RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The United States' huge gold-medal haul at the Pan American Games looked unstoppable as its wept half of the 14 gold medals at stake on Thursday.

Brazil has now overtaken Cuba in the medals table for the first time at these games. Both nations have 35 each, but Brazil has more overall medals. The United States leads the count with 81 golds.

At the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, host country Brazil shut out the United States, 5-0, to win the gold medal in the women's football (soccer) tournament.

Christiane and Marta scored two goals each for Brazil. Daniela Alves had the other goal. Brazil completed the tournament Thursday without allowing a goal in five matches and outscoring opponents, 33-0. Canada beat Mexico 2-1 for the bronze medal.

In the men's water polo final, the United States routed Brazil 9-2 for the gold medal. Rio-born player Tony Azevedo scored four goals to lead the U.S. The victory qualifies the American team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Canada took home the bronze with a 9-5 defeat of Cuba.

In other events, Canada repeated as champion in the women's 10-meter synchronized platform diving, and also won the gold in the men's three-meter springboard event.

Chile and the Dominican Republic won in men's karate, while Canada and the United States took home gold in women's wrestling.

The United States leads the gold medal count with 78, followed by Brazil and Cuba with 35 each.

The Pan American games end Sunday.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil): Five golds in athletics helped Cuba recover second place in medals ahead of host Brazil at the Pan American Games on Friday. The United States remains comfortably ahead with 87 golds, but Brazil is trying to rally past the Cubans and finish second for the first time since 1963.

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Former University of Texas triple jumper Samyr Laine finished 10th at the 2007 Pan American Games at Joao Havelange Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Saturday, July 28.

The Newburgh, N.Y. native competing for Haiti jumped 50 feet, 8.25 inches (15.45m) behind a 1.3 wind reading.

By Gary Duffy

Cuban athletes have made a hurried departure from the Pan-American games in Brazil, apparently amid fears of possible mass defections.

The delegation was rushed at short notice to Rio de Janeiro's airport, leaving the men's volleyball team no time to collect their bronze medals.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Yeimer Lopez set a Pan American Games record in the 800 meters Saturday, helping Cuba dominate track and field with 12 total gold medals.

Brazilians Fabiano Pecanha and Kleberson Davide were first and second for most of the race until Lopez blew by them on the final turn at the Joao Havelange stadium and won in 1 minute, 44.58 seconds. Davide finished second in 1:45.47 and Pecanha was third 1:45.54.

Lopez broke the record of 1:45.05, set by Canada's Tadili Achraf at the 2003 games in Santo Domingo.

The Netherlands Antilles' sprinter Churandir Martina can now be regarded as the fastest man in the Americas, after winning a gold medal in the 100m final at the Pan American Games on Tuesday.

It was the first gold won by Netherlands Antilles in this Games, and the fourth in the history of the event.

"It means a lot to the Netherlands Antilles. I am very proud. I am getting a lot of calls. People are getting wild there," said the runner, when asked about the thrill his victory may have caused back in Netherlands Antilles.

Martina, 23, was born in the island of Curacao, and currently studies and trains in the city of El Paso, United States.

by Elton Tucker

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

Maurice Smith earned Jamaica's first gold medal at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil yesterday when he won the gruelling decathlon event.

Smith, now the only Jamaican to win a medal in the event at the Pan American Games, got his gold in style, capturing the top spot with a Games record 8,278 points.

Big day for young Boyz

It was also a big day for the young Reggae Boyz. They put Jamaica in the final of the football competition here for the first time after beating Mexico 5-4 on penalties in a nail-biting shoot-out.

The Boyz are assured of at least silver medals after Friday's final against Ecuador, who beat Bolivia 1-0.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

Jamaica's athletes are set to increase their medal tally at the XV Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro today.

National champion Delloreen Ennis-London and Vonette Dixon will run in the sprint hurdles final, while Nickiesha Wilson and Shevon Stoddart will face the starter in the 400m hurdles final.

Long jumper Elva Goulbourne and high jumper Peaches Roach will also be in action in the finals of their events.

