USA misses out in fencing

LONDON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Ruben Limardo Gascon of Venezuela won the second Olympic gold medal ever for his country Wednesday, capturing the title in the individual epee.

A boxer won a gold for Venezuela in Mexico City 44 years ago and that had been it until Limardo Gascon defeated Norway's Bartosz Piasecki in the championship match.

The women conducted their individual sabre event Wednesday and that gold medal went to Jiyen Kim of South Korea.

Americans Mariel Zagunis and Seth Kelsey were both on the verge of winning a medal during the long day of fencing, but both wound up losing in the semifinals and in the bronze medal match as well.

Zagunis, who carried the American flag in the opening ceremonies, lost to Kim in the semifinals 15-13 after holding a 12-6 lead.

Kim went on to down Sophia Velikaya of Russia 15-9 in the gold medal match while Zagunis lost in the bronze medal confrontation to Olga Kharlan of Ukraine 15-10.

Zagunis came into the competition as the No. 1 seed.

Kelsey's appearance in the semifinals was a surprise, but the surprises ran out when he lost to Limardo Gascon 6-5 and then dropped an overtime encounter with Jinsun Jung of South Korea for the bronze.