American 400 meters champion Jeremy Wariner succeeded Michael Johnson as the Olympic gold medalist yesterday with a personal best of 44.00 seconds. Wariner, 20, led the fourth United States sweep in an Olympic 400 race, winning ahead of teammates Otis Harris (44.16) and Derrick Brew (44.42).

“We wanted to go one-two-three,” Wariner said. “We worked hard, we fought hard and we came out on top. It hasn’t sunk in yet, it’s going to hit me in a couple of days.”

He is now the eighth fastest man in history in the all-time list headed by Johnson’s world record 43.18 set at the 1999 Seville World Championships. Wariner is coached by Clyde Hart, the man who guided Johnson to the 200-400 double at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and to the 400 gold in Sydney four years later.

Wariner, who won the US title this year in 44.37 seconds, ran a conservative first 200 meters with Harris taking the early lead. He accelerated in the final straight, edging ahead of Harris, to win a narrow but convincing victory.

Holmes Title Odyssey Ends With Olympic 800 Gold

Britain’s Kelly Holmes ended years of frustration at major championships yesterday when she won the women’s 800 meters Olympic title. Her victory gave a welcome boost to the British team who had been stunned by tearful Paula Radcliffe’s marathon exit.

The 34-year-old timed 1minute 56.38seconds to take the gold while Hasna Benhassi of Morocco was second after a photofinish with Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak despite being given the same time of 1:56.43. Reigning champion Maria Mutola of Mozambique was run out of the medals and Holmes’s training partner had to settle for fourth. “I can’t believe it, I am totally shocked,” said Holmes, who won bronze in the 800m in the 2000 Games.

Mutola had taken the lead off five-time Olympian Jearl Miles-Clark down the stretch but lacked her normal kick. Little by little, inch by inch, Holmes ground her down before edging clear and crossing the line while Benhassi and Ceplak passed the 31-year-old Mozambique star on the line.

Tsoumeleka Wins Greece’s First Athletics Gold

Athanasia Tsoumeleka won Greece’s first athletics gold with an upset victory in the women’s 20km walk. Tsoumeleka emerged from the pack to beat 2001 world champion Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia over the final kilometer, clocking a personal best of one hour 29 minutes 12 seconds on a windy, hot morning.

Ivanova finished four seconds back in second place with Australian Jane Saville taking the bronze. Saville was disqualified at the 2000 Sydney Games while in the lead with only a few hundred meters to go.

Tsoumeleka paid tribute to Greek sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou who withdrew from the Games in bizarre circumstances after missing a dope test.

“I firmly believe they did nothing wrong,” Tsoumeleka said. “They gave me great strength. Katerina comes from my home town in northwestern Greece.”

Hungary Get Another Throwing Gold With Discus Win

Robert Fazekas added to Hungary’s tradition of producing top notch throwers when he won the men’s discus with an Olympic record of 70.93 meters.

Fazekas, the reigning European champion and 2003 World Championship silver medalist, followed in the footsteps of his compatriot Adrian Annus, who took the men’s hammer barely 24 hours before, to the top of the medal podium.

Lithuania’s Virgilijus Alekna, the Sydney Olympics champion, produced a throw of 69.89m in the first round only for Fazekas to trump it one round later. Alekna then spent the next four rounds trying in vain to regain the lead but eventually had to settle for the silver. Hungary added another medal to their growing collection when Zoltan Kovago won the race to be best of the rest behind the leading pair and took the bronze medal with a throw of 67.04m.

Ethiopian Defar Takes 5,000m Gold

Meseret Defar of Ethiopia took the women’s Olympic 5,000 meters gold with a patient but perfectly judged display of distance running. Defar, the 2004 world indoor champion over 3000m, helped to break the field and then kicked decisively 250 meters from home to win in a time of 14 minutes 45.65 seconds.

Kenya’s Isabella Ochichi took silver in 14:48.19 with world champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia racing past Turkish world record-holder Elvan Abeylegesse to take the bronze in 14:51.83. Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan, the 2000 silver medalist, tailed off the back of the field early and crossed the finish line last.

The Africans were helped by the absence of defending champion Gabriela Szabo. The Romanian decided to take a year off after her health and form began to suffer because of her training workload.

Mbango Etone Wins Gold for Cameroon

Cameroon’s Francoise Mbango Etone leapt to Olympic gold in the women’s triple jump yesterday, beating hot favorite Tatyana Lebedeva into third place. Mbango Etone, the 2001 and 2003 world championships silver medalist, jumped 15.30 meters, an African record, with her second and sixth jumps to become the first Cameroon woman in history to win an Olympic medal.

Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece took silver with a leap of 15.25 on her fourth attempt. Russian Lebedeva, the 2000 silver medalist who had not lost a triple jump competition this season, struggled in the early rounds. Her best effort of 15.14, well short of her season’s best of 15.34 outdoors, in the final round was only enough for third place. The 28-year-old Lebedeva, who is also a gold-medal contender in the long jump, has lost only one jump competition all season and won both the long jump and triple titles at the world indoor championships in Budapest in March. But she fouled her opening effort and passed 15 meters for the first time only in the fifth round.

Consistent Karpov Leads Decathlon

World Championship bronze medalist Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan was leading the Olympic decathlon at the halfway point yesterday after a consistent all-round display in the opening five disciplines.

Karpov leads the overnight standings on 4,689 points with world record holder and Sydney silver medalist Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic second on 4,594. American Bryan Clay, who led after the first three events, slipped back to third on 4,554, with Briton Dean Macey fourth 100 points back and world champion Tom Pappas of the United States fifth on 4,415.

Former world record holder and three-times world champion Tomas Dvorak was forced to pull out through injury after the first event, the 100 meters, when he aggravated an Achilles tendon injury.