Bronze

The International Olympic Committee released the following statement Thursday regarding its decision to strip Lance Armstrong of the bronze medal he received in 2000: "Following the recent decisions of [ the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency] and the [International Cycling Union, or UCI] regarding the competitive cycling results of Lance Armstrong, the IOC has disqualified Armstrong from the events in which he competed at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, namely, the men's individual road race, where he finished 13th, and the men's individual time trial, where he finished 3rd and was awarded with a bronze medal and a certificate.

LONDON - Marti Malloy, a journalism student at San Jose State and a first-time Olympian, emerged with a bronze medal in judo in the 57 kg (125.5 pounds) division in a major surprise. She lost with seven seconds remaining in her semifinal match on Monday against Corina Caprioriu of Romania when Caprioriu hurled her to the mat for automatic winning ippon. About an hour and a half later, Malloy beat Giulia Quintavalle of Italy, the defending Olympic champion, securing the bronze when she was awarded an ippon, bringing on tears of joy. The United States has yet to win an Olympic gold medal in judo.

Do-it-yourself bronze sculpture? The Arts Refoundry of Los Angeles has packaged the idea cleverly in gift form. Metalcast Kits include two double-ended carving tools; two small sheets of the super-hard wax used by pros; an abrasive pad for smoothing and finishing; and prepaid shipping to get the carved creation to the foundry, where it will be cast in bronze and returned as finished artwork. The Metalcast Kits come in two versions: belt buckle ($110) or flat sculpture ($130).

LONDON - Not much felt right to Reese Hoffa on a chilly evening at Olympic Stadium. The American shotputter could not find a rhythm. His technique was off. Only one thing made him believe he could pull things together - a long stretch of U.S. success in this event. "We continually get medals at the Olympic Games," he said. "I wanted to be part of that tradition. " Hoffa wasn't good enough to unseat defending gold medalist Tomasz Majewski of Poland, who became just the second man to repeat as champion.

The lineage of women's Olympic bobsled only goes back to 2002, but in eight years, U.S. women have never been left off the podium. Erin Pac kept the string alive with a bronze-medal effort Wednesday night, showing poise and consistency while ignoring the pain of a strained hamstring. Her four-run time of 3 minutes 33.13 seconds put her just behind Canadians Kaillie Humphries, who gave her country its seventh gold medal of the Winter Games, and Helen Upperton. Germany was kept off the podium for the first time.

LONDON - Paige McPherson started the long and winding day with a victory over taekwondo world champion and local favorite Sarah Stevenson of Britain and left ExCeL Centre with a medal. There was plenty of action and drama in between, but the bottom line was that the first-time Olympian secured a bronze medal, defeating Franka Anic of Slovenia, 8-3, Friday night in the 148-pound division. McPherson, who is based in Miami, fought back from an early 3-1 deficit in the opening round and led, 4-3, after two. She expanded the lead with another quick point to go ahead, 5-3. McPherson put the contest out of reach with a three-point head shot, going up, 8-3, in the third.

LONDON -- Paige McPherson started the long and winding day with a victory over world champion and local favorite Sarah Stevenson of Britain and left ExCeL Centre with a medal. There was plenty of action and drama in between, but the bottom line was that the first-time Olympian secured a bronze medal, defeating Franka Anic of Slovenia, 8-3, on Friday night in the 67-kilogram division. McPherson, who is based in Miami, fought back from an early 3-1 deficit in the opening round and led 4-3 after two. She expanded the lead with another quick point to go ahead, 5-3. McPherson put the contest out of reach with a three-point head shot, going up 8-3 in the third.

LONDON -- American shooter Matt Emmons has a history at the Olympics, and that's not necessarily a good thing. In 2004 in Athens, Emmons was leading the 50-meter three-position rifle competition with one shot left when he shot at the wrong target. No medal. In 2008 in Beijing, he again was leading with one shot left, but the gun fired before he was squared up with the target. No medal. Monday in the 50-meter three-position rifle competition, he was down to his last shot for a silver medal.

LONDON — It was probably the best way for Troy Dumais to handle the situation. Coming into his fourth Olympics, still looking for his first medal, the veteran diver decided not to think about winning or losing or even glancing at the scoreboard. "It was about having fun," he said. "About enjoying the moment. " PHOTOS: London Olympics, Day 5 This happy-go-lucky attitude translated into a relaxed, confident performance Wednesday afternoon, Dumais teaming with partner Kristian Ipsen to win a bronze medal in synchronized three-meter springboard diving at the London Olympics.

