Briefly

Baseball

Cuba became the first team to go 3-0, beating the Netherlands 18-2. The U.S. (2-0) plays Italy today.

Basketball

The U.S. women’s team defeated Ukraine 98-65 for its second straight victory. Ruthie Bolton hit her first five shots, including two 3-pointers, and scored 21 points. Katrina McClain added 17 points on 8-for-9 shooting.

Beach volleyball

The U.S. women posted a 3-0 record on opening day of the double-elimination event.

Boxing

Eric Morel became the first American boxer to lose, falling 24-12 to Cuban Maiko Romero at 112 pounds. Later, the U.S. team improved to 7-1 when David Reid defeated Korea’s Lee Wan-Kyun 20-4 at 156 pounds.

Equestrian

The U.S. fell to second with 244.6 penalty points, behind Australia with 183.6.

Fencing

Italy won the gold medal in team epee, beating Russia 45-43 for the title after defeating the United States 45-44 earlier in the day.

Field hockey

The American women’s team lost 1-0 to England, falling to 1-1-1 in the tournament.

Gymnastics

The U.S. women’s team won its first gold medal, ending more than four decades of Russian domination. (See Page A1.) Judo France’s Djamel Bouras and Japan’s Yuko Emoto won gold medals in the half-middleweight division.

Rowing

America Cyrus Beasley edged Italy’s Giovanni Calabrese for second place and a spot in Thursday’s semifinal.

Shooting

American teenager Kim Rhode won the women’s double trap, overcoming a mild case of jitters to capture the first gold medal in the new Olympic event.

Soccer

The U.S. women’s team, the gold medal favorites, assure itself of advancing to the next round, stopping the Swedes 2-1.

Swimming

U.S. swimmers won five medals - three golds, a silver and a bronze.

Table tennis

The U.S. team of Wei Wang and Lily Yip opened the competition with a 21-18, 11-21, 21-11 victory over Emily Noor and Huberta Vriesekoop of the Netherlands.

Tennis

Monica Seles and Andre Agassi won their Olympic debuts. Seles, who was born in Yugoslavia but became a U.S. citizen in 1994, beat Li Chen of China 6-0, 6-4. Agassi had a more difficult time, losing his serve twice in the first set before rallying to edge Swede Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5).

Volleyball

The U.S. men’s team defeated Argentina 15-7, 15-8, 15-11 to improve to 2-0 in Pool A. Brazil’s reign as Olympic champion could be over. After losing its opener to Argentina, the Barcelona gold medalists were upset 15-11, 15-13, 15-8 by Bulgaria.

Weightlifting

Tim McRae, lifting in the 154-1/4-pound division, set American records in the snatch (319-1/2 pounds), cleanand-jerk (391-1/4) and total (710-3/4), but had no chance for a medal. The gold medal went to Zhan Xugang of China, who set world records in the snatch (357 pounds), clean-and-jerk (430) and total (788).

Wrestling (Greco-Roman)

Two Americans won silver medals - Brandon Paulson at 114-1/2 pounds and Matt Ghaffari at 286.

Yachting

Three American groups were in second place in their classes after two days of competition.