BASKETBALL: The Mali women's team, one of this blog's dearly watchlisted, were thumped by the United States in last night's late-late show. The 97-41 win for the deep Americans represented their largest margin of victory so far after beating China and the Czech Republic by 45 and 40, respectively. As for the African champions and first-time Olympians, this blog is now rooting for a win in the classification matches.

HANDBALL: Romania looks to dominate the women's tournament, with three straight wins in Group A. A few minutes on the team's 34-26 win over France showed Romania to be a tough, physical team that has little use for pleasant play. It's a bit of a surprise, as the country has never earned a women's handball medal at the Games, with a top finish of fourth in the inaugural women's tournament at Montreal 1976.

A couple of updates on stories this blog has been following. British tennis phenom Andy Murray (the No. 6 player in the world) is done in Beijing, as a shock first-round loss in singles was quickly followed by a 66-minute loss in doubles with his brother Jamie. American swimmer Eric Shanteau, diagnosed with testicular cancer before the U.S. trials, did not make the 200 meter backstroke finals last night and now faces surgery.

According to an IOC spokeswoman, the Olympic governing body considers the Beijing Games a success so far. But about those empty seats... the IOC and BOCOG tried to put the best face possible on attendance at yesterday's press briefing. "Of the 24 competitions, 9 had an attendance rate of over 90 percent, 9 over 80 percent, 4 over 70 percent and the remaining 2 over 60 percent," reads the official press release detailing Day 4's ticket usage.

But for a sports festival that sold all 6.8 million of its tickets, this is a continuing problem. Explanations are abundant, from sponsors swallowing tickets to weather and visa restrictions. Widespread scalping too.

"We are concerned about the not-full stadiums," said Wang Wei, executive vice president and secretary general for the Beijing Organizing Committee. "Many factors are contributing to this. We are now trying to manage that. . . . [As] for the Olympic Green . . . yesterday they saw not many people inside."

Attendance is at the heart of another burgeoning "problem" -- cheesed-off sponsors. Companies like Coca-Cola, Adidas and Samsung paid millions for intricate "fan experiences" on the Olympic Green, an area three times bigger than New York City's Central Park. But authorities are restricting the area to ticketholders only... and when the venues aren't even full, there's a lot of empty Green space.

Several high-profile sponsors were expecting 200,000 visitors a day and instead have seen just 20% of that, making it very difficult to justify costs that surpass $150 million, according to people close to the situation.

It was said by many that the Opening Ceremony was a cinematic experience in real-time, so it logically follows that it might be packaged and sold like a movie. On Tuesday, folks in Beijing were able to pick up a two-DVD set at stores for US $8. Over 5,000 of the first shipment of 6,000 sold out of stores on the first day.

How much is an gold medal really worth, free of its Olympic context? About $220.

China's Na Li (l.) defeats Sophie Lamon (SUI) in the Round of 32 at the women's epee. Li went on to win silver, losing to Hungary's Ildiko Mincza-Nebald in the final. Photo © Icon SMI