The Latest: US women's 6th straight Olympic basketball gold
By Associated Press
Aug 20, 2016 3:15 PM CDT
Honduras' Bryan Acosta, right, and Nigeria's Sadiq Umar vie for the ball during the bronze medal match of the men's Olympic football tournament between Honduras and Nigeria at Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Saturday Aug. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Eugenio Savio)   (Associated Press)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The latest on the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (all times local):

5:10 p.m.

The dominant U.S. women's basketball team won a sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal in impressive fashion, routing Spain 101-72 on Saturday.

Diana Taurasi and the Americans played nearly flawless basketball in Rio, and were never challenged. They have won 49 consecutive games in the Olympics with only one of those decided by single digits.

They won by nearly 40 points a game, but fell short of the record 102.4 points the 1996 team averaged.

The U.S., which beat Spain by 40 in a preliminary round game, got off to a slow start and only led 21-17 after the first quarter. Then the Americans got going with a 16-3 run in the second that blew the game open and the rout and celebration was on.

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3:40 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Arlen Lopez gave Cuba its second boxing gold medal of the day, beating Uzbekistan's Bektemir Melikuziev by unanimous decision in the middleweight final.

Lopez swept the scores 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

He joined bantamweight Robeisy Ramirez as Cuba's two gold medalists of the day. Cuba finished the boxing tournament with three golds and six total medals.

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3:20 p.m.

Karch Kiraly's top-ranked U.S. women's volleyball team has earned an Olympic bronze medal, hardly the color the Americans planned for when they came to Brazil chasing the program's first gold in history.

The U.S. topped the Netherlands 25-23, 25-27, 25-22, 25-19 Saturday, bouncing back for bronze two days after a heartbreaking five-set defeat to Serbia in the semifinals.

After Kim Hill's ace on match point, the U.S. women fell into an embrace and Kiraly hugged his coaches and brought his team together for a cheer.

The Netherlands shined playing in its first Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta, where they finished fourth and surprised many as the Dutch put women's volleyball on the map with their gutsy, never-give-up style.

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3:15 p.m.

Sadiq Umar scored a pair of goals and Nigeria won the Olympic bronze medal by holding off Honduras 3-2 on Saturday in Belo Horizonte.

It was Nigeria's third overall Olympic medal in soccer. The West African nation won gold at the 1996 Olympics with a 3-2 victory over Argentina, and won the silver in 2008, falling to Argentina 1-0 in the final.

The medal was a reward for an Olympic tournament that got off to a rocky start. Nigeria's arrival in Brazil was delayed until just hours before the team's opening match because of a flight mix-up in Atlanta.

Honduras, which challenged with a pair of late goals, heads home from Brazil empty-handed but the team's appearance in the medal round was its best-ever finish at the Olympics.

Brazil plays Germany in the gold-medal match later Saturday at Rio's famed Maracana Stadium.

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3:15 p.m.

Two-time world champion Aleksander Lesun of Russia has surged to the lead in men's modern pentathlon through the bonus fencing round.

The favorite to win gold in Rio, Lesun won the one-touch fencing event to build a commanding lead after two of five events. Lesun has 592 points, with Egypt's Omar El Geziry and Great Britain's Joseph Choong tied for second with 569.

Lesun is the current world record holder for overall points and fencing. He has never finished worse than third in seven world championships, but was a disappointing fourth at the 2012 London Games.

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3 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Cuban boxer Robeisy Ramirez used a strong third round to finish off top American prospect Shakur Stevenson and win Olympic boxing gold in the bantamweight final.

The fight was even on the scorecards through two rounds. Ramirez, now a two-time Olympic gold medalist, won 29-28 on two scorecards. The 19-year-old Stevenson, fighting out of Newark, New Jersey, won one card 29-28.

Ramirez celebrated gold with a backflip in the ring.

Stevenson, who had been cheered on by retired great Floyd Mayweather earlier in the tournament, pulled his vest over his face and walked off to a railing to compose himself. With a towel over his head, Stevenson sobbed and was consoled by his family. He lost an international bout for the first time in his career.

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3 p.m.

Christian Presciutti scored four goals to help Italy beat Montenegro 12-10 in the bronze-medal match in men's water polo.

It's the second straight Olympic medal for Italy, which lost to Croatia in the London final. Coupled with the silver for Italy's women's team on Friday, it's the only country to medal in both water polo tournaments in Rio de Janeiro.

Montenegro finished fourth for the third straight Olympics.

