France and USA1 will have the pleasure tonight of having gold medals draped around their necks as world champions.

The French Venice Cup team defeated Germany 191-136, while USA1 rallied in the final set to win the Seniors Bowl 213-190.

Gold medals will go to Italy or USA1, who will play 32 boards to determine the Bermuda Bowl champion, and the winners of the Transnational Open Teams, who also conclude play today.

The Venice Cup winners are Bénédicte Cronier, Catherine D'Ovidio, Nathalie Frey, Danièle Gaviard, Vanessa Reess and Sylvie Willard.

The Seniors Bowl champions are Rose Meltzer, Garey Hayden, Alan Sontag, Peter Weichsel, Lew Stansby and Roger Bates.

At one point yesterday, the German women had taken the lead after trailing by as many as 48 IMPs. In the fourth of six sets, the Germans put together a string of pluses to go in front by 94-88. Two boards later, however, the French retook the lead and the momentum. The rest of the set — and the match — belonged to the French, and they were never headed again.

By contrast, the Seniors Bowl match stood at 161-161 with 16 boards to play. Indonesia took the lead early in the set, but the Americans came storming back, the key deal being a

15-IMP swing that resulted from a disastrous bidding misunderstanding by the Indonesians on Board 10.

In the Bermuda Bowl, Italy trailed by 31 IMPs after four sets, but they thumped their American opponents 74-35 over the next two stanzas to take an 8-IMP lead. The two teams are

replaying their dramatic match from Monte Carlo in 2003, when USA1 came from 21 IMPs down over the final two boards to win.

In the Transnational, Schneider leads Spector 38-5 with two sets to play today.