Set to make a stand

ATHENS -- The battle for the title of world's best athlete, usually reserved for the winner of the Olympic decathlon, has Bryan Clay and Tom Pappas of the United States poised to make a run at the medal stand today.

With half of the 10 events completed, Clay sat in third place yesterday despite a disappointing 400-meter run that dropped him a place behind Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan and world champion Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic. Clay's 4,554 points were 135 behind Karpov and only 40 behind Sebrle.

"I think I hit four out of five," Clay said, particularly his first-place finishes at 100 meters (10.44) and the long jump (7.96 meters)."I think I've done OK. The 400 was just really bad," said Clay, referring to his 15th-place finish in 49.19 seconds.

Pappas, the 2003 world champion who is 274 points behind Karpov, rushed past reporters after the 400 meters. His 47.97 race was second-best in the 34-man field and left him in fifth place overall.

Clay, who beat Pappas at the US trials, had led Karpov by 9 points after three events. The 24-year-old forged the lead with a winning time of 10.44 seconds in the 100-meter dash, a best-of-field long jump of 7.96 meters, and an eighth-place finish in the shot put (15.23 meters).

The long jump could have hurt Clay, who said that the judges originally believed he might have fouled. After a review, the jump was allowed to stand. The effort was worth 1,050 points for Clay, the largest haul of his first-day efforts.

"I've got five more [events]," so we'll see," Clay said. "I'm really just taking it one event at a time."

Felix makes final

The women's 200-meter semifinals featured the newest, youngest US sprinting sensation. Allyson Felix, 18, who won the US trials, led two other American women into the final with a strong, controlled race (22.69) in which she cruised across the line. US sprinter Muna Lee also captured a heat (22.74), and LaShaunta'e Moore edged into the final despite finishing fourth in a race won by favorite Veronica Campbell of Jamaica (a semifinal-best 22.49). Moore advanced by being one of the four fastest (22.96) non-automatic qualifiers. "I didn't worry about anyone else," Lee said. "I just wanted to win this race. I loved it out there. I loved the fans. I'm not used to this sort of atmosphere."Personal best In the women's 100-meter hurdles, Joanna Hayes of the United States posted the best time of the semifinal heats (12.48 seconds), a personal best, to advance to the final. She will be joined by US hurdler Melissa Morrison (12.53, third overall), who equaled her fastest time . . . All three US men's 400-meter hurdlers advanced to the semifinals, led by Bennie Brazell (48.57), who won two national championships in different sports for Louisiana State University. In 2003, Brazell anchored LSU's 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter relay teams to US titles, and also played receiver for LSU's national football champs. Brazell will be joined in the semifinals by US trials champion James Carter (48.64) and defending Olympic winner Angelo Taylor (48.79), who captured their heats. Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, considered the favorite in the event, finished second overall in 48.51 . . . Jearl Miles-Clark, a five-time US Olympian, most likely competed in her last 800 meters at the Games last night. Although she finished sixth in the final, Miles-Clark, 37, led until the final turn and posted a personal season's best of 1:57.27. The race was won by Kelly Holmes of Great Britain in 1:56.38.

Emotion runs high

The most emotional moment of the day occurred when Athanasia Tsoumeleka, a Greek woman who won the 20-kilometer walk in the morning, received her gold medal during the evening's competition at the Olympic Stadium. Buffeted by the loss of two star sprinters and a weightlifter to drug violations, the Greek spectators followed their thunderous cheers for Tsoumeleka by loudly singing their national anthem . . . The women's 5,000-meter final was an all-African affair, as Meseret Defar of Ethiopia (14:45.65), Isabella Ochichi of Kenya (14:48.19), and Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia (14:51.83) took the top three spots. No American runner had advanced to the final . . . The men's discus featured an Olympic-record heave of 70.93 meters by Robert Fazekas of Hungary. The previous best of 69.40 had been set in Atlanta in 1996 by Lars Reidel of Germany, who finished eighth yesterday (62.80). Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania (69.89) and Zoltan Kovago of Hungary (67.04) also medaled . . . Russia's Irina Korzhanenko was stripped of her shot put gold medal. Korzhanenko, the first woman to win a gold medal at the sacred site of Ancient Olympia, tested positive for the steroid stanozolol. The gold goes to Cuba's Yumileidi Cumba Jay. Germany's Nadine Kleinert moves up to silver, and Russia's Svetlana Krivelyova to bronze.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.