Gold

The second straight gold medal for the U.S. Olympic women's basketball team was a triumph of the sport's last generation of pioneers. In the 1980s, they took the American game from nowhere internationally, overwhelmed the Soviet Union to become the game's dominant force, and then finished their mission as prime-time players on national television. That third achievement might be the most significant in terms of the U.S. team's legacy to the game. While ratings aren't in yet from the team's 77-70 triumph over Yugoslavia, the gold-medal game in Seoul was played before undoubtedly the largest television audience in the sport's history.

Ten years of Olympic falls and near-falls, heartaches and mistakes. Ten years of being the best in the world and having no Olympic medal to show for it. After disappointment in Sarajevo, tragedy in Calgary and frustration in Albertville, Dan Jansen, the 28-year-old U.S. speedskater, finally found redemption. He toured an Olympic oval in Hamar, Norway, one last time yesterday. And won a gold medal.

"Die in the fight for the gold, instead of surviving just for the sake of participation. " - Slogan for the Chinese national shooting team, according to China Digital Times. BEIJING - What does China have in common with Philadelphia? Second place is for losers. The former director of China's national sports program set official policy with a pronouncement soon after Beijing was awarded these Olympics: "A thousand silver medals is not as good as one gold. " Now, there's a gold standard.

From walk-on at Penn to two-time collegiate All-America to Olympic gold medalist. Abington native Susan Francia is bringing the ultimate prize back to Philadelphia as she and her U.S. teammates won the women's eight yesterday, the first time the American women rowers have taken Olympic gold in the event since the 1984 Games. "I started rowing there and loved the sport there and to come back to Philadelphia with the gold is absolutely incredible," Francia wrote in an e-mail.

There's still gold in them thar California hills. The gold rush of 1849 that began after James Marshall's discovery of gold in Sutter's Mill did not finally expire because the Mother Lode was mined out. Far from it; experts surmise that only a fraction of the gold in the Sierra foothills has been extracted. It was simply that, as a mining man bluntly stated at the 1965 closing of the Sixteen-to-One Mine, "You cannot produce gold at a cost of $50 an ounce and sell it for $35 an ounce and stay in business.

Money can't buy taste. And nowhere is that more evident than at an auction scheduled for this afternoon of gold and diamond jewelry from two very different sources. About a third of the 270 treasures come from suspected drug dealers who forfeited their booty to the district attorney's office. The rest come from the estates of the wealthy on the Main Line and in Chestnut Hill. Mostly, it's easy to tell which is which. Take the necklace with the very thick, flat gold chain, and the word "ROCK" spelled out in 44 round diamonds in bold capital letters, for example.

LONDON - Now this was something new. The U.S. women's basketball team faced its first Olympic halftime deficit in 12 years Thursday night as it tried to reach the gold medal game for the fifth straight time. Not to worry. The Americans took a deep breath at the break, then used a pivotal 16-6 scoring run sparked by the their defensive pressure to rally for an 86-73 win over Australia. U.S. coach Geno Auriemma turned to his Olympic rookies to lead the way. The group - led by Tina Charles and Lindsay Whalen - pressured Australia into turnovers and bad shots, helping the United States reach the title game yet again.

Bob Burnquist is not happy with Matt Dove. Dove protested the X Games skateboarding best trick final yesterday at the First Union Center and took the gold medal - and $11,000 - away from Burnquist, who won the vert gold medal Saturday night. Dove, from Baltimore, lodged his protest because he said that after he had completed a trick - the Pop Shove-It Indie 720 - an official told him that time had expired. Dove said he had not heard the announcement. "Basically, he cried his way into the gold medal," said Burnquist, who is from Rio de Janeiro.

Even an elbow injury in the second round could not stop Philadelphia's Karl Dargan from ending his amateur boxing career at the top of the medal stand. Dargan won the Pan American Games gold medal at light welterweight in Rio De Janeiro Saturday with a 9-4 decision over Jonathan Gonzalez Ortiz, of Puerto Rico. "I had to finish a chapter that I begun back in 2003, and now at the end of my amateur career, I feel good to go out on top," said Dargan, a two-time amateur national champion.

The Delaware Valley/Philadelphia field hockey team continued its dominance at the Keystone State Games, winning the women's open gold medal for the eighth straight year yesterday on the final day of the annual competition. Player-coach Denise Zelenak and Donine Renninger each scored twice to lead the Delaware Valley/Philadelphia team to a 9-0 shutout of Capital/ Nittany. "This year was really nice because we had a nice mix of returning veterans as well as some new people," Zelenak said.