U.S. team tops another for gold

LONDON (AP) — The United States also occupied a couple of spots on the podium at Horse Guards Parade, with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings becoming the first three-time gold medalists in Olympic beach volleyball history.

The duo beat Jennifer Kessy and April Ross 21-16, 21-16 in the all-American final, extending their Olympic winning streak to 21 matches.

May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings fell to their knees and hugged as Ross’ serve went long on match point, then took the celebration to the stands.

The Athens, Beijing and now London gold medalists remained unbeaten through three Olympics, losing just one of 43 sets. It was the Olympic farewell for May-Treanor, who has said she would like to have children.

The rest of the Olympic action Wednesday:

TRACK AND FIELD

Aside from Allyson Felix’s win in the 200, Aries Merritt won the 110 hurdles for the U.S., and Brittney Reese claimed the long jump title. Team USA had two of the top three finishers in three of the four medal events at Olympic Stadium. World champion Lashinda Demus was second in the women’s 400 hurdles, losing to Russia’s Natalya Antyukh.

Usain Bolt and Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake each won their 200 semifinal heats. Bolt is trying to become the first man with two Olympic golds in the 200 meters.

BASKETBALL

Another impressive American team was on display Wednesday night, with Kobe Bryant putting on quite a show from long range.

Bryant made six straight 3-pointers in the second half, LeBron James finished with a triple-double, and the U.S. men’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals with a 119-86 victory over Australia.

Bryant scored 20 points, flashing three fingers in the air after his third consecutive 3-pointer in the fourth quarter had pushed the game well out of reach and proved that yes, he would deliver the kind of game that’s expected of him in London.

James finished with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for the Americans, who advanced to their third straight Olympic semifinal meeting with Argentina. Carmelo Anthony added 17 points and Kevin Durant had 14.

VOLLEYBALL

The U.S. men’s volleyball team got off to a strong start at the London Olympics, but it’s headed home without a medal.

The defending Olympic champions lost 28-26, 25-20, 25-20 to Italy in the quarterfinals.

Dragan Travica and captain Cristian Savani each had four aces for Italy, which will face Brazil in Friday’s semifinals. Savani finished with 19 points.

Russia takes on Bulgaria in the other semi.

CYCLING — BMX

Two spectacular crashes marred the start of the BMX competition, and time trial world champion Caroline Buchanan of Australia and Raymon van der Biezen of the Netherlands posted the best times of the seeding runs.

SAILING

The U.S. was shut out of Olympic sailing medals for the first time since 1936 when women’s match racing skipper Anna Tunnicliffe was beaten in the quarterfinals by Finland.

The Australian 49er crew of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen sailed three laps of honor to collect the gold medal they had clinched two days earlier.

BOXING

Middleweight Claressa Shields dominated Kazakhstan’s Marina Volnova in the semifinals of the first Olympic women’s tournament, earning a spot in the title bout against Russia’s Nadezda Torlopova.

Shields is the last American boxer left in London after flyweight Marlen Esparza lost 10-8 to Chinese world champion Ren Cancan an hour earlier. Ren will fight Britain’s Nicola Adams for the flyweight title.

On the men’s side, Mongolia’s Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, stunning second-seeded light welterweight Tom Stalker of Britain with a 23-22 victory. Yamaguchi Falcao of Brazil also had a surprising victory, beating top-seeded Cuban light heavyweight Julio La Cruz 18-15.

WATER POLO

The U.S. men’s team was eliminated with an 8-2 quarterfinal loss to unbeaten Croatia.

Croatia next faces Montenegro, which beat Spain 11-9 to reach its second straight Olympic semifinal. Italy plays gold medal-favorite Serbia in the other semi.

Italy upset three-time defending champion Hungary 11-9 to reach the final four.

CANOE SPRINT

Germany’s 500-meter K-4 team lost an Olympic final for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Games, falling to a Hungarian quartet looking to spring an upset after second-place finishes at the last three Summer Games.

Hungary’s other gold came in the men’s 1,000-meter K-2, although there was a 20-second wait before the result of a photo finish with a fast-finishing Portugal was relayed to the teams and the crowd of about 20,000 at Dorney Lake.

Germany claimed its first gold of the competition when European champion Sebastian Brendel won the 1,000-meter C-1, and Eirik Veras Larsen of Norway produced a late surge to capture the men’s kayak 1,000 meters.

WRESTLING — FREESTYLE

Japan won a pair of women’s freestyle wrestling events, with Kaori Icho taking the 63-kilogram division and Hitomi Obara finishing on top of the 48-kg category.

DIVING

China’s Chen Ruolin led the women’s 10-meter platform preliminaries, with the teenager trying to add a gold medal in the individual event to the one she won in platform synchro.

Chen totaled 392.35 points during five rounds. She is the defending champion in the individual event, and won both 10-meter titles four years ago in Beijing when she was 15.

ELSEWHERE IN LONDON

Argentina will meet the Netherlands in the women’s field hockey final. Argentina advanced with a 2-1 victory over Britain, and the Dutch topped New Zealand 3-1 in a penalty shootout after the teams were tied at 2 at the end of regulation. ... The semifinals are set for men’s handball, with Hungary slated to face Sweden and France to take on Croatia on Friday. ... Steve Guerdat of Switzerland, riding Nino des Buissonnets, won the gold for individual show jumping. Gerco Schroder of the Netherlands, riding London, beat Cian O’Connor of Ireland, on Blue Loyd 12, in a jump-off for silver. ... China completed a sweep of all four Olympic table tennis titles with a 3-0 victory over South Korea in the men’s team final. China has won 24 of 28 gold medals since the sport entered the Olympic program in 1988. ... Taekwondo golds were awarded to China’s Wu Jingyu (women’s 49-kg) and Spain’s Joel Gonzalez (men’s 58-kg).

Tags: sports, olympics