BEIJING, Aug 9: Mariel Zagunis gave the United States its first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Saturday as she retained her women's sabre title with a 15-8 victory over her compatriot Sada Jacobson in the final.

Athens champion Zagunis led an American clean-sweep of the podium places with 18-year-old Becca Ward seeing off Russia's Sofiya Velikaya by just a single point, 15-14, in the bronze medal match.

In the final Zagunis, runner-up in the 2006 world championships but ranked just fifth in the world this year, went ahead 5-2 and then took the next leg 10-5 for a 15-8 final scoreline which reflected her dominance.

The Americans benefitted from the early exits of medal-contenders Elena Nechaeva of Russia, the reigning world champion, and France's Leonore Perrus.

They were also given a helping hand by Velikaya's crushing 15-9 quarter-final victory over China's Tan Xue, the Olympic silver medallist of four years ago, whose exit before the medal stages disappointed home fans.—AFP