BEIJING -- Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have won their second consecutive gold medal in beach volleyball, playing through a steady rain to beat Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China 21-18, 21-18.

Walsh and May-Treanor, who did not lose a single set in Beijing, extended their winning streak to 108 matches in a row.

Earlier Thursday, Xue Chen and Zhang Xi won China's first beach volleyball medal, beating Brazilians Talita and Renata 21-19, 21-17 for the bronze.

Walsh put an early end to China's chances to add a gold when she quick-hit May-Treanor's pass between Wang and Tian. The Americans dropped to their knees on the wet sand, hugging each other before shaking hands with the officials and running to the stands to embrace their friends and families.

They were still celebrating, wrapping themselves in U.S. flags, as organizers worked through the rain to set up the podium for the medal ceremony.

The Americans scored three straight points to break a 17-all tie in the first. China survived one set point before May-Treanor spiked one down the line for the winner.

The Americans cruised through the two-year qualifying process in a year, giving Walsh a break this spring to recover from offseason shoulder surgery. Managing the pain with massages and a special tape that is said to increase blood flow, Walsh showed no signs of wear.

Tian did need a medical time-out with the score 17-15. As she sat under the canopy that covers the bench, a trainer massaged her left arm briefly before sending her back to the sand.

Track and Field

At the Bird's Nest on Wednesday (excluding the men's 200, see page 8B):

n The Jamaican flag waved proudly for Melaine Walker, who won the women's 400-meter hurdles. American Sheena Tosta got silver.

n Aksana Miankova of Belarus set an Olympic record in winning the women's hammer throw.

n Bernard Lagat advanced to the 5,000-meter final, moving on the Saturday night's medal race.

n Three Jamaicans and three Americans were among those advancing to the women's 200 finals, which will be Thursday night.

Softball

The U.S. came as close to defeat as they have in a long time. Not that it mattered in the end.

The Americans were in a scoreless tie with Japan after seven innings, then scored four runs in the ninth -- three on a looooong homer by Crystl Bustos -- for a 4-1 victory and a spot in the gold-medal game.

Again, their opponent will be Japan in what will be the last Olympic softball game until at least 2016.

The Japanese beat Australia 4-3 in 12 innings later to advance, leaving the Aussies with the bronze.

Baseball

The guys went to extra innings against Japan, too, and also pulled out a win.

Brian Barden singled in the go-ahead run to break a scoreless tie in the 11th inning on the way to a 4-2 victory. The Americans earned the third seed in Friday's medal round, with the Japanese getting fourth.

The U.S. will play defending champion Cuba, while Japan will take on South Korea. the only undefeated team.

Diving

Now comes the tough part for China: The 10-meter platform, the one event the Chinese didn't win at the two previous Olympics.

They're off to a good start this time, with teenagers Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin leading the women's standings in preliminaries.

China already has six gold medals in diving and is looking for two more to make it a clean sweep.

Attempting to avoid a second straight shutout in the diving medals for the United States, Laura Wilkinson was fifth after completing the second-best dive of the opening round. She won this event in Sydney and the Americans have not won a medal in diving since.

Cycling

Remember the spark snowboard cross put into the Winter Games in Turin? Maybe bicycle motorcross -- BMX, to those in the know -- will do the same.

American racers Mike Day and Kyle Bennett gave the crowd a great introduction to the sport, with Day winning the time trial and each of his three quarterfinal heats and Bennett advancing but also dislocating his left shoulder in a wreck on his final heat.

Top-ranked racer Donny Robinson also moved on, as did Jill Kintner, the lone American in the 16-racer women's field, who is competing despite a shredded knee ligament.

''You can't get much more rad than this,'' Robinson said.

Wrestling

Ben Askren has to be thinking, ''I cut my hair for this?''

The bushy-haired former NCAA champion who promised a gold medal lost in freestyle's 74-kilogram round of 16, ending his Olympics after two matches. The gold ended up around the same neck it has been placed at the last two Olympics -- Buvaysa Saytiev of Russia. The three straight golds in the sport ties a record.

''I lost -- I don't know what to say, my dreams are crushed,'' said Askren, who cut the hair he'd been growing for two years because he feared having it pulled.

Doug Schwab, a former NCAA champion, lost in the 66-kg qualifications but made the bronze-medal bracket when the guy who beat him advanced. Schwab ended up losing again. Turkey's Ramazan Sahin won the bracket.

