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Accident scene
Great Britain's Rob Hayles crashed with the Austrian team of Werner Riebenbaur and Roland Garber during the final of the men's Madison cycling event.
Visit today's photo gallery
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LENNY KRAYZELBURG
USA -- Swimming
The king of the backstroke is 2-for-2, thanks to his win in the 200-meter backstroke in Olympic-record time. |
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OTHER NOTABLES
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INGE DE BRUIJN
Netherlands -- Swimming
Won her second gold medal of the Olympics -- this time in the 100 freestyle. |
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"I wonder if I'd done the two vaults that I did at the end at
the start, I know I would have been more fired up going into the
three events I had left. I'm extremely disappointed,
but it also makes me very mad that the equipment is wrong, you
know? |
-- U.S. gymnast Elise Ray
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They set the vault two inches too low for the women's all-around gymanstics finals. Five athletes took a revault, including American Elise Ray, who raised her score from a 7.618 to a 9.487. She moved from 35th to 14th. None of the medal contenders was affected.
The top warm-up music at the swimming venue? Santana's "Smooth," Shania Twain's "I Feel Like A Woman," INXS's "New Sensation" and
Smashmouth's "All-Star.".
Think you're seeing more commercials in the TV coverage? You are. NBC has started running additional ads to compensate advertisers for a viewership shortfall. An extra two ads per hour, on average, were shown during the Olympics show late Wednesday, meaning other coverage has been trimmed slightly. Nielsen rating numbers through the first five nights were 9 percent lower than the 16.1 minimum national rating that ad buyers were guaranteed. The 14.6 cumulative average rating through Tuesday's telecast puts the Sydney Olympics on course to be the lowest-rated Summer Games ever.
Can't throw away your syringe properly? Don't expect your room to be cleaned. The cleaning services for the athletes village say they won't clean the accommodations for four teams after two cleaners were stuck with syringes, which are mainly used to give athletes shots of vitamins, usually B12. More than 700 syringe bins were installed in the Olympic Village on Tuesday, but athletes and officials from the four unidentified teams had repeatedly ignored pleas by cleaning staff to dispose of syringes safely.
The driver of a bus that had just dropped spectators off at the velodrome lost control and crashed into a family yard, destroying a car and uprooting several trees. "We'd decorated our house for the Olympic Games, but we didn't expect them to get this close," said Tony Corkeron, the owner of the house.
-- ESPN.com news services contributed to this report
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FRIDAY
Women's basketball
New Zealand vs. U.S.
1:30 a.m. ET
Women's water polo
Semifinals -- U.S. vs. Netherlands
3 a.m. ET
Women's volleyball
U.S. vs. Australia
5:30 a.m. ET
Daily schedule
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ESPN The Magazine's Anne Marie Cruz is in Sydney -- and she checks in with her daily postcard.
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INGE DE BRUIJN
Dutch swimmer
On double gold
"It's like I'm on a big pink cloud. I'm
just enjoying every single moment."
MARION JONES
U.S. sprinter
On expectations
"I am not saying that I am a superwoman. I have heard all these terms describing me. I am not invincible. I am running fast and confident. I am at the Olympic Games. I
am 24 years old. It doesn't get much better than that."
PEGGY LIDDIC
Austalian gymcoach
On lower-than-normal vault
"(Allana Slater) said, 'That doesn't look right.' We're usually like, 'Yeah, shut up and get back in line.' But she was right this time."
DEBRA MARGULIES
American TV viewer
On watching the Olympics
"Every time I turn it on, it's an interview or some story about somebody. They don't show the events. Besides, I already know who won when it comes on. Why I am I going to watch
it for four hours?"
TIFFENY MILBRETT
U.S. soccer player
On China
"Sporting aspect aside, I feel really bad for them, because they deserve to be in the gold medal game, no doubt."
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THURSDAY
South Korea
Team 70m -- Shooting
502 (Previous Record: South Korea, 500, Jan. 1, 1999)
WEDNESDAY
Inge de Bruijn
100m Freestyle -- Swimming
53.77 (Previous Record: Inge de Bruijn, Netherlands, 53.80, May 28, 2000)
Galabin Boevski
69kg Clean and jerk -- Weightlifting
196.5 (Previous Record: Galabin Boevski, Bulgaria, 196.0, Nov. 24, 1999)
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