Enquirer wire services

The shine wore off swimmer Michael Phelps' quest for eight gold medals on a lackluster Sunday at the Athens Games when the Americans were upset in the pool and on the court.

GO MOHINI!

Bhardwaj in two events Cincinnati native Mohini Bhardwaj has been named by U.S. Olympic coaches to perform on the vault and in the floor exercise in the women's gymnastics team final Tuesday night. The 25-year old Bhardwaj, a vault specialist, was also named as the alternate on the uneven parellel bars. The U.S. women, along with Romania and China, are considered gold medal contenders. --Paul Daugherty

Phelps and the U.S. men's 400-meter relay freestyle team took a disappointing bronze medal, behind South Africa and the Netherlands, ending Phelps' bid to surpass Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in one Games.

"We are disappointed, but we're fortunate to win a medal," Phelps said.

Covington Catholic graduate Nate Dusing shared in the medal, swimming in the morning qualifying heat.

Phelps must shake off Sunday's upset in time to swim today's 200 freestyle, a high-profile battle among him, Australia's Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, and the Netherlands' Pieter van den Hoogenband.

The U.S. men's basketball team, consisting of NBA players, also was upset Sunday, as its struggles in international play continued with a 92-73 loss to Puerto Rico. It was the team's first Olympic defeat since professional players were added to the Team USA roster.

"I'm humiliated, because I had a job to do as a coach and I don't think we did it," coach Larry Brown said.

In gymnastics, the U.S. women advanced to Tuesday night's team final, finishing second behind Romania 152.436 to 151.848.

Although qualifying scores do not carry over to the finals, a performance full of mistakes and uncertainty was not the momentum builder the United States wanted.