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 Roundup: Beach volleyballers miss chance at gold Japan tops 3rd-seeded Americans in quarterfinals Saturday, September 23, 2000 From wire reports
SYDNEY, Australia -- There were no perfect endings last night for the U.S. beach volleyball players.
The team missed their shots at a gold medal, writing a bad ending to a good Olympic tale.
Jenny Johnson Jordan attempted to emulate the gold-medal success of her dad: 1960 Olympic decathlon champion Rafer Johnson, but a Japanese team upset her and teammate Annett Davis in the quarterfinals, 15-9 -- an unexpected event for the third-seeded Americans.
Fifth-seeded Brazil eliminated the second U.S. team, fourth-seeded Holly McPeak and Misty May,, 16-14.
Shooting
Michael Anti, a West Virginia University graduate placed ninth and Glenn Dubis of Bethel Park placed 18th in the men's 50-meter rifle three-position final.
Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia won the gold medal, Juha Hirvi of Finland won the silver and Harald Stenvaag of Norway the bronze.
Track and field
Lance Deal, after a surprising performance, made a surprising announcement. Deal, the 1996 silver medalist in the hammer throw, failed to advance past the qualifying round and then announced this was his last Olympic appearance.
Deal said he would retire after the Grand Prix Finals next month in Qatar. The two other Americans in the hammer, Jud Logan and Kevin McMahon, disappeared with Deal.
The hammer throw washout was the second of the day for Americans at the track. The three U.S. hopefuls in the 800 meters -- Mark Everett, Bryan Woodward and Richard Kenah -- did not advance past their first heat.
The United States won its first track and field medals, in the shot put. Adam Nelson took the silver, while 1996 silver medalist John Godina won the bronze. Arsi Harju of Finland won the gold.
Weightlifting
Gold-medal winner Tara Nott wanted to see U.S. teammate Cheryl Haworth win her own medal. Nott, who skipped her own gold medal ceremony to watch the 17-year-old weightlifter, was not disappointed.
Haworth took a bronze in the 165-pound-plus competition as Nott cheered her on. Earlier, Nott captured the first U.S. weightlifting gold in 40 years when a Bulgarian lifter failed a drug test.
Rather than accepting her medal at a hastily arranged ceremony in the athletes' village, Nott rooted Haworth to her bronze. U.S. delegation chief Sandy Baldwin was to present Nott with her gold later in the day.
Boxing
After landing a dozen solid body shots, American Brian Viloria, 19, expected better, but Frenchman Brahim Aslouf outpointed the world 106-pound champion, 6-4, with the fight judges not awarding Viloria any points for those blows.
"The judges just didn't do a good job of scoring body punches in the bout," said Loring Baker, an American and the general secretary of the International Amateur Boxing Association. The U.S. team did not appeal, and the decision will stand.
Water polo
The American women will go for the gold and a bit of revenge. The U.S. team scored a 6-5 semifinal victory over the Netherlands, setting up a gold medal game against host Australia.
America's veteran leader, 39-year-old Maureen O'Toole, scored twice to lead her younger teammates. The United States' only defeat in the pool this week was a 7-6 loss to the Australians on a late goal.
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