For 65 years, an obelisk-like monument has stood over Boyle Heights on Cesar Chavez Avenue, a tribute to Mexican Americans who gave their lives in war for the United States. Then, sometime in October, thieves struck, making off with one of the large bronze plaques that had been affixed to the Mexican American All Wars Memorial in 1947. They also took two smaller ones nearby. The likely motive is money: The metal may be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to an unscrupulous recycler who could bale it with other scrap and ship it overseas.

LONDON - It's not quite the fraction of a second that separates medalists from also-rans in other sports, but in modern pentathlon, where the scores accumulated are in the mid-four figures, U.S. competitor Margaux Isaksen missed out on a bronze by a mere eight points. The women's modern pentathlon, the final competition of the Summer Olympics, handed out its medals just hours before the closing ceremony Sunday night. Gold went to Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania, who finished with 5,408 points, an Olympic record.

- The U.S. won its second wrestling medal of the Olympics when Coleman Scott came back to win a bronze in the 132-pound class on Saturday. Scott was beaten by eventual gold medalist Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan in the semifinals but worked his way back through the repechage round. Scott beat Kenichi Yumoto of Japan in one of the two bronze matches. Besik Kudukhov of Russia won the silver and Yogeshwar Dutt of India got the other bronze. The U.S. had another chance at a medal but Tervel Dlagnev lost in a bronze-medal match to Komeil Ghasemi of Iran in the 264-pound class.

- Toward the end of a recent World Cup mountain bike race, Georgia Gould was leading until her leg cramped up and she was overtaken. In another Cup race, she had a flat tire, allowing two riders behind her to speed past and leave her in their dust. On Saturday in the London Olympics, Gould, of Fort Collins, Colo., was determined that no last-minute problem was going to knock her out of the third-place position she had maintained through most of the 4.7-kilometer race. "I definitely had that in mind.

— The U.S. qualified four of its riders into the semifinals of the BMX competition on Thursday and Connor Fields is looking as if he could contend for a medal. Fields won all three of his quarterfinal runs on a track that appeared tricky at times. There were more than 20 crashes during the second day of competition. David Herman will be the other U.S. men's rider, and Alise Post and Brooke Crain will go on the women's side. It will be a little tougher for Post and Crain as they are both in the same semifinal heat.

LONDON - Paige McPherson started the long and winding day with a victory over taekwondo world champion and local favorite Sarah Stevenson of Britain and left ExCeL Centre with a medal. There was plenty of action and drama in between, but the bottom line was that the first-time Olympian secured a bronze medal, defeating Franka Anic of Slovenia, 8-3, Friday night in the 148-pound division. McPherson, who is based in Miami, fought back from an early 3-1 deficit in the opening round and led, 4-3, after two. She expanded the lead with another quick point to go ahead, 5-3. McPherson put the contest out of reach with a three-point head shot, going up, 8-3, in the third.

After two days of thunderstorms, the sun was back out in Rome Saturday. So were the Italian track and field fans, about 68,000 of them filling the Olympic Stadium to capacity in anticipation of another gold medal for the home team. They were rewarded with that and more when Italy won twice as many medals as the United States on the next-to-last day of the World Championships.

- The U.S. won its second wrestling medal of the Olympics when Coleman Scott came back to win a bronze in the 132-pound class on Saturday. Scott was beaten by eventual gold medalist Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan in the semifinals but worked his way back through the repechage round. Scott beat Kenichi Yumoto of Japan in one of the two bronze matches. Besik Kudukhov of Russia won the silver and Yogeshwar Dutt of India got the other bronze. The U.S. had another chance at a medal but Tervel Dlagnev lost in a bronze-medal match to Komeil Ghasemi of Iran in the 264-pound class.

LONDON -- Paige McPherson started the long and winding day with a victory over world champion and local favorite Sarah Stevenson of Britain and left ExCeL Centre with a medal. There was plenty of action and drama in between, but the bottom line was that the first-time Olympian secured a bronze medal, defeating Franka Anic of Slovenia, 8-3, on Friday night in the 67-kilogram division. McPherson, who is based in Miami, fought back from an early 3-1 deficit in the opening round and led 4-3 after two. She expanded the lead with another quick point to go ahead, 5-3. McPherson put the contest out of reach with a three-point head shot, going up 8-3 in the third.

The finish to Alexandra Raisman's Olympics was so much more fabulous than the start. Raisman, an 18-year-old from Needham, Mass., who was often overlooked on this U.S. women's gymnastics team, did something no American woman has ever done. She won the Olympic gold medal in floor exercise. When Romanian Sandra Izbasa, the reigning Olympic floor champion, landed her last tumbling pass on her head and shoulder, Raisman could finally smile. Earlier Tuesday, Raisman had also won a bronze medal on the balance beam, but only after her coach protested her initial low score of 14.966.