US Water Polo Bests Top-Ranked Croatia

(AP) - The US men's and women's teams swept the 1600-meter relays today, ending a string of frustrations for the Americans that included dropped batons in two earlier races. For the women, Sanya Richards anchored her team in a come-from-behind victory over Russia in 3:18.54, the world's fastest time since 1993. On the men's side, Jeremy Wariner crossed the line 12 strides ahead of Christopher Brown of the Bahamas, finishing in 2:55.39 to break the Olympic record by 0.35 second. More»

21-year-old is youngest American to win wrestling gold

(AP) - Henry Cejudo, the 21-year-old US prodigy who had competed in only one world-level senior tournament before Beijing, won gold today in Olympic freestyle 55-kilogram wrestling. Cejudo, crying the moment the match ended and wrapping himself in an American flag, defeated Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan in the best-of-three match. Cejudo is the youngest American to win an Olympic wrestling gold medal. More»

Swimmer balanced domination with near-misses

(NEWSER) - Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals was a perfect sports story for America: we like our athletes to either dominate or come from behind at the last minute, and Phelps delivered on both counts. He was both “the juggernaut and the ninth-inning home run with two outs and two strikes,” writes Mike Lopresti in USA Today—and that made him “the most compelling figure to slice through water since Jaws.” More»

(NEWSER) - China hopes that its Olympic team will do the country proud—but many Chinese are openly rooting for US athletes. Why the love? Francesco Sisci, an Italian diplomat who lives there and whose wife is Chinese, writes in the Washington Post that the idea of "America," even with its flaws, is still held in high regard by everyday people. "The Chinese really look up to the United States. It's hard for them to admit, proud as they are of their 5,000 years of continuous culture, but they do." More»

Dream Team wins Beijing preliminary game

(AP) - The United States opened its campaign for Olympic basketball redemption today with a 101-70 rout of host China that had even the home crowd oohing and aahing. And fans including President Bush got what they came to see."I had five dunks in one game. That's because of the crowd. Last time I had five dunks in a game I was like 17," said Team USA's Kobe Bryant. More»