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Day 3: Thorpe injured, misses stunning victory

Graham Thorpe watched from the sidelines on Monday as Robert Key and Andrew Flintoff hit the winning runs in England's thrilling seven-wicket victory over the West Indies in the Third Test at Old Trafford. Thorpe had broken a finger when he was struck by a ball from Fidel Edwards while batting in the first innings on Sunday.

Key and Flintoff completed the victory in time for Thorpe to be able to watch his identical twin brother, Ian, demolish King Michael of Phelps in the 200 metres freestyle in a highly anticipated clash which had already been dubbed The Race of the Century, with 96 years still remaining.

The victory gave Thorpaldo the record as Australia's greatest ever Olympic gold medallist (it was his fifth). Phelps' dream of eight out of eight was now pushed back to one of "six out of eight ain't bad".

Monday was a rest day in the soccer for both men and women. The Hockeyroos beat South Africa 3-0 while the Dutch beat South Korea 3-2. Suzanne Balogh surprised everyone by winning a gold medal for Australia in the women's trap shoot. Just goes to show what you can achieve if you play with guns long enough.

The Aussie Spirit did it tough against Taiwan, winning 1-0. Tanya Harding (no not her) was the winning pitcher. The US and Japan were 0-0 after seven innings before the Americans scored three runs in the eighth to win.

But on the tennis court, The Poo stank. The Artist Formerly Known As Scud was beaten by 87th-ranked Olivier Rochus in three sets. Only forty per cent of your first serves were good in the third set, eh Mark?

As if the Kostas and Katerina kontroversy is not enough for you, there is the case of Iranian judoka Arash Miresmaeli who withdrew from the 66kg competition after he was drawn against an Israeli competitor. Not so, he says. He couldn't compete because he couldn't get his weight down. The International Judo Federation were looking into the situation. According to IJF spokesperson Michel Brousse, "We can’t penalize someone who showed up at the weigh-in... But if you’re intentionally overweight, then it is more serious."

The NBC's "Kleenex Moment of the Day" for Sunday was a bit short of quality candidates, what with the Dream Team losing to Puerto Rico and Phelpsy failing to win a gold. The winning moment for Day Two? Why of course, the US water polo team's 7-6 victory over Croatia!

Finally, congratulations to Nikolaos Chatzivrettas, a 28-year-old guard with the Greek men's basketball team, who became a father Monday when his wife, Dimitra, gave birth to a boy. According to ONS, Chatzivrettas left the Olympic Village to visit his new son.

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