Olympics briefs | Basketball: U.S. men trounce Pau Gasol's Spain team, 119-82

BEIJING — In their most thorough and dominating performance of these Olympics, the Americans trounced Spain, the reigning world champion and their supposed stiffest competition, 119-82. It was such a thorough demolition that the Spanish star Pau Gasol was asked in the postgame news conference whether his team had tanked the game.

He dismissed the question, in the same way his teammates had no answer for the Americans, who forced 28 turnovers, outscored Spain by 32-0 on fast-break points and had eight players score in double figures.

"We showed the rest of the world that we really mean business," said Chris Paul, who had 14 points, eight assists, five rebounds and five steals.

With the victory, the United States clinched Group B. It will probably face Australia on Wednesday in the medal round. The Americans play Germany on Monday.

UW's Calder earns silver in rowing

In the men's pair, David Calder and Scott Frandsen brought Canada its first medal of the Beijing Olympics with the silver. They finished in 6:39.55 to end the country's surprising medal drought.

Calder, a 2001 Washington grad, is a three-time Olympian; his best previous finish was fifth in Athens. He was eighth in Sydney.

Drew Ginn and Duncan Free of Australia earned gold in that event, in 6 minutes, 37.44 seconds.

American Michelle Guerette took silver in women's single sculls, finishing behind Bulgaria's Rumyana Neykova. Norway's Olaf Tufte won his second straight men's single sculls title.

Twin sisters Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand won women's double sculls, defending their Athens triumph by 0.01. UW grad Megan Kalmoe and partner Ellen Tomek finished fifth in double-sculls final.

U.S. medals in fencing

American fencers, once plagued by their cash-strapped federation and dominated by countries with proud histories in the sport, thrust itself to prominence this past week and captured the silver medal in the women's team foil.

It is the first Olympic medal for a U.S. women's team since foil became an event in 1960. It is also the fifth medal in fencing for the United States in Beijing — all in the women's competition — the strongest performance American fencers have ever shown.

In men's saber, Keeth Smart scored the final touch in a 45-44 quarterfinal victory over Hungary.

Hurdler surprised by test result

Fani Halkia, the reigning Olympic champion in the women's 400-meter hurdles, told reporters she was "shocked" to learn she had tested positive for the banned substance methyltrienolone and would be unable to defend her gold medal.

Halkia was tested a few days before the Beijing Olympics in Japan, where Greece's track and field team had been training. She said she had volunteered to take part in the World Anti-Doping Agency's pilot program in which athletes submit themselves voluntarily to regular testing.

Fifteen Greek athletes, including Halkia, have tested positive for methyltrienolone.

Notes

• Middleweight Shawn Estrada's fairy-tale run toward an Olympic medal came to an end Saturday when the boxer dropped an 11-5 decision to James Degale of Britain in a second-round bout. Also, Luis Yanez lost 8-7 to Mongolian Serdamba Purevdorj in the second round of the 106-pound light-flyweight division.

The sixth American defeat, coming after Estrada's loss, leaves the Colorado Springs, Colo., Olympic Training Center-based team with welterweight Demetrius Andrade and heavyweight Deontay Wilder, who fight in Sunday's quarterfinals.

• Taylor Phinney, 18, finished seventh in the men's individual pursuit track cycling. Sarah Hammer of Temecula, Calif., who was a world champion two years ago in the women's individual pursuit, didn't qualify for the medal round in the women's individual pursuit.

• Two U.S. men's beach volleyball teams remain on course for a showdown in the finals. Reigning world champions and heavy gold-medal favorites Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers overcame mental mistakes, mis-hits and an 0-6 deficit in the first-to-15 final set to beat a Swiss pair. Later, Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal had a much easier time getting past a Spain team.

On the women's side, Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor are in the semifinals, beating Brazilians Ana Paula and Larissa 21-18, 21-15 on Sunday. A victory by Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs later Sunday gave the U.S. half of the final four.

• The U.S. women were ousted from the table tennis third-place playoff bracket by South Korea.