Relay miscue turns gold to silver

ATHENS, Greece — A sloppy handoff in the men's 400-meter relay forced the Americans to settle for silver, one hundredth of a second behind Britain.

U.S. anchor Maurice Greene took the baton in second place and with a burst of speed in the final 30 meters, made up some of the gap behind Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis — but just failed to catch him. The British won in 38.07 seconds, and the Americans won silver in 38.08. Nigeria took the bronze.

The U.S. relay was undermined by a poor handoff from its second runner, 100-meter gold medalist Justin Gatlin, to Coby Miller.

Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj became the first man in 80 years to win the 1,500 and 5,000 meters at one Olympics.

El Guerrouj passed Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia with about 50 meters left in the 5,000 and finished in 13 minutes, 14.39 seconds. Bekele, who was trying to become the first man in 24 years to win the 5,000 and 10,000 at an Olympics, finished second. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, who led until the final lap, won bronze. The first man to win the 1,500 and 5,000 in an Olympics was Paavo Nurmi, who did it in 1924.

Kelly Holmes surged from behind to take the women's 1,500 meters gold and clinch a rare middle distance Olympic double. The Briton already won the 800 earlier this week.

In the final straight, Holmes kicked for home and easily beat Tatyana Tomashova of Russia and Maria Cioncan of Romania. Holmes finished in 3 minutes 57.90 seconds, holding a .22 second edge over Tomashova. Cioncan was third.

The United States swept the 1,600-meter relays after the men's team handily won gold in 2 minutes, 55.91 seconds. Otis Harris, Derrick Brew, Jeremy Wariner and Darold Williamson dominated while Australia took silver and Nigeria won bronze.

Earlier, the women's 1,600 relay team won in 3:19.01. The U.S. women's team of DeeDee Trotter, Monique Henderson, Sanya Richards and Monique Hennagan easily beat Russia, which took silver and Jamaica, which won bronze.

Yelena Slesarenko of Russia set an Olympic record while winning the gold medal in women's high jump. Slesarenko cleared 6 feet, 9 inches (2.06 meters). Hestrie Cloete of South Africa won the silver. Viktoriya Styopina of Ukraine got the bronze.

Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia relied on his trademark late kick to sweep by four competitors and win the 800 meters. South African Mbulaeni Tongai Mulaudzi won the silver. World record holder Wilson Kipketer of Denmark took the bronze.

Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway won the gold medal in javelin with a personal-best throw of 283 feet, 9 inches. Vadims Vasilevskis of Latvia won the silver and Sergey Makarov of Russia won the bronze.

MEN'S SOCCER — Argentina won its first Olympic gold medal in soccer, beating Paraguay on Carlos Tevez's eighth goal of the tournament.

Despite the loss, Paraguay captured its first medal in any sport. Italy won the bronze Friday, beating Iraq 1-0.