Russia won the second consecutive gold medal as they triumphed in the women's team epee competition with a 34-28 win over world top-ranked Germany in the Athens Olympic Games.

France took the bronze medal by beating Canada 45-37.

Britta Heidemann won only one point for Germany in the slow- paced first four rounds, which resulted in a 8-1 lead to the advantage of the defending champions.

The 21-year-old scored a total of 19 points in her first Olympic appearance to make it 11-8 during the sixth round, and closed it to a two-point deficit at 28-26 with over a minutes to go. Tatiana Logounova, who led Russia to two world championships in 2001 and 2003, hung on by making some counter-attacks to slow the exhausted Heidemann and regained the gold medal.

Germany bounced brilliantly with two come-back overtime victories on its way to the finals, but failed to make it happen again against the most-balanced Russian squad.

Imke Duplitzer made two successful touches with seven seconds left in a semi-final game to beat France 38-37 in overtime.

Surviving a 10-2 deficit, the Germans turned the table around before advance into the semifinal with a 33-32 win over Greece.