Mariel Zagunis gave the United States its first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics here Saturday as she retained her women's sabre title with a 15-8 victory over her compatriot Sada Jacobson in the final. Athens champion Zagunis led an American clean-sweep of the podium places with 18-year-old Becca Ward seeing off Russia's Sofiya Velikaya by just a single point, 15-14, in the bronze medal match.
In the final Zagunis, runner-up in the 2006 world championships but ranked just fifth in the world this year, went ahead 5-2 and then took the next leg 10-5 for a 15-8 final scoreline which reflected her dominance. The Americans benefited from the early exits of medal-contenders Elena Nechaeva of Russia, the reigning world champion, and France's Leonore Perrus.
They were also given a helping hand by Velikaya's crushing 15-9 quarter-final victory over China's Tan Xue, the Olympic silver medallist of four years ago, whose exit before the medal stages disappointed home fans. The United States are the favourites for the overall team competition, featuring in the Olympic programme for the first time, which takes place on Thursday.
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