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

Olympic report

From Wire Reports

Volleyball

The U.S. men’s team is headed home without a medal. The defending Olympic champions lost 28-26, 25-20, 25-20 to Italy in the quarterfinals. Italy will face Brazil in Friday’s semifinals. Russia takes on Bulgaria in the other semi.

Cycling, BMX

Two spectacular crashes marred the start of the BMX competition, and time trial world champion Caroline Buchanan of Australia and Raymon van der Biezen of the Netherlands posted the best times of the seeding runs. American rider Brooke Crain crashed in the home stretch in a section made of a succession of small jumps. She managed to get back on her bike to cross the finish line but officially was listed as not finishing. If she’s able to continue, she would be given the 16th and final seed. Latvian rider Edzus Treimanis also went down on the track at the same spot, falling face first.

Sailing

The U.S. was shut out of Olympic sailing medals for the first time since 1936 when women’s match racing skipper Anna Tunnicliffe was beaten in the quarterfinals by Finland. The 49er crew of Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen sailed three laps of honor to collect the gold medal they had clinched two days earlier.

Boxing

Middleweight Claressa Shields dominated Kazakhstan’s Marina Volnova in the semifinals of the first Olympic women’s tournament, earning a spot in the title bout against Russia’s Nadezda Torlopova. Shields is the last American boxer left in London after flyweight Marlen Esparza lost 10-8 to Chinese world champion Ren Cancan an hour earlier. Ren will fight Britain’s Nicola Adams for the flyweight title. On the men’s side, Mongolia’s Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, stunning second-seeded light welterweight Tom Stalker of Britain with a 23-22 victory. Yamaguchi Falcao of Brazil upset top-seeded Cuban light heavyweight Julio La Cruz 18-15.

Water polo

The U.S. men’s team was eliminated with an 8-2 quarterfinal loss to unbeaten Croatia. Croatia next faces Montenegro, which beat Spain 11-9 to reach its second straight Olympic semifinal. Italy plays gold medal-favorite Serbia in the other semi. Italy upset three-time defending champion Hungary 11-9 to reach the final four.

Canoe sprint

Germany’s 500-meter K-4 team lost an Olympic final for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Games, falling to a Hungarian quartet looking to spring an upset after second-place finishes at the last three Summer Games. Hungary’s other gold came in the men’s 1,000-meter K-2. Germany claimed its first gold of the competition when European champion Sebastian Brendel won the 1,000-meter C-1, and Eirik Veras Larsen of Norway produced a late surge to capture the men’s kayak 1,000 meters.

Wrestling, freestyle

Japan won a pair of women’s freestyle wrestling events, with Kaori Icho taking the 63-kilogram division and Hitomi Obara finishing on top of the 48-kg category.