Olympics finish on high note
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ATHENS - The Olympic oracles had long prophesized doom for the Summer Games&#39; Greek homecoming. Unfinished venues. Lax security.
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Athens was better than Olympus had ever been for US rowing octophiles. The men's eight won gold for the first time in 40 years and the women's took silver, their best showing at a non-boycotted Games. But the way the US Olympic Committee saw it, it was just two medals across 14 rowing events, as many as the Belarussians collected.
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ATHENS -- In another era, say as far back as the pre-BALCO days, it would have been a wonderful moment. The host country's new hero, a rising star, sets an Olympic record, wins a gold medal, and lifts the emotions of an entire nation.
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ATHENS, Greece - Paul Hamm thought his fantastic finish was too good to be true. Maybe he was right...
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ATHENS (CP) - With pride and relief, Athens bid farewell to its guests from 201 countries at the close of the 2004 Olympic Games on Sunday.
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Ilias Iliadis of Greece thrilled the home crowd Tuesday, beating Roman Gontyuk of Ukraine to win the gold medal in the 81-kilogram class.
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Great Britain&#39;s performances in the Olympic Games made a dramatic and unexpected improvement yesterday as they won a silver and three bronze medals. They were also guaranteed at least a silver medal in badminton&#39;s mixed doubles.
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Many of Britain&#39;s Olympic medal winners had already done a lap of honour in Athens, the civic reception and some even appeared on A Question of Sport.
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The Olympic hosts are winning rave reviews after the first week of the Athens Games, with foreign visitors expressing delight with the friendly, clean and well-organised Greek capital.
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Britain's golden night on the track help the nation's Olympians surpass their success in Sydney four years ago.
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The first thing to make clear is that Paul Hamm, as he staged an amazing late comeback to win the men&#39;s all-around gymnastics gold medal last Wednesday, did absolutely everything right and nothing wrong.
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Mikhail Ignatyev of Russia produced an awesome display to win the gold medal in the men&#39;s points race on Tuesday. Ignatyev coasted to victory on 93 points after making the vital breakthrough with two of the 16 sprints remaining in the 40km race.
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China turned out a great surprise in the 12-day-long 12th Paralympic Games which closed here on Tuesday, topping the gold medal tally with 63.
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A different way of calculating the medal standings brings some interesting results.
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If the welcome home party was grand, the send-off was equally spectacular as Athens bid a fabulous farewell to the world&#39;s 10,500-odd sportspersons from a record 202 countries that assembled in Athens for the Olympic Games which concluded on Sunday night.
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Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus sped to an unexpected victory in the women&#39;s 100 meter final at the Athens Olympics Saturday. The high-striding Belarussian clocked 10.
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OSAKA, Japan  - The finale of the world athletics championships belonged to the glittering United States track team on a Sunday night spiced up by charismatic European performances in the field.