Hamilton cycles to gold medal

Tyler Hamilton dreams of yellow. Olympic gold is close enough.

His greatest ride capped the finest Olympic day for U.S. cycling, which won three of the six medals awarded in Wednesday's road time trials -- surpassing its two total road medals won since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

Led by Hamilton, the Americans left the scenic road course along the Saronic Gulf with one medal of every hue; Dede Barry won silver in the women's trial, Bobby Julich took the men's bronze.

"Ever since I was a little kid, I was in awe watching the Olympics and seeing a gold medalist on top of the podium, then hearing the national anthem," Hamilton said. "Even as a kid, I'd get goosebumps. This is not just a victory for me or USA Cycling -- it's a victory for the entire United States of America."

No other nation took home more road medals from Athens than the United States.

Archery

South Korea's Park Sung-hyun defeated countrywoman Lee Sung-jin in the final of the archery competition at Panathinaiko stadium.

Athletics

Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou withdrew from the Athens Games on Wednesday, nearly a week after missing a drug test and being hospitalized following a suspicious motorcycle crash.

Kenteris also said he cut ties with his coach, Christos Tsekos -- suspended by the Greek Olympic Committee along with the two runners.

The IOC's executive board proceeded with a hearing despite the runners' announcement and referred the case to the International Association of Athletics Federations. The IAAF will discuss the case Aug. 26 but won't rule until after the games.

Shot put

Ukrainian Yuriy Bilonog took a flag-draped victory lap while American Adam Nelson stood in the shot put ring for three minutes, pointing at officials and pleading.

Nelson led the entire competition, but Bilonog's final throw tied Nelson for the best of the day at 69 feet, 5 1/4 inches. Nelson had one last chance to win and unleashed a great toss, but was called for his fifth consecutive foul.

Since Nelson had no other good throws and Bilonog had several, the Ukrainian won.

Russian Irina Korzhanenko won the women's event.

Beach volleyball

The U.S. team of Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak were perfect through pool play with a 22-24, 21-17, 15-12 win over Swiss pair Simone Kuhn and Nicole Schnyder.

The American men's team of Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard ended a dismal Olympics with a 21-16, 13-21, 15-13 loss to Swiss pair Stefan Kobel and Patrick Heuscher.

Boxing

American super heavyweight Jason Estrada and heavyweight Devin Vargas advanced to the quarterfinals, capping an impressive 6-1 run through the preliminaries for a lightly regarded U.S. team.

Eight Americans remain.

Light flyweight Rau'Shee Warren, 17, was the only American eliminated in the first round.

Canoe/Kayak

Rebecca Giddens of Green Bay, Wis., took the silver in the women's kayaking singles slalom, while Elena Kaliska of Slovakia won the gold.

Equestrian

The Olympic three-day team event degenerated into an unprecedented free-for-all before Germany ended up with the gold. Judges first gave Germany the gold and France the silver, while Britain took bronze. Then they stepped in to investigate whether the clock was running when Bettina Hoy of Germany, riding Ringwood Cockatoo, crossed the start line.

The judges ended up awarding France the gold and docking Germany 12 points, dropping it from first place to fourth.

Germany responded by asking for a review by an appeals committee, which reversed the judges, and that helped the Germans reclaim their gold.

Hoy won individual gold.

Rowing

Americans Aquil Abdullah of Washington, D.C., and Henry Nuzum of Chapel Hill, N.C., overtook Norway in a photo finish, winning a spot in the double scull finals.

Sailing

Skipper Tim Wadlow of Boston shot the starting line in race No. 4 of the 49er class and was over early, forcing him out.

In the 470 class, Paul Foerster of Rockwall, Texas, and Kevin Burnham of Miami remained in second place.

Yngling skipper Carol Cronin of Jamestown, R.I., won the seventh of her 11-race series, but finished next-to-last in 16-boat fleet to drop into 12th overall.

Shooting

American Kim Rhode won the gold medal in double trap shooting, staking a unique claim as the first and last winner of the Olympic event. Rhode won the 1996 gold when double trap was introduced at the Atlanta Olympics, and she now owns the 2004 medal in the event, which is being eliminated. She also won the bronze in 2000.

Swimming

The United States women swept the 800-meter freestyle relay, taking down the oldest world record in swimming while leaving Australia in the wake.

Kaitlin Sandeno swam the final leg and touched the wall in a time of 7 minutes, 53.42 seconds, easily beating the mark of 7:55.47 set exactly 17 years earlier by East Germany. The other members were Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper and Dana Vollmer.

China, more than 2 1/2 seconds behind, took silver.

American Michael Phelps set an Olympic record in the semifinals of the 200 individual medley.

Tennis

In back-to-back tennis stunners, second-seeded Andy Roddick was upset by No. 16 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-4, 6-4, and defending gold medalist Venus Williams lost to Mary Pierce of France 6-4, 6-4. For the first time since tennis returned to the Olympics as a medal sport in 1988, no U.S. woman will win a singles medal.

Women's volleyball

A sluggish American start and some Dominican determination led to a big upset. Milagros Cabral de la Cruz had the match-winning kill in the fifth set, giving the Dominican Republic a 26-24, 22-25, 27-25, 23-25, 19-17 victory over the United States. Dropping to 1-2, the Americans must play Russia on Friday and Cuba on Sunday to close the preliminary round.

Women's water polo

Canada scored five unanswered goals in the last six minutes to upset the world champion Americans 6-5.

Women's basketball

Lisa Leslie scored 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting, Tina Thompson added 18 points, and the United States beat South Korea 80-57 to stay unbeaten. The Americans opened the second half with a 19-2 run that broke the game open.

--From wire reports