A real dream team

ATHENS — The women know not what ails the men. All they know is their brand of basketball is producing one lopsided Olympic win after another while the men have stumbled and struggled and looked anything like a Dream Team, or even a very good one.

Not so the U.S. women, who added another ho-hummer Wednesday to their list of blowouts. They smothered the Koreans 80-57, and have outscored their three opponents so far by an average of 32 points. They’ve won 20 straight Olympic games dating back to 1996 and don’t look in danger of losing at the Games of Athens anytime soon.

So why can’t the men do it if they can?

“I think the one thing is we value the fact we’re playing Olympic basketball,” said forward Tina Thompson, who scored 18 points against the Koreans. “This is as high as it gets for us, although we’re not going to get $1 million playing it. The pride is so important and so much bigger than that for us. I don’t know if the guys, being that they’re very young, have the experience to see how big it is, not seeing the big picture.”

Greek sprinters withdraw

Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterina Thanou withdrew from the Summer Games, avoiding the ignominy of being thrown out of the Olympics in their home nation but failing to escape a possible two-year ban for missing several mandatory drug tests.

Roddick, Williams exit

Former No.1 tennis players Andy Roddick and Venus Williams were sent home by straight-sets upsets in the third round taking their star power with them and leaving the tournament with the feel of just another second-tier event.

A day after top-ranked Roger Federer lost, apparently easing Roddick’s path to a medal, the U.S. Open champion was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by No. 16 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.

A short while later, 2000 gold medalist Williams lost to Mary Pierce of France by the same score.

Lot of horsin’ around

Equestrian is supposed to be all about elegance, poise and politesse.

But not on Wednesday, when the three-day team event degenerated into an unprecedented free-for-all before Germany ended up with the gold — twice after a flurry of back-and-forth rulings over whether a clock had started in time or not for a German rider.

All three nations that were bumped down – including the United States, which lost its bronze medal – planned to appeal the decision.

A new Olympic sport

Meet Terrye Jackson, world record holder. The 42-year-old real estate settlement agent from Baltimore broke the Guinness world record for consecutive hours watching television. She saw 50 hours and seven minutes of the Olympics on TV — two minutes longer than the previous mark.

Jackson set the mark during an NBC-orchestrated viewing party at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. To stay awake, she cheered for athletes, danced to music from commercials and performed eye exercises during the five-minute breaks allowed each hour.

Contestants also were allowed a 15-minute bathroom break every eight hours.

“When they told me I beat the world record, I was watching the gymnastics,” she said. “I wanted to finish watching it.”

Ah, it’s so hard to take the great ones out of the ring.