Aleksandar Radovic scored with 1:57 left to get Montenegro within one. But Matteo Aicardi, wearing a mask to protect his broken nose from earlier in the tournament, connected on a long-range skip shot to help close it out for Italy.

Valentino Gallo added three goals for Italy, which lost 10-8 to Serbia in the semifinals.

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2:50 p.m.

The Tonga flag-bearer who became an unexpected sensation at the Rio Games after marching shirtless into the opening ceremonies has lost his chance for a gold medal in the men's taekwondo heavyweight division.

Pita Taufatofua, ranked 157th in the world, had an unfortunate pairing in the first round with the division's No. 2 seed, Sajjad Mardani of Iran. Mardani demolished Taufatofua 16-1 amid fans chanting "Tonga!" in the arena.

Taufatofua described his opponent's attacking leg as "a nightmare" and said his slow start in the fight cost him.

Taufatofua said he wasn't expecting the enormous reaction to his appearance in the opening ceremony and hinted that he might have something special — but quick — planned for the closing celebrations.

"Don't blink or you'll miss it," he warned.

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2:30 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: British fighter Nicola Adams has won her second-straight Olympic boxing gold medal.

Adams, the first woman to win an Olympic boxing title at the London Games, made it back-to-back gold with a unanimous decision victory over French boxer Sarah Ourahmoune.

Adams swept the scorecards 39-37 to win lightweight gold and become the first two-time women's Olympic boxing champion.

Ourahmoune had a big rally in the second and third rounds to keep the fight a bit closer than expected. But Adams won the decisive fourth round on all three cards and thumped her chest and pointed toward the sky when the decision was announced.

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2:20 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Jenny Rissveds of Sweden pulled away late from Maja Wloszczowska of Poland to win gold at the women's mountain bike race.

The riders were alone together at the head of the field starting the last of the six-plus lap race. Rissveds then powered away on the first long uphill of the 3-mile course, building an insurmountable lead on Wloszczowska.

Rissveds finished with a time of 1 hour, 30 minutes, 15 seconds — which was 37 seconds faster than the silver medalist. Catharine Pendrel held off Canadian teammate Emily Batty for the bronze.

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2:05 p.m.

Tom Daley of Britain has stunningly failed to qualify for the men's 10-meter platform diving final.

He finished 18th and last in the semifinals, when 12 divers moved on to the final later Saturday. Daley was first after the preliminaries on Friday, with China's two divers in second and third. Those scores didn't carry over to the semis.

Aisen Chen of China topped the semis with 559.90 points. His teammate, Qui Bo, was second at 504.70. Ivan Garcia of Mexico was third at 497.55. Bo earned silver four years ago in London.

Defending Olympic champion David Boudia of the United States was in jeopardy, but finished 10th to advance. His teammate, Steele Johnson, finished 13th, six points out of the last qualifying spot.

Daley earned bronze in 2012 and was well positioned to upset the Chinese in Rio. But he botched his second and third dives before rallying in the fourth and fifth rounds. He needed high scores on his sixth and last dive to grab a spot in the semis, but his score of 50.40 was the lowest of anyone in the round.

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2:05 p.m.

Inbee Park's first victory of the season might just be the biggest of her career — a gold medal in women's golf.

Park made three straight birdies early in the final round Saturday, never let anyone closer than three shots the rest of the way and closed with a 5-under 66 for a five-shot victory at Olympic Golf Course.

Lydia Ko of New Zealand didn't stand a chance, and neither anyone else.

Ko, the No. 1 player in women's golf, made an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 69 to claim the silver. Shanshan Feng of China shot 69 and took the bronze.

Park, battling a thumb injury all year that led to speculation she was going to retire, had not faced top competition in two months and missed the last two majors on the LPGA Tour. She took time off to prepare for the Olympics, but when she missed the cut in a Korean LPGA event, the 28-year-old from South Korea heard chatter that she should give up her spot to another player in better form.

Instead, she reminded her golf-mad nation why she ranks among the best.

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1:40 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Inbee Park of South Korea wins the gold medal in women's golf with a 5-under 66 for a five-shot victory. Lydia Ko holed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th to take the silver. Shanshan Feng of China wins the bronze.

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1:40 p.m.

Serbia counted down the final minute before running to midcourt to celebrate, capping off its first Olympics in women's basketball with a bronze medal by beating France 70-63 on Saturday.

Jelena Milovanovic scored 18 points for the Serbs, who were jumping up and down on the bench with hands clasped waiting for the final horn. The crowd helped count down the final seconds and after the game the Serbia team tossed coach Marina Maljkovic into the air a couple of times.

