Briefly

Badminton

Defending champion Susi Susanti of Indonesia advanced to the women’s singles quarterfinals.

Baseball

The U.S. team hit five homers, two by Jacque Jones, for a 15-5 victory over Australia. The win earned the unbeaten Americans a spot in the medal round.

Basketball (women)

Challenged for the first time in the Olympics, the unbeaten U.S. team defeated Australia 96-79 to clinch first place in its preliminary pool. Katrina McClain scored 24 points and Teresa Edwards had 20 points, 15 assists and seven rebounds. A Georgia Dome crowd of 33,952 set a record for women’s basketball.

Italy clinched a spot in the medal round by defeating Japan 66-52.

Beach volleyball

An American gold medal was assured when the two remaining U.S. teams - Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh, and Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes - won their semifinal matches. The U.S. women lost to an Australian team in the bronze-medal match.

Boxing

American David Reid scored a 12-5 victory over Pavol Polakovic of the Czech Republic and Floyd Mayweather beat Artur Gevorgyan of Armenia 16-3 to become the sixth American to reach the quarterfinals. U.S. super heavyweight Lawrence Clay-Bey, a 30-year-old prison guard and the oldest boxer on the team, lost 10-8 to Vladimir Klichko of Ukraine. American David Reid scored a 12-5 victory over Pavol Polakovic of the Czech Republic.

Canoe

In the women’s kayak single slalom, American Dana Chladek came from next-to-last in a field of 30 to win silver.

Cycling

France won its third cycling gold medal as Felicia Ballanger beat Australia’s Michelle Ferris in the women’s sprint final. Marty Nothstein assured the U.S. team of only its second cycling medal at Atlanta with two victories in the men’s sprint competition.

Diving

China’s Fu Mingxia, 17, defended the 10-meter platform championship she won in 1992. American Mary Ellen Clark, 33, became the oldest Olympic diving medalist, repeating her 1992 bronze medal performance.

Equestrian

On her stallion Peron, Michelle Gibson’s score of 1,880 was the second-best of the day. The U.S. team is in third place going into today’s event finale.

Field hockey

South Korea and the Netherlands solidified their chances of getting into the women’s medal round with victories. In men’s play, Australia beat Malaysia 5-1 and Britain beat South Africa 2-0.

Rowing

Steven Redgrave of Britain became the fourth athlete to win a gold medal at four consecutive Olympics, teaming with Matthew Pinsent to win the coxless pairs.

Shooting

In skeet, Italy’s Ennio Falco came within one target of tying the world record to win the gold with a score of 149. Four-time Olympian Jean-Pierre Amat of France won the gold in the 50-meter free rifle three-position event with an Olympic-record score of 1,273.9.

Soccer

A penalty kick in the 105th minute lifted Portugal to a 2-1 overtime victory over France in the quarterfinals and Argentina eliminated defending champion Spain 4-0.

Softball

With one swing of the bat, Sheila Cornell restored the reputation of the U.S. team. Cornell hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning for a 3-2 victory over China.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andre Agassi rallied to beat Italy’s Andrea Gaudenzi 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Monica Seles reached the women’s quarterfinals, beating Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 6-3. Gigi and Mary Joe Fernandez won their opening doubles match, defeating Nathalie Tauziat and Mary Pierce of France 6-4, 6-3.

Volleyball (men)

Top-ranked Italy (4-0) beat Russia and the Netherlands improved to 3-1 by beating previously unbeaten Yugoslavia in Pool B. Cuba went to 4-0 atop Pool A by defeating Argentina.

Water polo

The United States, already out of medal contention, slipped another notch by losing 7-6 to Greece.

Weightlifting

Aleksey Petrov of Russia had best lifts totaling 887-1/4 pounds in the snatch and clean-and-jerk to win the 200-1/2-pound competition.

Yachting

Light winds forced the postponement of six races, but two American teams from leading their classes.