Phelps can't quite surpass Spitz

ATHENS, Greece -- South Africa spoiled the expected duel between the United States and Australia in the 400-meter freestyle relay, winning the gold medal in world-record time and ensuring that Michael Phelps won't surpass Mark Spitz's record of seven Olympic golds.

The best Phelps can do is tie Spitz after the South Africans cruised to a stunning win in 3 minutes, 13.17 seconds on Sunday. The Netherlands won silver and Phelps and his American teammates took bronze.

It was the worst showing ever for the Americans, who had never lost an Olympic 400 free relay until they were upset by the Australians at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Now, Phelps has no margin for error. Next up is the 200 free, a race that has been dominated by world record-holder Ian Thorpe of Australia and the most imposing of Phelps' individual events.

The Americans already seemed to be laying the groundwork for failure.

"Michael will not miss a beat," U.S. men's coach Eddie Reese said, "if he doesn't win seven gold medals."

The 19-year-old from Baltimore opened with a gold in the 400 individual medley Saturday, but needed to win all eight of his events to surpass Spitz.

"We are disappointed, but we're fortunate to win a medal," Phelps said of Sunday's bronze. "It's a learning experience."

The South Africans broke the Aussies' world record. The Netherlands took silver at 3:14.36, while Phelps and his American teammates finished third at 3:14.62.

Earlier, Laure Manaudou of France won the women's 400-meter freestyle, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan the men's 100-meter breaststroke and Australian Petria Thomas the women's 100-meter butterfly.

GymnasticsThe U.S. gymnastics team began its quest for an Olympic gold medal with an up-and-down qualifying round Sunday that included some nice moments -- mostly from Carly Patterson -- but also left plenty of room for improvement.

"That's why we have a day between competitions," Courtney McCool said after the United States faltered late and finished in second place behind defending Olympic champion Romania.

Most of the Americans can use the off day to improve on vault and floor before Tuesday's finals. The reigning world champions hardly looked the part on those events, stumbling around and turning a 0.99-point lead halfway through the meet into a deficit of 0.588.

Patterson scored a 9.725 on beam en route to a 38.337, which left her in first place in qualifying for the all-around. Teammate Courtney Kupets was in fourth at 37.937 and also qualified.

Svetlana Khorkina of Russia, who edged Patterson for gold at last year's world championships, was stellar on uneven bars and lit up the floor, as usual, with her smiling, seductive dancing. A score of 9.137 on balance beam dampened her day, though, and she finished fifth.

SoftballLisa Fernandez allowed one hit and the Americans dominated Australia 10-0, blowing out the two-time bronze medalists in a game called after five innings because the Aussies were too far behind.

After an eight-run fourth inning, all Fernandez had to do was get three outs in the fifth to finish off Australia, the only team to beat the United States twice in Olympic competition.

Earlier, Jennifer Spediacci pitched a shutout into the fifth inning, and Italy hung on to beat China 7-5 to stun one of the medal favorites.

TennisVenus Williams overpowered Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-2, and Andy Roddick made his Olympic debut with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Flavio Saretta of Brazil.

SoccerThe resilient Iraqis are making the most of their return to the Olympics. They defeated Costa Rica 2-0, their second straight victory putting them in the quarterfinals, quite an achievement for a team that can't play games at home because of war.

Iraq was not expected to qualify for the Olympic tournament, much less open with victories against Portugal and Costa Rica. The country last qualified for the Olympics at the 1988 Seoul Games and hasn't been in the quarterfinals since the 1980 Moscow Games.

--From wire reports