Athens, Greece ? Ian Thorpe touched the wall, pumped a fist in the air and let out a yell that all but said, “Take that!”

Two lanes over, Michael Phelps was draped over the rope, huffing and puffing as he looked at the scoreboard.

Phelps’ improbable pursuit of Mark Spitz is over, Thorpedoed by the man in black.

Thorpe thwarted Phelps’ attempt to take home seven gold medals, winning the 200-meter freestyle Monday while the kid from Baltimore was relegated to bronze for the second night in a row — a medal to be savored, for sure, but not the color he needed to catch Spitz.

With his long arms churning smoothly, his enormous feet kicking furiously, Thorpe passed Pieter van den Hoogenband in the homestretch, finishing with an Olympic record of 1 minute, 44.71 seconds. The Dutchman’s time was 1:45.23 — good enough for silver.

Though Phelps swam the fastest 200 of his life, it wasn’t enough in this ballyhooed showdown.

“How can I be disappointed? I swam in a field with two of the fastest freestylers of all time, and I was right there with them,” the 19-year-old Phelps said.

Spitz will remain at the pinnacle of swimming, the guy who won seven gold medals — all in world-record time — at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps has one gold and two bronzes so far, and the chance to win five more medals — but the race with Spitz is over.

“I tried to do something he did, and I didn’t do it,” Phelps said. “I’m already successful. It was a great opportunity I had, something I’ll always remember.”

Two other Americans did claim gold on this night.

Men's 200-meter freestyle Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe, center, poses with silver medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband, left, of the Netherlands and bronze medalist Michael Phelps of the United States during medal ceremonies. By not winning Monday at the Olympic pool in Athens, Greece, Phelps won't match Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals.

Natalie Coughlin, the top female swimmer on the American team, won the 100 backstroke, falling short of her own world record but holding off Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe. France’s Laure Manaudou took bronze, her second medal of the games.

Aaron Peirsol won the men’s 100 backstroke, the first gold medal of his career. Markus Rogan of Austria took the silver and Japan’s Tomomi Morita held off American Lenny Krayzelburg for the bronze.

Softball

Squinting beneath the brilliant Mediterranean sun, Japanese third baseman Reika Utsugi followed the ball’s flight and ran to where she thought it would come down.

“It was right there,” U.S. coach Mike Candrea said, recalling the eighth-inning foul pop that hung in the air for what seemed like an agonizingly long time.

Then, thud.

It fell to the red clay infield, giving the Americans another opportunity to score that wouldn’t be wasted.

Helped by two errors in the eighth, the first coming when Utsugi lost the ball in the harsh glare, the U.S. team continued its quest for a third straight gold medal with a 3-0 victory over Japan.

Cat Osterman, the 21-year-old left-hander whose pitches dance through the strike zone, allowed just one hit and struck out 11 as the United States (3-0) won its 73rd straight game to remain the only unbeaten team in the eight-team tournament — barely.

“Oh my gosh, I’m going to have gray hairs, and I’m 23,” U.S. left fielder Jessica Mendoza said.

Women’s Basketball

At least there’s one U.S. basketball team that still can shoot straight. And these U.S. women rebound it pretty well, too.

With a dominating performance on the boards and two big scoring spurts, the United States overcame another slow start and beat the Czech Republic, 80-61.

The victory came a day after the U.S. men suffered a stunning 92-73 loss to Puerto Rico in their Athens opener. While decisive, the women’s victory wasn’t exactly a walkover.

The United States (2-0) fell behind New Zealand 7-0 in its opener Saturday, and trailed by nine in this one because the Czechs seemingly couldn’t miss at the outset.

But the United States kept taking the ball aggressively to the basket, got the Czech starters in foul trouble and eventually got it together.

“I think anytime your team comes and watches the men’s team get beat, you want to make sure that doesn’t happen to you,” U.S. coach Van Chancellor said.

Tennis

Venus Williams and first-time partner Chanda Rubin were beaten, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, by eighth-seeded Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian of China in the first round of the Olympic tournament Monday night.

Williams won the doubles gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games with sister Serena, who pulled out of these Olympics last week because of a lingering left knee injury. The siblings have won six Grand Slam titles as a team.

Because Serena withdrew after the deadline for adding players to the roster, only Rubin — already on the U.S. team in singles — could fill in.

Women’s Volleyball

Though the Olympics pool play format provides plenty of second chances, a second defeat for the U.S. team would have been a big blow.

Instead, the Americans delivered a blow of their own with an impressive four-set win over Germany after a difficult opening draw against World Cup holder China.

Olympic rookie Tayyiba Haneef (17 kills) and veteran Keba Phipps (16 points) led the Americans to victory, 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 27-25.