U.S. teams back on court

Onto today’s semifinal round. The U.S. men’s basketball team finally looked medal worthy in knocking off Spain on Thursday. Now comes Manu Ginobili and Argentina in a battle of teams that both lost twice in pool play.

The American women have yet to be challenged in six games, with no opponent getting closer than 19 points. Next to take the challenge is Russia, which has five victories and a loss to Australia. The Russians are coming off a 21-point victory over the Czech Republic.

Track and field

Marion Jones, a triple gold-medal winner in Sydney, can bring home two today, competing in the long jump and 4x100-meter relay. The relay is a safe bet, but the long jump is a long shot — she qualified seventh, while Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva jumped only once and went well beyond any of her rivals. Toby Stevenson leads three Americans in the pole vault final, and the 110 high hurdles is wide open after Allen Johnson’s crash-and-burn in the preliminaries.

Boxing

The boxing Andres, middleweight Andre Dirrell and light heavyweight Andre Ward, fight in semifinals today.