BEIJING — Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine is under investigation for possible doping violations, the International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday. She would be the biggest name yet to be caught if she loses her silver medal in the heptathlon.
IOC officials predicted there would be between two and a dozen doping violations here, but only four positives have been announced. Through Wednesday, 4,133 doping tests had been conducted, the largest ever testing program in the Olympics, including 455 human growth hormone tests.
Scott Monserud, The Denver Post
Argentina advances.
Next up for the U.S. men’s basketball team will be defending champion Argentina, wh ich got 24 points from Manu Ginobili in an 80-78 win over Greece.
China’s run before its adoring home fans ended with a 72-59 loss to Lithuania, which got 15 points from Nuggets forward Linas Kleiza.
Lithuania next plays Spain, which advanced with a 72-59 victory over Croatia, led by 20 points from Pau Gasol.
Barden breaks tie.
Brian Barden singled in the go-ahead run to break a scoreless tie in the 11th inning as the U.S. baseball team defeated Japan 4-2.
Footnotes.
Americans Mike Day and Kyle Bennett gave the crowd a great introduction to the BMX racing, with Day winning the time trial and each of his three quarterfinal heats and Bennett advancing but also dislocating his left shoulder in a wreck on his final heat. Top- ranked Donny Robinson also moved on, as did Jill Kintner, the lone American in the 16-racer women’s field. Today’s semifinals and medal races were rained out.
• British middleweight James Degale beat Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan to clinch Britain’s third boxing medal. Cuba’s last two fighters also reached the semifinals with one-sided victories, guaranteeing a whopping eight medals for the sport’s now-unquestioned power.
• Dana Sensenig and Angela Loy staked the U.S. women’s field hockey team to a 2-1 lead early in the second half against Spain before Amy Tran allowed the tying goal with less than three minutes left. The U.S. was lifeless in overtime, and Spain won 3-2 on a penalty corner, the soccer equivalent of a corner kick.
• Mexico’s Guillermo Perez won the men’s under 58 kg taekwondo division, beating Yulis Gabriel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic. In the women’s under 49 kg class, reigning world champion Wu Jingyu of China took the gold.
• China found another sport to pad its gold-medal count, getting its first ever victory in sailing when windsurfer Yin Jian claimed the women’s RS:X class.
• American Rami Zur failed to qualify for the finals of the men’s 1,000-meter single kayak (K-1).
• Aksana Miankova of Belarus set an Olympic record in winning the women’s hammer throw.
• American Bernard Lagat advanced to the 5,000-meter final.
• In action today, Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands won the inaugural men’s 10-kilometer open-water swim marathon. David Davies of Britain finished second, and Thomas Lurz of Germany was third.
• Olga Kaniskina of Russia won the women’s 20-kilometer race walk.
Denver Post staff & wire services