Running in the first of three semi-final heats yesterday, Ennis-London streaked ahead of the field to the first hurdle and from then on was in cruise control. She hit the line in 12.81 seconds ahead of American Jenny Adams' 13.15. Cuba's Yenima Arencibia was third in 13.32.

by Kwame Laurence

"I think a bronze medal would probably be harder to win than a gold medal. That's a real dog fight."

Trinidad and Tobago men's hockey team captain Kwandwane Browne is prepared for war in today's showdown with Chile, in the Pan American Games bronze medal match, at the Field Hockey Center here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In the semi-final round, on Sunday, T&T went under 4-3 to Canada in sudden death extra-time, while Chile were beaten 5-2 by South American neighbours Argentina. Canada face the Argentines in today's gold medal match.

by Steve Keating

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Diminutive sprinter Churandy Martina powered to victory in the Panamerican 100 meters on Tuesday to give the tiny Netherlands Antilles its first medal of the Games.

Sandwiched between the two towering U.S. medal hopes Darvis Patton and James Samuels in the starting blocks, the 5-feet 8-inch, 150-pound Martina led from the gun, narrowly seeing off the American challenge with a winning time of 10.15 seconds.

Olympic silver medalist Yipsi Moreno of Cuba has repeated as women's hammer throw champion to highlight action Monday at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Moreno threw 75.2 meters to break her own Pan Ams record. Her toss comfortably won by more than six meters to retain the title she won in Santo Domingo four years ago. Moreno won the silver in 1999.

Ecuadorian Jefferson Pérez highlighted the first day of athletics competitions of the XV Pan-American Games of Rio de Janeiro, by winning the 20Km Race Walk in 1:22:08 yesterday (22 July).

For the 33-year-old from Cuenca, this is the third title at the games. Pérez is also a two-time World champion (2003-05), 1996 Olympic champion, and the distance’s World Record holder (1:17:21).

The race started at 15:00 local time in Rio, under a sunny sky and intense heat. The circuit was set at the “Parque do Flamengo”, near the Copacabana area, by the coastal part of the city.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: From the pool to the shooting range to the balance beam and uneven bars, the Americans have made Rio their personal playground.

The Pan American Games have been a showcase for the United States, which is collecting medals by the fistful halfway through the event.

As expected, the swimmers, shooters and gymnasts dominated, but there have been strong performances in badminton and equestrian. A collection of university students won the silver medal in baseball. The developing women's volleyball team took a bronze behind world-class squads from Cuba and Brazil.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Cuba's two-time Olympic boxing champion Guillermo Rigondeaux and a teammate left the athletes village did not show up for their scheduled fights at the Pan American Games on Sunday.

Rigondeaux failed to make the weigh-in for his quarterfinal bout against Mexico's Carlos Cuadras in the bantamweight division, while Erislandy Lara didn't appear for his fight against Jamaica's Ricardo Smith in the welterweight division.

Grenada’s Hazel-Ann Regis was a shadow of her silver-medal performance at the Pan American Games four years ago in Santo Domingo.

On Tuesday, she finished eighth in the women's semifinals in a time of 54.75 seconds and was clearly disappointed with her performance.

Regis, who was injured during the season, is still hopeful of being ready for future international competitions.

Mexico's Ana Guevara goes into the final as the fastest qualifier with 51.10 seconds with Jamaican Davita Prendergast (51.47 ), Indira Terrero of Cuba (51.56), Shereefa Lloyd of Jamaica (51.66) and Christine Amertil of the Bahamas (51.67) as among top qualifiers.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) – Mattee Ajavon saw that something had to be done, so she came up with a thrilling scoring run late in the game. That rallied the United States past Brazil in the women’s basketball final at the Pan American Games on Tuesday.

Ajavon scored 24 of her 27 points in the second half – and 15 in the fourth quarter – as the Americans beat host Brazil, 79-66, to win their first Pan Ams since 1987.

The U.S. team of collegians trailed for much of the first three quarters before Ajavon stepped it up.

“It was either me or somebody else on my team,” Ajavon said. “They played better in the beginning, so we had to turn it around.”

The title was too important to give up, she said.

“It’s a big win for our country,” Ajavon said. “We are all young players, but we want to represent our country well.”

The U.S. hadn’t won the title since the Indianapolis games. It was coming off a second-place finish to Cuba at the 2003 games in Santo Domingo.