean homeland.The lanky runner started sprinting only when a school cricket coach noticed his speed as a fast bowler.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 3:25 AM

Jamaica's Melaine Walker has won the Olympic Games women's 400m hurdles gold medal in a Games record time of 52.64 seconds.

The 25-year-old - who eclipsed the record of 2004 champion Fani Halkia of Greece - beat home Sheena Tosta of the United States (53.70).

Great Britain's Tasha Danvers (53.84) took the bronze.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 12:50 PM

World champion Olga Kaniskina of Russia led from gun to tape to win the women's 20 kilometres walk gold medal at the Olympics on Thursday.

In atrocious conditions on the course around the National Stadium, Kaniskina dominated the field and set an Olympic record of 1hr 26.31min.

Norway's Kjersti Platzer finished second, 0.36sec off the pace, with Italian Elisa Riguado a further 0.05sec adrift.

Defending champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka of Greece could only manage a 9th-placed finish in 1:27.54.

Australia's Jane Saville, competing in her fourth Olympics, finished 20th.

In driving rain, Kaniskina broke away from the main field early on and slowly but surely built up a steady lead on her rivals.

At the 8km mark she had a 41sec lead on the eight-strong chasing group, led by Platzer, Russian Tatyana Kalmykova and Belarus' Ryta Turava.

Kaniskin went through 12km at 51:19, 48sec ahead of Turava as the peloton thinned. Platzer and Spain's Maria Vasco, bronze medallist in the 2000 Games in Sydney, battled it out for third place a further 12sec adrift.

Kalmykova and China's Yang Mingxia were then red carded for breaking out of the correct walking style, which demands that one part of the foot is always on the floor.

Kaniskin raced through 16km at 1hr 08.31min, just under 1min ahead of Turava, who yielded her second place after dramatically pulling up in a bid to vomit. The Belarussian eventually finished 11th.

Platzer consolidated her second place as Vasco dropped back to fifth, overtaken by China's Liu Hong and Rigaudo, who claimed a first track and field medal at these Games for Italy.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 2:46 PM

Australian diver Melissa Wu has qualified for tomorrow's Olympic final of the women's 10 metres platorm in Beijing.

Wu went through in eighth position, while compatriot Alexandra Croak was one of four divers to miss out on the 12-person final

Chinese teenager Chen Ruolin led the way into the women's 10m platform final on Thursday, as the host nation eyed a seventh gold in the seventh diving event of the Bejing Games.

With a total of 444.60 points, Chen was 43.85 points clear of Mexico's Paola Espinosa after the semi-finals, with the final scheduled for later Thursday.

Wang Xin was lying third after the semis, giving China another good chance as they bid for a clean sweep of all eight diving golds.

Chen and Wang, who captured gold for China in the 10m synchronised platform on Tuesday, are trying to return the women's individual platform title to China.

At the Sydney Olympics, American diver Laura Wilkinson beat China's Li Na for the title while in Athens Australian Chantelle Newbery stunned favourite Lao Lishi for gold.

Wang, 16, is the reigning world champion while 15-year-old Chen is currently ranked number one in the world.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 3:59 PM

Australia has picked up a silver medal in Olympic sailing on the final day of yachting in the Beijing Games.

World champions Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby had to finish two places ahead of the Spanish crew of Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz to secure gold in the Tornados.

But in windy conditions off Qindao both teams were placed back in the field, leaving Spain to pick up the gold and Australia the silver.

The medal is Australia's third for sailing in the Beijing games, after gold in the men's and women's 470 class.

These games could be the last Olympic appearance for the Tornadoes - the class has been dropped from the sailing program for the London games in 2012.

Torrential rain in Beijing this morning forced organisers to postpone today's Olympic semi-finals of the BMX event.

But most events went ahead as scheduled despite the poor weather.

Australian athlete Jarrod Bannister struggled with the conditions, but still qualified for Saturday's final of the men's javelin.

Bannister managed a throw of 79 metres and 79 centimetres, to squeeze through to the 12-man final in 11th spot.

Australian diver Melissa Wu has qualified for tonight's final of the women's 10 metre platform.

Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have defended the title they won in Athens, by winning Gold in the women's beach volleyball.

Russian athlete Olga Kaniskina has won gold in the women's 20 kilometre walk, while Australian Jane Saville was 20th.

The Netherlands' Maarten van der Weijden took the gold medal in a thrilling finish to the men's 10 kilometre open water swim, just ahead of Britain's David Davies and German Thomas Lurz.

Time is running out to put a dent in China's runaway lead on the Olympic medal tally board.

With four days of competition to go, the host nation has almost twice the amount of gold medals won by the 2nd placed nation, the United States.

Australia's athletes are not done yet, with the men's hockey team and the women's basketball side closing in on their respective finals.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 4:21 PM

Australian athlete Jarrod Bannister has qualified for Saturday's Olympic final of the men's javelin in Beijing.

Bannister managed a throw of 79.79 metres to squeeze through to the 12-man final in 11th spot.

Latvia's Vadims Vasilevskis recorded the best throw of 83.51 metres.

The preliminaries had to be postponed after the day begin with torrential rain inside the Bird's Nest.

The event did get underway eventually after the rain eased.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 7:38 PM

Barcelona gold medallist Clint Robinson's Olympic career has ended in disappointment after the veteran and Jacob Clear failed to qualify for the final of the K2 kayaking.

In positive news for Australia, Ken Wallace has qualifed for the Olympic final of the K1 500 metres.

Torsten Lachmann is out of the C1 canoeing after finishing seventh in his semi-final.

Chantal Meek also came seventh in her semi-final of the women's K1 event and will not make the final.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 8:43 PM

Australia's Jane Saville says she is disappointed with her placing in today's 20 kilometres walk at the Beijing Olympics.

The four-time Olympian and Athens bronze medallist came 20th in today's event, with Russia's Olga Kaniskina taking out the gold.

Saville says she had hoped to do better.

"This is my fourth Olympic Games," he said.

"I'm not here to get a tracksuit or to just make the Games, that's what I did in 1996. I think I came 26th there.

"I was satisfied then but 20th place today - I don't do this to make teams any more, I do this to win medals.

"Today I was hoping to do that again and that's why I continued on after Athens, because I really thought I had more in me and I could do it.

"I've had faith in my body and my mind that I could do it so it was just a horrible feeling when you don't do it."

Saville said she could not keep up with the pace.

"We were hoping for a bit hotter weather, it was fast at the start and basically I didn't have it to go with the girls," she said.