It was Schmirler's shot in the 10th and final end that iced the 1998 gold-medal victory over Denmark.

The league was able to capitalize on the growing popularity of women's basketball, fueled, in part, by the college game and the American women's 1996 Olympic gold-medal victory.

The fragility of the situation was demonstrated last week after Ben Johnson was disqualified cation from his 100-meter gold-medal victory at the Olympics.

Last month, in her first competition since Nagano, Weinbrecht was 12th at the World Cup event in Tignes, France, the site of her gold-medal victory.

During Argentina's gold-medal victory over Italy (the country where he has dual citizenship), Nocioni had 9 rebounds, 7 points and a team-leading 3 blocks.

The swimmers said in a statement Tuesday that the incident was a prank to celebrate their gold-medal victories.

"It's difficult for you to imagine the states of depression I went through," Henin-Hardenne said after her gold-medal victory.

Following Nigeria's exhilarating gold-medal victory over Argentina, France's newspapers and television marveled at the soccer played by the Africans and South Americans.

During last year's Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, he dominated the Czech Republic's gold-medal victory.

He had the best GAA in the tournament and went undefeated, stopping 31 of 33 shots in the gold-medal victory over Team USA.