Also, the Court of Arbitration for Sport will investigate the Greco-Roman bout that so incensed Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian that he dropped his bronze medal in disgust and eventually had it stripped by the International Olympic Committee.

Taekwondo

Mexico's Guillermo Perez has a gold medal. And Afghanistan now has a medal, period.

Perez won the men's under 58-kg division, beating Yulis Gabriel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic. A bronze went to Rohullah Nikpai, marking the first ever medal -- in any sport -- for Afghanistan.

In the women's under 49-kg class, reigning world champion Wu Jingyu of China took the gold.

Men's volleyball

The U.S. men beat Serbia, remaining undefeated and earning a spot in the semifinals against Russia.

Brazil plays Italy in the other semifinal match on Friday.

Men's water polo

The U.S. squad knows who it will be playing in the semifinals: Serbia. The other semi will pit reigning European champs Montenegro against two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Hungary.

Serbia beat Spain to advance. Montenegro moved on by upsetting Croatia, which came in as the world's No. 1 team.

Kayak

American Rami Zur failed to qualify for the finals of the men's 1,000-meter single kayak (K-1).

China added three boats to the finals, with the 1,000-meter canoe double team, the 1,000 K-2 and the 1,000 K-4 all qualifying.

Boxing

British middleweight James Degale beat former Olympic champion Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan to clinch Britain's third boxing medal in Beijing, while Vijender Kumar clinched the first boxing medal in India's history.

Cuba's last two fighters also reached the semifinals with one-sided victories, guaranteeing a whopping eight medals for the sport's now-unquestioned power. Flyweight Andris Laffita earned a marquee meeting with Russia's Georgy Balakshin, while middleweight Emilio Correa emulated his medal-winning father with a win over Uzbekistan's Elshod Rasulov.

Italy's Vincenzo Picardi left the arena on his coach's shoulders after beating Tunisia's Walid Cherif to clinch a medal. Italy already clinched medals for its two heaviest fighters, world champions Roberto Cammarelle and Clemente Russo, but rarely does well in the lighter classes.

Women's field hockey

The U.S. had a chance to finish seventh. It didn't happen.

At least it took two extra periods before Spain beat the Americans. The tournament was a total loss, though, as the ladies beat New Zealand and had draws with world No. 2 Argentina, Japan and Britain. The team's other loss was to defending Olympic champion Germany.

''I think with more experience on these top levels, as we continue to play against the best teams in the world on a consistent basis, that's what's really going to continue to develop this team and this program,'' U.S. captain Kate Barber said.

Sailing

China found another sport to pad its gold-medal count, getting its first ever victory in sailing when windsurfer Yin Jian claimed the women's RS:X class. Yin won silver four years ago.

''Is it real? Is it real? Did I really win gold?'' Yin asked after the finish.

New Zealand's Tom Ashley won the men's RS:X. Bronze went to Israel's Shahar Zubari, who has been under intense scrutiny in his homeland because during his national trials he defeated windsurfer Gal Fridman, who won Israel's first-ever Olympic gold in the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Open-water swimming

Larisa Ilchenko of Russia drafted behind the leading British duo most of the 6.2-mile race, then sprinted to a gold medal in the final 50 meters (yards).

The 25-woman race looked a lot like roller derby in water, turning lane-swimming into a contact sport.

The pace-setting Brits, Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten, got silver and bronze.

Natalie du Toit of South Africa, who lost her left leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident in 2001, finished 16th.

''My message isn't just to disabled people,'' du Toit said. ''It's to everyone out there that you have to work hard. I've been through a lot of ups and downs ... but I've seen a lot of good things along the way. I was able to use the negativism in a good light and say after my accident, 'I can still do it if I work hard.'''

Synchronized swimming

Call them A-2. Or, Anastasia Squared.

Or just say that the Russian synchronized swimming duo of Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova have repeated as Olympic champions. The pair received all perfect 10s for technical merit on their free routine.

''We waited four years for this gold and a whole row of 10s was our crowning achievement,'' Ermakova said.

The Americans were fifth.

Table tennis

All three members of the Chinese squad advanced easily in women's singles competition, especially Zhang Yining, the defending gold medalist and top-ranked player in the world.

Two U.S. players -- Gao Jun and Wang Chen -- also stayed alive.

Men's handball

Croatia's gold-medal defense reached the semifinals with a victory over Denmark. The Croats will next play the French, who beat Russia.

Iceland will play Spain in the other semifinal. Iceland defeated Poland and Spain beat South Korea.