Olympics Highlights: Day 13
— -- The flap over whether all-around gymnastics winnerAndreea Raducan of Romania gets her gold medal back will last atleast another day.
Raducan was stripped of her medal because she took over-the-countermedicine containing a banned stimulant. Romanian officials said thepenalty was unfair because the 16-year-old was only trying to curea cold and took the drug on doctor’s orders.
After a 4½-hour hearing today, the Court of Arbitration forSport said it would rule on Raducan’s case by Thursday.
Baseball
A ragtag bunch of minor leaguers led by Hall of Fame manager TomLasorda beat mighty Cuba 4-0 for the gold medal.
Ben Sheets, Milwaukee’s first-round draft pick last year, allowedjust three hits.
Mike Neill hit a first-inning homer as the Americans scoredearly instead of late. Ernie Young — at the center of Saturday’sbench-clearing dust-up — more than got even with a bases-loadedsingle.
Catcher Pat Borders also had an RBI double as an exquisitepayback.
In the bronze medal game, Lee Seung-yuop doubled home a pair ofruns with two outs in the eighth inning to give South Korea a 3-1victory over Japan.
Basketball
Lisa Leslie, the 6-foot-5 center from the Los Angeles Sparks,hit three jump shots from 15 feet and beyond early in the secondhalf to help the United States beat Slovakia 58-43 and move intothe semifinals of the Olympic tournament.The Americans meet SouthKorea next.
South Korea, which advanced with a 68-59 victory over France,gave the United States fits in the first game of the preliminaryround.
In the other quarterfinals, Brazil edged Russia 68-67, andAustralia routed Poland 76-48.
Boxing
Featherweight Rocky Juarez powered past a 1996 Olympic championand into the Olympic boxing semifinals.
Juarez, a 1999 world champion, landed 23 scoring blows in thefinal two rounds and stopped Somluck Kamsing of Thailand on the15-point rule (31-16) with eight seconds remaining in the 125-poundbout.
Ricardo Williams Jr. assured himself of at least a bronze medalWednesday, fighting his way into the 139-pound Olympic boxingsemifinals with a 17-12 win over Russia’s Alexandre Leonov.
He became the second American boxer to reach the semifinals,where he will face big punching Cuban Diogenes Luna on Friday forthe right to fight for Olympic gold.
Williams joined Juarez and 119-pound teammate Clarence Vinson inthe semifinals.