Aug. 14, 2008

BEIJING - Former California stars continued to excel in the pool and on the basketball court on Day Six of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. At the Water Cube, Natalie Coughlin garnered another medal - this time a bronze in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay - and Milorad Cavic set an Olympic record in the 100-meter butterfly heats, while Jason Kidd and the U.S. men's basketball team routed Greece at the Olympic Basketball Stadium to clinch a spot in the medal round.

Men's Basketball
Former Cal star Jason Kidd and the U.S. basketball team routed Greece, 92-69, in Group B play to remain unbeaten and avenge a 101-95 loss to the Greeks in the 2006 World Championship semifinals. Kidd collected three rebounds and one assist in seven minutes of action for the 3-0 United States, which next plays Group B co-leader Spain at 7:15 a.m. PT on Saturday (10:15 p.m. Beijing time on Saturday). Group A leader Lithuania, also at 3-0, is the only other unbeaten team in the Olympic men's basketball tournament.

Field Hockey
Cal head coach Shellie Onstead, an assistant with the U.S. women's team, watched the Americans lose to Group B leader Germany, 4-2, and fall to 0-1-2 (2 points) in a morning match at the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium. Germany, with a 3-0-0 record (9 points), is the group's only unbeaten and untied team.

Tiffany Snow put the USA ahead, 1-0, with a strike in the 27th minute, but Germany's Natascha Keller scored in the 34th, and the match was tied, 1-1, at the break. Penalty corners set up the game's final four goals, including strikes by Fanny Rinne (49th) and captain Mario Rodewald (55th) to give Germany a 3-1 lead. Angela Loy scored off a rebound in the 60th minute to cut the lead to 3-2, but Anke Kuehn scored the game's final goal four minutes later for the victorious Germans.

The United States' next group match is against New Zealand at 5:30 p.m. PT on Friday, which corresponds to 8:30 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday. The final U.S. group match is at 3 a.m. PT (6 p.m. Beijing time) on Monday against Great Britain.

Softball
Rain rescheduled the USA-Canada game with Canada leading, 1-0, after three innings at Fengtai Softball Field. That game will resume play after the USA and former Bear Vicky Galindo play Japan at 9 p.m. PT on Thursday (12 p.m. Beijing time on Friday). The rain first delayed the USA-Canada match-up after the top of the second inning, with Canada taking a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first. The game resumed action after one hour and 45 minutes before rain returned. The United States currently has a 2-0 record in the eight-team round-robin tournament.

Men's Swimming
At the Water Cube (National Aquatics Center), former Cal All-American Milorad Cavic set an Olympic record with a 50.76 in the 100-meter butterfly heats and advanced to the semifinals slated for 8:19 p.m. PT on Thursday (11:19 a.m. Beijing time on Friday). Cavic, swimming for Serbia, had pulled out of Wednesday's 100-free semifinals to focus on the 100 fly and wound up with a better time than even U.S. phenom Michael Phelps, who was second overall in the 100 fly preliminaries with a 50.87.

Croatia's Duje Draganja, Cavic's former Cal teammate and a silver medalist in the 50 free in the Athens Olympics, took 12th place with the best Bears' time (22.05) in the 50-free prelims. Former Bear Bart Kizierowski, swimming for Poland, was 15th in 22.15; both Draganja and Kizierowski qualified for the 50-free semifinals scheduled to start at 7:03 p.m. PT on Thursday (10:03 a.m. Beijing time on Friday). Former Cal stars Jernej Godec and Rolandas Gimbutis also swam in the sport's fastest event but did not reach the semifinals. Slovenia's Godec was 18th in 22.21, while Lithuania's Gimbutis was 58th in 24.36.

Former Bear Gordan Kozulj swam a time of 1:59.22 to take sixth in his 200-meter backstroke semifinal. His 14th-place overall semifinal finish left the three-time Croatian Olympian out of the final.

Women's Swimming
Former California star Natalie Coughlin earned another medal, this time a bronze, as the United States' 4x200-meter freestyle relay finished third in an American-record time of 7:46.33 behind a world-record time from Australia (7:44.31) and silver-medalist China (7:45.93) at the Water Cube. All three relays eclipsed the old world record of 7:50.09 set by the United States at the 2007 World Championships in Australia. Coughlin now has four medals from the Beijing Olympics and nine overall, including five from the 2004 Athens Games.

Coughlin also posted the top time in the 100-meter freestyle semifinals with a 53.70. She will swim in the 100-free final at 8:04 p.m. PT on Friday, Aug. 14 (11:04 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday, Aug. 15). A medal in the 100 free would tie Coughlin with U.S. teammate Dara Torres at 10 career Olympic medals. Former U.S. star Jenny Thompson holds the record for most Olympic women's swimming medals with 12.