Olympic Updates

BEIJING - Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe has set a world record in the 100-meter backstroke semifinals at the Beijing Olympics.

BEIJING - This was the stuff a Dream Team is made of. Acrobatic moves, reverse slams and tomahawk dunks. Who needs outside shooting? Just toss it up and throw it down. The United States opened its campaign for Olympic basketball redemption Sunday with a 101-70 rout of host China that had even the home crowd oohing and aahing.

BEIJING - China issued the challenge, and the short-handed U.S. women couldn't answer on Sunday.

TIANJIN, China - Gerald Sibon converted a free kick in the third minute of injury time and salvaged a 2-2 tie for the Netherlands against United States on Sunday, keeping Dutch hopes alive for advancing in the Olympic football tournament.

BEIJING (AFP) - Japan's Kosuke Kitajima broke the men's 100m breaststroke world record Monday, swimming a "perfect" race to win Olympic gold in 58.91sec.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry set new swimming world records on Monday during another electrifying session in the Water Cube.

BEIJING (AFP) - The Chinese man who murdered an American tourist in Beijing before throwing himself off a tower acted out of despair over failures in his life, police in his native city were quoted as saying in state media.

BEIJING (AFP) - Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe set a new world record in the women's 100m backstroke Monday with a time of 58.77 seconds in the semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics.

BEIJING (Reuters) - The women in Roqaya Al Ghasara's home town in Bahrain are so proud of their pioneering Olympic sprinter that some of them got together to design and sew a set of tailor-made aerodynamic veils for her to run in.

BEIJING (AFP) - Michael Phelps' dream of eight gold medals was on the line Monday, as the United States clashed with France in the final of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.

BEIJING - Kosuke Kitajima of Japan has defended his 100-meter breaststroke title at the Beijing Olympics, smashing the world record by 0.22 seconds.

BEIJING - Libby Trickett of Australia has won the women's 100-meter butterfly, capturing her first Olympic gold by holding off American Christine Magnuson.

BEIJING (Hollywood Reporter) - Other than Germans who thumbed their noses, an impressively wide swath of viewers worldwide tuned in for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, including a record-breaking number of Chinese.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Olympic host Beijing is going to great pains to show the world that it is living up to its media freedom pledge even as rights groups continue to round on the government for trampling on reporters' basic rights. Games organizers began a slew of news conferences on everything from economics to politics to culture, not to mention sport, more than two weeks before the Games opened, keen to demonstrate openness on every front.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Teenager Juan Del Potro crushed Andy Roddick 6-1, 7-6 (7/2) to extended his summer win streak to 14 matches in a title victory at the Los Angeles Classic on Sunday.