France leaves its third Olympics without any hardware after taking silver at the 2012 London Games.

The Serbs appeared stunned after their loss to Spain in the semifinals Thursday. They rebounded well, racing out to a 12-3 lead and were up 18-10 after the first quarter. When France went up 40-37, Serbia finished the third quarter scoring on an 18-2 run and never trailed again.

Endy Miyem led France with 18 points.

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1:40 p.m.

A three-cyclist pack led the women's mountain bike race halfway through.

Jenny Rissveds of Sweden, Jolanda Neff of Switzerland and Maja Wloszczowska of Poland were bunched up at the head of the 31-woman field about halfway through the six-plus lap race.

Each lap is just more than 3 miles. Reigning world champ Annika Langvad of Denmark was in ninth, 34 seconds behind the leaders.

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1:35 p.m.

The U.S. protest in the men's 4x100 meter relay has been rejected, and Canada will keep the bronze medal.

The Americans were disqualified from the final, won by Jamaica, for an illegal baton exchange in the first passing zone.

Officials ruled Mike Rodgers handed the stick to Justin Gatlin before it reached the 20-meter zone.

The United States finished third, but minutes later, the team was disqualified, and the U.S. protested.

It marked the ninth time since 1995 that the U.S. men have either been disqualified or failed to finish the 4x100 at world championships or the Olympics.

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1:30 p.m.

They came for a third-straight Olympic gold, but Norway's women's handball team had to settle for bronze.

After being defeated in the semifinals by Russia, Norway recovered well to beat the Netherlands 36-26 in Saturday's bronze medal game.

Nora Mork scored seven goals for Norway, which led 19-13 at half time and played strong defense in the second half to hold off a Dutch fightback.

Norway has now won a women's handball medal at six of the last eight Olympics, including gold in 2008 and 2012.

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1:25 p.m.

Serbia's defending Olympic taekwondo champion Milica Mandic is through to the quarterfinals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after a commanding performance in her first-round match Saturday morning.

Mandic overpowered Norwegian fighter Tina Skaar, using a series of head kicks in the third round that gave her a significant lead. Mandic won by a score of 8 to 2.

Mandic won the gold medal in the women's heavyweight category at the London Games and also took a silver at the European championships in May. She is seeded sixth at the Olympics and will next face Britain's Bianca Walkden, the current world champion in the quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.

In the men's division, Anthony Obame, who won Gabon's first Olympic medal in London, a silver, lost to Britain's Mahama Cho in the first round. Obame still could have a chance to fight for a bronze medal in the repechage competition.

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1:15 p.m.

Gwen Jorgensen gave the U.S. its first Olympic triathlon gold medal Saturday, crushing the field at breezy Copacabana Beach in 1 hour, 56 minutes and 16 seconds.

Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, who won gold in London four years ago when Jorgensen was bamboozled by a flat tire, crossed 40 seconds later for the silver medal. Vicky Holland outsprinted British teammate Non Stanford to win the bronze.

Jorgensen was drafting with Spirig for the entire run after they dismounted their bikes together but after smiling at Spirig with about two kilometers left, Jorgensen made her breakaway and wouldn't be challenged.

As she approached the blue ribbon, the former All-American track athlete and swimmer at the University of Wisconsin turned and Spirig wasn't anywhere in site. Jorgensen flipped up her goggles, acknowledged the cheers with a wide smile and grabbed the tape above her head after crossing the finish.

Then, she broke down in tears.

The only other American to win an Olympic triathlon medal was Susan Williams, the silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Games.

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1:05 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Gwen Jorgensen of the U.S. wins the women's Olympic triathlon at Copacabana Beach in 1 hour, 56 minutes, 16 seconds. Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, who won gold in London, takes the silver and Vicky Holland of Britain wins bronze.

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1 p.m.

FAILED TO QUALIFY: Tom Daley of Britain has failed to qualify for the men's 10-meter platform diving final. He finished 18th and last in the semifinals. He led after the preliminaries. Four years ago, Daley earned bronze on home soil in London.

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1 p.m.

Great Britain's James Cooke has set an Olympic modern pentathlon record in swimming to lead after one event.

Cooke finished the 200-meter race in 1 minute, 55.60 seconds, breaking the record of 1:55.70 set by Egypt's Amro El Geziry at the 2012 London Games.

Cooke has 354 points, one ahead of El Geziry with four events to go.

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