Friday’s Olympic highlights

Published 10:02 am Friday, August 22, 2008

Star

Usain Bolt helped Jamaica win the 400-meter relay final in 37.10 seconds Friday night for his third gold medal and third world record of the Olympics.

Medals

The United States won its 100th medal of the games, with 30 gold. China has 46 gold and 83 medals overall. U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said the Americans “have exceeded our goals already.” Going into the final weekend, the U.S. was assured of reaching at least 103 medals, surpassing the count of 102 from Athens and closing in on the 108 benchmark from Barcelona in 1992.

Winner times ten

Bryan Clay won the decathlon, the first American to win the 10-discipline event at the Olympics since Dan O’Brien at Atlanta in 1996. The 2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2005 world champion, Clay finished with 8,791 points, including 522 in the 1,500 meters.

Day at the beach

Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers beat Brazil in the men’s beach volleyball championship game, completing an American sweep of the men’s and women’s tournaments. Including the two straight women’s titles won by Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, the United States has won five of the eight Olympic gold medals since the sport was added to the games in Atlanta.

Doping

Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine was stripped of her heptathlon silver medal, the highest-profile athlete kicked out of the Beijing Games for doping. The IOC said Blonska tested positive for the steroid methyltestosterone after finishing second in the heptathlon behind teammate Nataliia Dobrynska. American Hyleas Fountain moves up to take the silver, with Russia’s Tatiana Chernova going from fourth to bronze.

Papers, please

China was asked to provide more documents proving that five of the six members of its gold medal women’s gymnastics team were old enough to compete, in hopes of ending persistent questions about the ages of He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan. The IOC said there is still no proof anyone cheated, but it asked gymnastics officials to investigate “what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies,” spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. The investigation could affect four of China’s six medals.

Chinese takeout

The U.S. men’s volleyball team beat Russia in a five-set semifinal, assuring the Americans their first Olympic medal since 1992. They will play for the title Sunday against the winner of the Brazil-Italy semifinal. Russia plays the loser for the bronze. … Cuba beat the U.S. 10-2 to advance to the gold medal baseball game against South Korea. The Americans will face Japan for the bronze.

Quote

“It’s great news, even if it’s quite negative. It’s great news for my event and the other girls, especially as there was a medal on the line and hopefully that’s the last of her. I won’t have to talk about her again or compete against her again.” — Britain’s Kelly Sotherton, on Ukraine’s Lyudmila Blonska, who was stripped of her heptathlon silver medal after testing positive for a banned steroid.

Saturday’s schedule highlights

The United States plays Australia for the gold medal in women’s basketball, 10 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT).

The U.S. women’s volleball team faces Brazil for the gold medal, 8 p.m. (8 a.m. EDT).