Women sport news

(BEIJING, August 23) -- Reigning Olympic champions Katalin Kovacs and Natasa Janic of Hungary retained their Women's Flatwater K2 500m title with a time of 1:41.308 minutes in the final on Saturday, August 23.

Britain's Sarah Stevenson took Britain's first ever Taekwondo Olympic medal today defeating Egypt's Noha Abd Rabo 5-1.

(BEIJING, August 23) -- Sabine Spitz of Germany attacked in the first of six laps to open a winning gap and grab gold in Women's Cross Country Mountain Bike on Saturday, August 23. A world champion in 2003 and bronze medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the 36-year-old stopped at the finish line and carried her bike over her head to win in 1:45:11.

When Richards took the baton, she trailed Russia by approximately three meters. Biding her time, she waited until the final straight to move into first, turning in a 48.93 leg and crossing the line in 3:18.54, the fastest time in the world since 1993. Russia was second in 3:18.82 and Jamaica third in 3:20.40.

Tia Hellebaut of Belgium pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Games, defeating the dominant Blanka Vlasic of Croatia for the gold. Both women cleared 2.05m/6-8.75, but Hellebaut did it on her first try, while Vlasic required two attempts. The height was a national record for Belgium. Anna Chicherova of Russia came third with 2.03m/6-8.

Nancy Jebet Langat of Kenya, who won in 4:00.23. Iryna Lishchynska moved up to second in 4:01.63, with Nataliya Tobias of Ukraine third in 4:01.78.

BEIJING - Hyleas Fountain (Kettering, Ohio) on Saturday was awarded the silver medal in the women's heptathlon, in a ceremony held in the Olympic Village.

Beijing, China, August 21, 2008 – USA shocked three-time Olympic champions Cuba in straight sets in the Women’s Olympic semi-finals to set up a gold-medal match against Brazil, who swept the defending Olympic champions China in the other last-four match on Thursday. photo FIVB Beijing 08

(BEIJING, August 22) -- Argentina scored two unanswered goals in the first half of the Women's Hockey bronze medal match and then added one more goal in the second on their way to a 3-1 victory over Athens Olympic champion Germany. This is Argentina's second consecutive bronze medal in Olympic Women's Hockey. photo John Coxon

Despite a 2-0 defeat against Australia – a side who missed out on a semi-final place by goal difference – Great Britain finished their 2008 Olympic campaign in sixth spot, three places above their world ranking.

BEIJING, August 22) -- The Netherlands beat China 2-0 in the final of the Women's Hockey tournament to give the 14-time Champions Trophy top-three finisher its first Olympic Women's Hockey gold since Los Angeles 1984. The Dutch finished second in Athens and third in Sydney.

(BEIJING, August 21) -- Everything is just like in Athens, the US Women's Football team won the gold with an extra-time goal, over the same final opponent, Brazil. Although this time, the US savior was Carli Lloyd not Abby Wambach, and this time the two teams were tied blank after ninety minutes, while in 2004 it was 1-1.

BEIJING (Olympics) – Australia’s Penny Taylor won’t be at full strength with a sprained ankle when she takes on the United States in the gold medal game on Saturday, and the Americans know what that means.

Beijing, China - August 21 - The U.S. Olympic Team for Women's Water Polo rallied from a four goal deficit early on but were unable to gain the upper hand as they fell to the Netherlands 9-8 in the Gold Medal game at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

The chance of an Olympic medal lured Mountain Bike downhill queen Anne-Caroline Chausson of France out of retirement. Fending off the pre-race favorite, Shanaze Reade of Great Britain, Chausson passed Reade in a daring inside pass on the first corner to claim the gold medal.

Germany took the Kayak Gold medal today in Beijing. Hungary took the silver and Australia take the bronze.

BRITAIN maintained its remarkably consistent record in the Modern Pentathlon since the event was added to the Olympic programme for women when Heather Fell won a silver medal.

(BEIJING, August 22) -- Defending Olympic champion the United States finished first in heat 2 of round one in the Women's 4x400m Relay in 3:22.45 to qualify for the final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Finishing second after the United States in 3:22.60 in the same heat to qualify is Athens 2004 bronze medalist Jamaica.

Aksana Miankova of Belarus has won the Women's Hammer Throw gold medal in a new Olympic record of 76.34 meters in the Women's Hammer Throw at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

BEIJING, August 22) -- Maurren Higa Maggi won Brazil's second gold medal of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games when she leaped a season's best of 7.04m to win the Women's Long Jump.

(BEIJING, August 22) -- Russia took the Women's 4x100m Relay gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in a time of 42.31 seconds.

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba won her second gold medal at the Beijing Olympics as she took the Women's 5,000 Meters gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Friday.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will appear in the Beach Volleyball record books for years to come as the Americans became the first team to repeat as Olympic champions here Thursday by defeating Jia Tian and Jie Wang of China for the gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Summer Games. photo FIVB Beijing 08

BEIJING (Olympics) – Australia didn’t have injured superstar Penny Taylor for their semi-final against China but they blew out the Olympic hosts anyway 90-56.

BEIJING (Olympics) – The United States faced some tricky moments against Russia but held their nerve and won 67-52 to advance to the final of the women’s basketball tournament at the Beijing Games.

BEIJING, August 21) -- Chen Roulin claimed gold in the Women's 10m Platform with a score of 447.70, edging out Canadian Emilie Heymans by 10.65 points with a spectacular 100.30-point final dive and giving China its first Olympic gold in the event since Atlanta 1996.