PARIS - California men's swimming took the spotlight Wednesday as Jack Alexy (USA) competed for a medal in the 100-meter freestyle while three Golden Bears advanced to the 200m backstroke semifinals with a chance to advance to the finals.

Men's Swimming
Alexy entered the 100m freestyle final as the sixth seed after finishing in 47.68 in the semifinals. In the finals, he sat in third place at the turn but lost momentum and finished in seventh place in a time of 47.96 – just .47 seconds behind third place.

Four Bears competed in the 200m backstroke heats Wednesday morning with three advancing to the semifinal round in the afternoon and two earning a spot in the final round, which takes place Thursday at 11:38 a.m. PT. Team USA featured Keaton Jones and Ryan Murphy. Jones placed fourth in his heat, coming in at 1:57.54 while Murphy finished second in his heat, clocking in at 1:57.03 to give both swimmers a spot in the afternoon's semifinal. Hugo González of Spain took second in his heat at 1:57.08 to also earn a spot in the semifinals. Sudan's Ziyad Saleem was unable to advance to the semifinals as he finished fifth his heat at 2:01.44.

In the semifinals, Gonzalez and Jones both earned a spot in Thursday's final with Gonzalez placing third in his heat at 1:56.52 and Jones taking fourth in his at 1:56.39. Murphy just missed out on making the final as he finished sixth in his heat in a time of 1:56.62 – just one tenth of a second from the last qualifying spot.

Field Hockey
Megan Rodgers Valzonis and the USA field hockey team entered its third match in group play against Australia with a record of 0-1-1. Team USA was blanked 3-0 and will next face Great Britain on Thursday at 8 a.m. PT.

Women's Water Polo
Kitty Lynn Joustra netted a first-period goal at the 4:02 mark to give the Netherlands a 2-1 advantage in its Group A match against Australia. Joustra logged eight minutes in the contest and took three shots. The Netherlands tied the match with under a minute to go in the fourth period but ultimately fell to Australia in a shootout and lost 15-14 to bring its record to 2-1 in group play. The Netherlands will take on Canada in the final match of group play on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. PT.

Kindred Paul and Emma Wright scored one and two goals respectively to help Canada earn a 12-7 win over China and bring its record to 1-1 with two matches remaining in Group A play. Paul logged 18 minutes and scored in the first period while Wright played 25 minutes and netted goals in the first and third periods. Canada next takes on Australia on Friday at 5 a.m. PT.

Men's water polo alumnus Chris Oeding an assistant coach for the United States' women's water polo squad, helped guide his team to a 10-3 victory over Italy in Group B play. The United States is now 2-1 and will play its last match of the preliminary round against France on Friday at 9:30 a.m. PT.

Women's Soccer
Ifeoma Onumonu did not see any action in Nigeria's 3-1 loss to Japan in her team's final match in Group C play. Nigeria lost all three of its games in the preliminary round and will not be moving on in the tournament.

Women's Table Tennis
American Lily Zhang's undefeated streak came to an end against The Republic of Korea's Yubin Shin in the round of 16. Zhang lost 4-0, ending her Olympic singles run. She will play again with the United States on Tuesday in the team round of 16.