SYDNEY — The last day of the Sydney Olympics started with an all-too-familiar refrain: three Olympians, one a bronze medalist, busted for steroids.
Armenian lifter Ashot Danielyan was stripped of his medal after a positive test for the steroid nandrolone, becoming the fourth weightlifter to test positive in the Summer Games.
Greco-Roman wrestler Fritz Aanes of Norway also tested positive for nandrolone after losing a bronze-medal match Wednesday, IOC medical commission Chairman Prince Alexander de Merode said Sunday (Saturday night MDT).
De Merode also formally announced that Russian 400-meter runner Svetlana Pospelova tested positive for the steroid stanozolol in an out-of-competition test at the games.
Eight athletes have tested positive in Sydney since the games began Sept. 16, with more than 50 others caught in pre-Games tests around the world. And that figure doesn't include allegations that U.S. officials ignored positive tests for up to 15 of its athletes, or the charge that Marion Jones' husband, C.J. Hunter, tested positive for nandrolone.
The eight drug positives are quadruple the two recorded at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and the most at a Summer Games since 10 in Seoul in 1988.
WRESTLING: For the first time since Mexico City in 1968, the United States will not win a gold medal in freestyle wrestling. Disaster struck quickly with four straight losses Sunday (Saturday night MDT), dashing any hopes of a U.S. gold.
Ex-Iowa wrestlers Terry Brands and Lincoln McIlravy lost close semifinal matches, leaving each with a shot at the bronze. Kerry McCoy and Charles Burton lost tight quarterfinal matches and were shut out of the medals.
On Saturday, U.S. wrestlers Brandon Slay and Sammie Henson won silver after tough defeats in the finals.
Greco-Roman gold medalist Rulon Gardner, who ended the 13-year undefeated streak of Russian superheavyweight Alexander Karelin, will carry the U.S. flag during the Olympic closing ceremony today.
MEN'S BASKETBALL: After barely losing to the U.S. team, Lithuania won the bronze medal by beating host Australia 89-71 on Sunday (Saturday night MDT).
It was the third consecutive Olympic bronze for the Lithuanians. Australian star Andrew Gaze, a five-time Olympian, ended his career with no medals.
Gaze was the leading scorer with an average of 19.8.
WATER POLO: After blowing two leads, the U.S. men regrouped to defeat Croatia 9-8 in overtime — a victory that lifted them into the game for fifth place.
Chris Humbert's third goal, a cannon-shot from a quarter of the pool away with 1.4 seconds left in extra time, was the game winner for the U.S.