U.S. gymnasts settle for silver medal behind Romania

ATHENS, Greece -- The Americans settled for silver Tuesday night, finishing behind Romania, which won its second straight gold medal. Russia won the bronze.

"We made small mistakes," said coach Bela Karolyi, a native Romanian whose wife, Martha, is the U.S. team coordinator. "Small mistakes are to be paid for. And we paid."

In the end, Romania needed to average only 9.35 points per floor routine to catch the Americans. Easily done.

The Americans started strong, fixing problems they'd had on vault in the preliminaries. Then they moved to their best event, the uneven bars.

Carly Patterson, normally at her best under pressure, faltered. Terin Humphrey and Courtney Kupets bailed her out, lifting the Americans into first place, but then came the balance beam -- Romania's best event.

Kupets was pulled out of the lineup with a sore right leg, and while replacement Mohini Bhardwaj gave a clutch performance on short notice, she made several slight errors, dropping the Americans behind the Romanians.

Women's soccer

Joanne Peters' 12-yard header in the 82nd minute gave Australia a 1-1 tie with the United States.

The Americans already had clinched a spot in the quarterfinals with victories over Greece and Brazil, and the tie assured them first place in their group. Their top seed guarantees they will stay in Thessaloniki for their next game, Friday against Japan.

Australia also qualified for the quarterfinals.

World Cup runner-up Sweden, facing first-round elimination from the Olympics, scored two goals in four minutes against Nigeria and earned a place in the quarterfinals.

Softball

Lori Harrigan allowed only a first-inning bunt single and Crystl Bustos homered Tuesday to lead the United States past China 4-0. The U.S. has posted four shutouts in four games.

Harrigan struck out eight, as the Americans ran their winning streak to 74 games.

Fencing

The United States won its first medal --a gold --in Olympic women's fencing, and it added a bronze for good measure.

Mariel Zagunis beat Tan Xue of China 15-9 in the saber final. Sada Jacobson was third.

Tennis

No. 1 Roger Federer was beaten 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 by 18-year-old Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the second round. Andy Roddick, the No. 2 seed, saved three match points and overcame 2000 silver medalist Tommy Haas of Germany 6-4, 3-6, 9-7.

Venus Williams beat Maja Matevzic of Slovenia 6-0, 6-0 for the first singles shutout since tennis returned to the Olympics as a medal sport in 1988.

Men's volleyball

The U.S. men bounced back from their opening loss with a 26-24, 25-20, 25-18 victory over the Netherlands.

Men's water polo

Wolf Wigo scored four goals as the United States (2-0)rallied for a 9-6 victory against Kazakhstan.

Boxing

Ron Siler opened his quest for a gold medal with a convincing 32-18 decision over Australia's Bradley Hore in a first-round flyweight fight. The victory kept American boxers undefeated in the Olympics.

Beach volleyball

Americans Misty May and Kerri Walsh beat Dutch duo Marrit Leenstra and Rebekka Kadijk 21-11, 21-13.

In the men's draw, Norwegians Bjorn Maaseide and Iver Horrem beat Americans Daxton Holdren and Stein Metzger.

Rowing

Single sculler Jennifer Devine of the United States advanced to the semifinals by finishing second in a preliminary. Devine must finish in the top three to advance to the six-boat final.

Steve Tucker and Greg Ruckman rowed into a semifinal in the men's lightweight double sculls, finishing behind Japan. The U.S. men's four also advanced to a semifinal, while Lisa Schlenker and Stacey Borgman advanced to the lightweight double scull semifinals.

Equestrian

The French team maintained its strong grip on the Olympic event after the cross-country portion.

Kimberly Severson of the United States on Winsome Adante is third with 36.2 in individual competition.

Archery

Americans Jennifer Nichols and Vic Wunderle advanced to the quarterfinals of the Olympic archery tournament.

Kayaking

Former world champ Rebecca Giddens advanced to the single kayak semifinals. Giddens competes today in a 15-boat semifinal. The top 10 boats reach the final later in the day.

Table tennis

The last American was knocked out of Olympic table tennis when Gao Jun lost to Ai Fukuhara of Japan 4-0 in women's singles.

-- From wire reports