Brazilian beach volleyball star Emanuel had an extra reason to be upset when his nation's heralded men's soccer team failed to qualify for the Olympics.
Now, most of Brazil has pinned its gold-medal hopes on him and partner Ricardo.
Emanuel, right, and Ricardo defeated Stein Metzger, left, and Dax Holdren.
(Sergio Moraes -- Reuters)
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 | | _____ Day 7 _____
• American gymnast Carly Patterson wins the gold medal in the all-around.
• In swimming news, Michael Phelps wins his fourth gold, while Aaron Peirsol and Amanda Beard win golds of their own.
• The U.S. men's basketball team starts slowly but comes back to beat Australia, 89-79.
• The U.S. softball team remains unbeaten as it rolls to another victory, 7-0, over Greece.
• There will be no punishment for the Iranian Judo champion who was disqualified.
• The U.S. men's sabre team loses on the final touch twice, just missing a medal.
• The U.S. men's water polo team suffers its first loss.
• A Greek crew wins the first sailing gold of the Games.
_____ More From The Post _____
• Sally Jenkins: Give the USA basketball team a break.
• Michael Wilbon: Any sport with judging will have accusations, allegations and denials.
• After over a billion dollars were spent on security, the only disruptions so far are trivial.
• There is little, it seems, that does not excite Kenyan Bernard Lagat.
_____ On Our Site _____
• Athens Snippets: NBC is the Greek God of Time.
___ Thursday's Medals Results ___
Archery
• Men's individual
• Women's singles
Fencing
• Men's team sabre
Gymnastics (Artistic)
• Women's individual all-around
Judo
• Men's 100kg
• Women's 78kg
Shooting
• Men's 10-meter running target
Swimming
• Women's 200 breastroke
• Men's 200 backstroke
• Women's 100 freestyle
• Men's 200 individual medley
Weightlifting
• Women's 69kg
• Men's 77kg
_____ Multimedia _____
• Audio: Liz Clarke on gymnastics.
• Audio: Mike Ruane on Phelps.
• Audio: Paul Hamm's run to gold.
_____ Photos _____
• Day 7
• Photo galleries page
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"They put all their confidence on us," Emanuel said. "I can feel everybody cheering us."
So far, the world's top-ranked duo has handled the extra pressure well. They routed Americans Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger, 21-17, 21-10, yesterday to finish a perfect run through pool play.
Despite the loss, the 12th-seeded Americans still advanced to the medal round. They are the last hope for the United States to win a third straight gold medal in beach volleyball. The country's No. 1 pair, Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard, was eliminated after three losses in pool play.
Metzger was optimistic, even after yesterday's loss.
"We're playing the best ball of the year," he said. "A lot of the small stuff, we've really tightened up. We're ready to roll. We just ran into a freight train tonight."
The 16-team single-elimination medal round begins today.
Top-ranked Americans Misty May and Kerri Walsh open against China's Tian Jia and Wang Fei. Fourth-ranked Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs face Eva Celbova and Sona Novakova of the Czech Republic, who lost 21-17, 21-17 to May and Walsh in pool play last night.
