China Wins 6th Diving Gold

Hu Jia overtook teammate Tian Liang on his next-to-last dive to win the 10-meter platform title Saturday, giving China a record sixth Olympic diving gold medal.

Hu totaled 748.08 points to upset defending champion Tian in the final diving event of the Athens Games. Mathew Helm of Australia edged Tian for silver, finishing with 730.56 to Tian’s 729.66. Alexandre Despatie of Canada was fourth with 707.46.

Hu surged past Tian into first by earning four perfect 10s for a reverse tuck with 3 1/2 somersaults.

He was even stronger on his last dive, a backward pike with 2 1/2 somersaults and 1 1/2 twists that scored five 10s.

The victory by Hu, who earned platform silver behind Tian at Sydney in 2000, means China won all but two of the eight diving events in Athens.

The judges were generous in awarding 10s on Saturday, with all the top four divers getting multiple perfect marks -- just as they did in the semifinals.

BOXING

Cuban Fighter Upset

Thailand’s light-welterweight Manus Boonjumnong pulled off the biggest upset of the day’s five gold-medal bouts, using ring movement and speed to beat Yudel Johnson of Cuba, 17-11.

Boonjumnong made sure the powerful Cuban team wouldn’t tie its record of seven golds in Barcelona in 1992 by beating Johnson in a tactical bout that upset the Cuban team and its fans.

Yuriorkis Gamboa beat France’s Jerome Thomas, 38-23, in the flyweight bout for Cuba’s first gold of the Games. Odlanier Solis, who replaced retired three-time Olympic champion Felix Savon as the Cuban heavyweight, beat Viktar Zuyev of Belarus, 22-13.

Two Russians also won golds: Featherweight Alexei Tichtchenko beat Kim Song Guk of North Korea, 39-17, and middleweight Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov beat Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan, 28-18.

CANOE-KAYAK

Fischer Misses Gold

Birgit Fischer settled for silver in the women’s kayak doubles 500-meter race, leaving the 42-year-old Olympian with two medals in two days. The two-woman crew from Hungary overtook Fischer and her German partner in the second half of the race, ending her quest for a ninth gold medal. Natasa Janics and Katalin Kovacs won the gold. Poland took bronze.

Janics, 22, had won the single kayak 500-meter race only 70 minutes earlier, with Italy’s Josefa Idem second and Canada’s Caroline Brunet third.

In other events, Germany’s Andreas Dittmer beat Spaniard David Cal to win the men’s canoe single 500-meter race, while Russia’s Maxim Opalev took bronze.

Canadian single kayaker Adam van Koeverden took his second medal of the game -- this one a gold in the men’s 500-meter final. Australia’s Nathan Baggaley won silver, and Britain’s Ian Wynne took bronze.

In the men’s kayak doubles 500-meter race, Germany’s Ronald Rauhe and Tim Wieskoetter won handily. Australia won silver, and Belarus took bronze.

The Chinese men’s canoe pair of Guanliang Meng and Wenjun Yang won the 500-meter race.

CYCLING

Absalon Wins Easily

France’s Julien Absalon pulled away in the second half of the men’s cross-country race and eased to victory in 2 hours 15 minutes 2 seconds.

Jose Antonio Hermida of Spain won silver, and Bart Brentjens of the Netherlands took bronze.

RHYTHMIC

GYMNASTICS

Russians Win Again

Russia, the defending Olympic champion, won another gold in the group all-around event, scoring 51.100 points to edge Italy and Bulgaria.

SAILING

U.S. Pair Takes Silver

John Lovell, from New Orleans, and Charlie Ogletree, from Houston, won the silver medal in the Tornado class.

Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher of Austria took the gold, and Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola of Argentina got bronze.

In the Star class, Canadians Ross MacDonald and Mike Wolfs won silver while Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau of France got bronze.

TEAM HANDBALL

Russians Win Bronze

The Russian men’s team failed to repeat as gold medalist, but it did beat Hungary, 28-26, for the bronze medal. Edouard Kokcharov scored eight goals for Russia. In the women’s bronze-medal game, Ukraine defeated France, 21-18.

VOLLEYBALL

China Tops Russia

Ping Zhang scored 25 points to help China rally past Russia, 28-30, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23, 15-12, and win the gold medal.

After dropping the first two sets, China rallied to tie, then stayed a step ahead in the final set. Yuehong Zhang ended it with a spike. Russia also won silver in Sydney in 2000.

Cuba beat Brazil, 25-22, 25-22, 14-25, 25-17, for bronze.