OLYMPIC ROUNDUP \ Thursday’s other events

Beach volleyball: Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, who have never lost a set in the games, overcame steady rain, the partisan crowd and China’s Wang Jie and Tian Jia 21-18, 21-18 for their second straight gold medal. The duo has won 108 consecutive matches, a streak that could end soon because both plan to start families.

Volleyball: Jenny Lang Ping — who was a member of the Chinese team that beat the U.S. in the final of the 1984 Los Angeles Games — led the Americans to the title match with a three-set win over Cuba. The U.S. will play Brazil on Saturday for the gold medal. The Americans haven’t done better since that silver in 1984. They won the bronze in 1992. Lang was nicknamed the “Iron Hammer” for her powerful spikes. But under her steady hand, the Americans improved to 6-1 in Beijing with the 25-20, 25-16, 25-17 victory over Cuba.

Water Polo: Danielle de Bruijn scored seven goals in her final Olympic game, including the winner with 26 seconds remaining, as the Netherlands defeated the United States 9-8 in the gold medal match. The Americans came back from a 4-0 deficit, but couldn’t stop De Bruijn.

Basketball: Diana Taurasi scored 21 points and Tina Thompson added 15 to help the U.S. women pull away from Russia 67-52 to make the gold medal game against Australia, which routed China 90-56.

Diving: China is 7-for-7 after Chen Ruolin rallied on her last dive to earn four 10s, winning the gold medal in women’s 10-meter platform. Only one diving event remains: men’s platform. The 15-year-old Chen got out of the pool, bowed and cried after she had nailed her last — and toughest — dive to beat Canada’s Emilie Heymans.

Marathon Swimming: In Beixiaoying Town, Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden skirted just inside the final red buoy to grab gold in the men’s 10-kilometer open water race, completing a comeback after recovering from leukemia.

Canoe/Kayak: Two more Chinese boats qualified for the finals, giving the country five chances at winning its second gold medal in the sport. Zhong Hongyan won her 500-meter kayak single (K-1) semifinal in 1 minute, 53.163 seconds, while Li Qiang was third in the men’s 500-meter canoe single (C-1) race in 1:52.887. China already qualified three boats for the first day of finals today. China’s only gold medal on the flatwater was in the men’s 500-meter canoe double in Athens.

Table Tennis: The United States had its best showing ever in table tennis — thanks to a veteran of the Chinese national team who became an American citizen two years ago. Wang Chen advanced to the quarterfinals by beating South Korea’s Kim Kyung-ah. She then lost to Singapore’s Li Jia Wei. China’s dominance over its national sport continues, with all six of its singles players advancing.

Taekwondo: American Mark Lopez came within one kick — and one second — of winning gold. South Korea, which has never failed to get at least a bronze in its native martial art, took the two taekwondo golds on the second day of competition, with Son Tae-jin scoring in the final second to send Lopez home to Texas with a silver. But there is some consolation. Lopez’ kid sister, Diana, got a bronze. And his big brother and two-time Olympic champion Steven still has a shot at the gold.

Wrestling: Artur Taymazov of Uzbekistan repeated as the Olympic freestyle champion at 120 kilograms, denying Russia its seventh wrestling gold medal in Beijing by defeating Bakhityar Akhmedov 3-0, 1-0. Taymazov joined Russia’s Mavlet Batirov (60 kg) and Buvaysa Saytiev (74 kg) as repeat freestyle gold medalists from the Athens Games in 2004. Taymazov, 29, was a silver medalist in 2000. He also won world championships in 2003 and 2006, but always seems to be at his best in the Olympics.

Equestrian: In Hong Kong, Eric Lamaze of Canada rode Hickstead to the gold medal in equestrian individual jumping. Lamaze won a timed jump-off with Rolf-Goran Bengtsson of Sweden on Ninja. Bengtsson knocked down one rail in the jump-off, while Lamaze went clean to win the gold.

Modern Pentathlon: Andrey Moiseev of Russia won the men’s event, outlasting a pair of Lithuanians to become the event’s first back-to-back winner since Lars Hall of Sweden won in 1952 and 1956. Moiseev won by 21 seconds. Edvinas Krungolcas won the silver and Andrejus Zadneprovskis took the bronze.

Sailing: At Qingdao, Britain closed out the Olympic sailing with gold in the Star keelboat class for Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson, its fourth sailing gold of the Beijing Games. The British also won one silver and a bronze. Australia finished with two golds and one silver, followed by Spain and the United States, each with one gold and one silver.

BMX: The men’s and women’s BMX semifinals and finals were rained out and rescheduled for today. It was good news for American Kyle Bennett, who got an extra day to rest his injured left shoulder, which he dislocated in a nasty crash during a quarterfinal heat Wednesday. Mike Day, Donny Robinson and Jill Kintner also made it to the semis.

Associated Press