BEIJING — After all the worries about Beijing's pollution, in the end, withering heat and humidity took a greater toll on Olympic athletes.
Saturday marked the first outdoor endurance competition of the games — the grueling 152-mile men's cycling road race that started at the historic Temple of Heaven and wound up at the Great Wall.
The capital's thick haze from the last few days lifted a bit, allowing sunlight through as riders wound their way through the sweltering 6 1/2-hour race over the hilly course.
"It was a lot better than I expected, really," U.S. cyclist Jason McCartney said.
The heat and the accompanying humidity resulted in a heat index of 90 degrees. Several riders surrendered long before the gold medal was decided, simply not having the energy to finish the race.
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$1,460
Cost, in American dollars, of a scalped ticket to today's men's basketball game between the United States and China
Coe's father, coach dies
• LONDON — Peter Coe, the father of two-time Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, died Saturday after a short illness at age 88.
Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Olympic organizing committee, had delayed his trip to the Beijing Games to spend time with his father in a London hospital and had just arrived in the Chinese capital when his father died.
Coached by his novice father, an engineer by trade, Coe broke his first world record in 1979 before becoming a two-time 1,500-meter Olympic champion in 1980 and 1984.
Boxer needs stretcher
• BEIJING — A Samoan boxer was removed from the Olympic ring on a stretcher Saturday after he was knocked out in the third round of his first bout.
Farani Tavui was hit with a series of hard punches by Marijo Sivolija-Jelica of Croatia in the second and third rounds of their light heavyweight fight at Workers' Gymnasium. A big right hand eventually staggered Tavui, who wobbled across the ring before finally flopping to the canvas.
Tavui was sitting up and moving his head as the ringside doctor called for a stretcher. He was removed four minutes later.
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"I think if he'd take his shoes off, he'd be a stud."
Beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh, on President Bush after he played in the sand with her and U.S. teammate Misty May-Treanor on Saturday.
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