ESPN Olympic Sports

ATHENS, Greece -- With every vault, dive and stroke and every hop, skip and jump, athletes are competing not only for the gold, but also for their nation's place on the medals table.

The numbers change constantly as medals are handed out, many in sports you'll never see on prime-time television. But halfway through the Games, the medals race is shaping up -- as expected -- between the United States, China and Russia.

As competition resumed on Monday morning, the United States led with 58 medals -- 21 gold, 22 silver, 15 bronze. China had 46 overall -- 22 gold, 14 silver, 10 bronze.

Russia has 36 medals overall -- six gold, 13 silver, 17 bronze. But some of its best disciplines are still coming up.

In Sydney, the United States wound up with 97 medals, including 39 golds. This time, the Americans are trying to beat that, setting a lofty goal of 100 medals. Roush said disappointing performances at the track Saturday didn't change that.

"It's still obtainable,'' said Steve Roush, managing director of sport performance for the U.S. Olympic Committee.

In all, at least 2,983 medals will be handed out in Athens -- 982 golds, 982 silvers and 1,109 bronzes (some sports, such as judo and boxing, don't have third-place matchups and award bronze to both semifinalists).

Sixty-one nations have already medaled in Athens. There's Slovakia with five, Indonesia with four and Zimbabwe with three. Chile had never won a gold medal until getting one Saturday, along with a bronze; a second gold came Sunday. Argentina and Azerbaijan each have two, and Mongolia and Eritrea have one apiece.

And Venezuela got its first medal.

A Greek soldier on patrol with a police cadet near the Olympic mountain biking course was shot and killed with his own rifle, investigators said Monday.

Police are treating the shooting as an accident, but are still investigating, government spokesman Panos Livadas.

The shooting happened just before dawn as both men patrolled the site on Mount Parnis, some 13 miles from the center of the capital, Athens, Livadas said.

As part of Greece's massive security plans, Olympic sites are regularly patrolled by teams of soldiers and police.

The mountain bike course was built for the Summer Games. The event starts Saturday. Riders will have to navigate tight trails through the forest, steep hills and several rocky sections.

Brandi Chastain gained instant fame when she took off her jersey to celebrate the U.S. women's soccer team's 1999 World Cup title.

Through the first three games of the 2004 Olympics, she didn't even need to take off her warmup suit.

Chastain was the only field player who didn't leave the bench in the Americans' three first-round games. Coach April Heinrichs said she simply played her best man-on-man defenders, and that took precedence over Chastain's strengths as a possession player and on-field leader.

In a surprise, Heinrichs started Chastain in Friday's 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Japan and played her the entire game. It was only the second game Chastain has started all year.

"I felt pretty good, not having played a 90-minute game in a long time,'' Chastain said. "Overall, I'd give myself a good mark.''

Chastain, one of the so-called "Fab Five'' veterans remaining from the 1991 World Cup, said it wasn't easy to sit.

"I'm a competitor, and I think competitors like to be in the mix of things because they want to contribute,'' she said. "So in that way, it was very difficult. But I had no doubts we'd win games and that wouldn't matter whether I was in the game or not.''

Heinrichs said Chastain never grumbled while waiting her turn.

"Brandi was able to step in and give us the composure and the possession that we talked about,'' Heinrichs said. "It's a credit to her ability to stay focused.''

There won't be much of a need for a scouting report or film study for New Zealand coach Tom Maher as his team prepares to play Australia in the women's basketball quarterfinals.

He spent eight years in charge of the Aussie program.

"I look forward to it with relish,'' he said.

Maher coached Australia to a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and silver four years later in Sydney. He then became the first foreign coach in the WNBA, but his stint with the Washington Mystics lasted just one season.

His old job was filled by current Australia coach Jan Sterling, so Maher took over the other program in Oceania.

New Zealand won one game in finishing 11th in Sydney. Under Maher, the Kiwis went 2-3 in preliminary play in Athens and finished fourth in their group, earning the right to face unbeaten Australia.

"It's going to be tough. I love Tommy,'' said Australian star Lauren Jackson, last season's WNBA Most Valuable Player with the Seattle Storm. "He's a great coach. But we're at the Olympic games and we've got to go out and give it our all. I'll say hi to Tom after the game _ maybe.''

Penny Taylor, a WNBA all-star with Phoenix in 2002, also plays for Australia.

"They are in a different world than everybody else, but I can't help but see that as a lot of fun,'' Maher said. "It has got to be a 1,000-to-1 for us to beat them, but you don't often get a chance like that to play and stand up to them.''

Maher was asked if he knew how to beat the team that features many of the same players he watched twice on the medal stand.

"Tell you what,'' he said, a smile starting. "I know exactly how to beat them _ get great players. That's how you beat them.''

A 24-year-old New York man was arrested for trying to sell Olympic tickets illegally as police cracked down on scalpers.

The man wasn't identified by police. He was trying to sell 78 tickets he purchased on the Internet for $18 each at the inflated price of $122.

Police also have detained several Greeks for attempted scalping.

Serbia-Montenegro association head Dragan Stojkovic and chief national coach Ilija Petkovic resigned after a string of humiliating defeats by the soccer team and unrelated threats from a group of fans.

According to newspaper reports, Petkovic and Stojkovic declined to say why they quit and only gave brief and somewhat emotional statements.

"I never gave up anything in my life ... but this is about a game in which I cannot win,'' said Stojkovic, head of the national soccer association since 2001.

The Vecernje Novosti newspaper reported Stojkovic and Petkovic received threats of physical violence from fans in their homeland. The threats were reported to police.

Two Australian tennis technical delegates were expelled from the games after altering their Olympic credentials to have access to all venues. The two forged a symbol on their cards before organizers reclaimed the credentials.