Olympics Notebook | Ankle injury forces Morgan Hamm out

BEIJING — Morgan Hamm's eyes were red, his voice shaky.

The bone spurs digging into his left leg made it impossible for him to tumble, and giving up his spot on the U.S. men's gymnastics team was the right thing to do — the only thing to do. That didn't make it hurt any less.

Hamm withdrew Thursday, two days before competition begins. He aggravated a chronic injury in his left ankle during training in Beijing, and it never responded to treatment.

"I've given everything I can to be ready to compete at this Olympic Games," Hamm said. "It's best for me to step down and have another athlete fill my position. This is something for me that's very tough because it's end of my career, and it's not the way I had planned it."

Nothing about these Olympics has gone the way Hamm and his twin brother, Paul, planned it. Paul Hamm, the reigning Olympic champion, had to withdraw July 28 because of persistent pain from the right hand he broke two months ago, as well as a strained left rotator cuff.

The Hamms' withdrawals mean the Americans, once considered favorites to return to the medals podium, now have no one with Olympic experience. Sasha Artemev, the 2006 national champion and world bronze medalist on pommel horse, will replace Morgan Hamm.

"Morgan Hamm is an irreplaceable athlete," said Jonathan Horton, who was fourth at the world championships last year. "The expectations stay the same. The vision doesn't change at all. We still feel we're medal contenders."

U.S. beats Japan

in men's soccer

TIANJIN, China — Stuart Holden ended the United States' three-game scoring drought with a goal in the second half, giving the Americans a 1-0 victory over Japan in the Olympic opener for both.

The Scottish-born Holden struck a loose ball at the top of the penalty area that Japanese goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa was able to slow, but couldn't keep from trickling over the line in the 47th minute.

The Americans entered the game not having scored a goal since a 3-0 victory over Canada in the semifinals of CONCACAF Olympic qualifying. They also failed to score against Cameroon and Ivory Coast last week at the ING Cup in Hong Kong.

"It was a relief to get our first goal," U.S. midfielder Robbie Rogers said. "We created a lot of chances and we were dangerous in the final third."

In other opening-round action, Italy got first-half goals from forwards Sebastian Giovinco and Giuseppe Rossi, and Robert Acquafresca added another in the second as Italy beat Honduras 3-0.

Aussies cry foul on

U.S. hoop women

BEIJING — The U.S. women's basketball team never has been afraid to get physical, and now a major rival is calling the Americans dirty.

World champion Australia took exception to what it deemed rough play Tuesday in a 71-67 U.S. win in the championship game of the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament in Haining, China.

"People are going to try and stop us any way they can," Australian and Storm star Lauren Jackson told The Sports Network. "They have to play like that, otherwise we'll kill them."

The U.S., winner of the past three Olympic golds, and Australia, which captured its first world title in 2006, have a long history, and they could meet in the Beijing Games.

Australia lost to the U.S. in the Olympic finals in 2000 and 2004 and the semifinals of the 1996 Atlanta Games and the 2002 world championships. The teams didn't face each other at the 2006 worlds, where the U.S. took third after a semifinal loss to Russia.

In their most recent clash, the teams combined for 40 fouls, one of which left Australian Penny Taylor with a black eye after a nasty collision with Tina Thompson on a screen.

"It was intentional," Australian Kristi Harrower told News Limited, an Australian news agency. "Elbows were raised. I don't know if they were trying to make us injured for the Olympic Games."

Said returning U.S. Olympian Diana Taurasi: "It was physical? It was just another game to us."

U.S. coach Anne Donovan blamed the referees for the physical play.

"It got very physical, but it certainly was not one-sided," said the former Storm coach. "Any time you put the best teams in the world against each other, it's going to get competitive, it's going to get as physical as the rules allow and as the officials allow."

Notes

• American bantamweight Gary Russell Jr. will miss the Olympics after collapsing Thursday night in a last-ditch workout to reach the 119-pound limit.

• South and North Korea will not march together in today's opening ceremony. IOC president Jacques Rogge said that negotiations for a joint march failed, calling it a "setback for peace" and reunification efforts on the divided peninsula.

Athletes from the two Koreas marched together in the same uniform under the blue and white "unification flag" at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2004 Athens Games.

• A former Olympic sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago was sentenced to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a woman in a New York park.

Prosecutors say 31-year-old Alvin Henry was dubbed the Lover's Lane Rapist for secretly recording a woman having sex in the park with her boyfriend. They say he followed the woman and threatened to show the video unless she had sex with him. A defense lawyer said Henry, a member of Trinidad and Tobago's 2000 Olympic 400-meter relay, got caught up in a lot of things after someone introduced him to cocaine to give him an edge while training.

AP and the Colorado Springs Gazette contributed to this report.