American rowers capture gold, silver

SCHINIAS, Greece — The American men's elite eight crew ended a 40-year drought in rowing gold medals, taking a big lead and fending off a late charge by runner-up the Netherlands. Australia won the bronze.

The U.S. women's eight won the silver medal, but had a more subdued celebration. The favored Americans finished behind a Romanian boat they had edged in the initial heat.

The American men, who set a world record in last week's qualifying, started quick and turned a half-second lead at 500 meters into a commanding 3.26 at 1,000.

From there, it was only a matter of maintaining the lead. The Netherlands closed the gap by nearly 2 seconds over the final 1,000 meters but the U.S. never appeared threatened, finishing in 5:42.48.

The Romanian women's eight posted a 1.86-second victory, finishing in 6:17.70. After the United States, the Netherlands won bronze.

In women's quadruple sculls, the Germans led all the way. Germany has won the event in all five Olympics since it was added to the games. Britain won the silver and Ukraine got the bronze.

Russia won men's quadruple sculls in 5:56.86, followed by the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

Romanians Constanta Burcica and Angela Alupei erased a 2-second deficit in the last half of their 2,000-meter race to defend their Olympic title. Germany won silver and the Netherlands took bronze.

In men's lightweight double sculls, Poland held off France for the gold, while Vasileios Plymeros and Nikolaos Skiathitis gave Greece its first Olympic rowing medal, the bronze.

Denmark won the men's lightweight four, followed by Australia and Italy.

TRACK AND FIELD

Mizuki Noguchi of Japan won the marathon in 2:26:20, retracing the historic route from Marathon to Athens. Catherine Ndereba of Kenya won the silver and American Deena Kastor got the bronze — the first U.S. medal in the event since Joan Benoit's gold 20 years ago.

Fani Halkia of Greece thrilled the sold-out Olympic Stadium crowd with an Olympic record of 52.77 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles semifinals. The old record was 52.82, set by Jamaica's Deon Hemmings at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Gail Devers, the most talented yet star-crossed hurdler of her generation, failed once again in the Olympics as she was struck by injury in preliminaries of the 100-meter event.