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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Americans favored to win most gold medals

From wire reports

U.S. choice for most gold medals in Rio

The odds are good the U.S. will win the gold medal count once again in the Olympics.

The odds are even better this year that there will be some money bet on it.

Bookmakers in Las Vegas are making the U.S. the favorite to defend the gold medal crown from the London Olympics, with an over/under of 43.5 gold medals for the Americans. China is the only other country close to the U.S., with bookies putting that country’s gold medal line at 36.

It’s the first time since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney that bettors in Nevada have been able to put money on the games. So far, they haven’t exactly caught Olympic fever.

“We’ve probably had 10 people come to the counter to bet it,” said Jimmy Vaccaro, who sets odds at the South Point hotel sports book.

Bookies who can usually pick the spread for an NFL game within a point or two off the top of their head have had to educate themselves on some unfamiliar sports that in any other year would not even attract the attention of bettors looking to make a score.

And with real money at stake, there is little room for error.

Morroccan boxer arrested for assault

Brazilian police say they have jailed a Moroccan Olympic boxer on allegations he sexually assaulted two Brazilian women.

In a statement, police say they arrested boxer Hassan Saada Friday for possible assaults on two Brazilian women who worked as waitresses in the Olympic Village.

According to the statement, the attacks happened on Wednesday. No other details were given.

Police say Saada will be jailed for a period of 15 days while they conduct a rape investigation. Under Brazilian law, suspects can be held for a long period of time while a case is examined.

He was due to compete Saturday. A light heavyweight boxer, he was set to fight Mehmet Nadir of Turkey in the preliminary rounds Saturday at 12:30 p.m. He was not predicted to be a medal contender.

South Korean archer sets world record

There was nothing the least bit shaky about South Korean archer Kim Woojin’s world-record performance at the Olympics.

He was in such a rhythm that a wobbly piece of plywood the competitors stood on to shoot failed to even distract him.

Kim set a recurve world record with a score of 700 on Friday during the qualifying round of archery at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

A perfect score is 720, with archers shooting a total of 72 arrows. The results of the qualifying round are used determine the seedings for the bracketed tournament next week.

Of Kim’s 72 arrows, 52 were in the 10 ring, which is the highest score. He didn’t have an arrow score below a nine.

Still, he didn’t have time to revel in his feat. There’s a team competition the following day and his focus was on medals, not records.

“Today, it doesn’t feel that important,” Kim said through a translator.