Fencing: Americans take silver in men’s team sabre

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For only the second time in Olympic history, the U.S. has won a medal in men’s team sabre, as the Americans reached the final Sunday against France.

James Williams of Sacramento, Keeth Smart of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Tim Morehouse of Bronx, N.Y., advanced farther than any U.S. men’s team when it ended up with the silver after France took a 45-37 decision in the championship round. The only other U.S. team to medal captured bronze in the 1948 London Games.

Smart, who has endured the death of both parents and survived a rare blood disorder since he appeared in the Athens Games in 2004, scored the final touch in a come-from-behind, 45-44 victory against Russia in the semifinals to advance the U.S. into the gold medal round.

But France’s Julien Pillet, Boris Sanson and Nicolas Lopez opened an early 5-1 lead in the final round and staved off continual attempts by the Americans to rally to claim the gold medal.

-- Dan Loumena