OLYMPIC ROUNDUP \Friday’s events

Track and field: Bad news: Usain Bolt is out of races to run. In the final performance of his breakout Olympics, Bolt got the baton when the race was close and ended any doubt by the time his leg was done. Once he made a clean handoff to Jamaican teammate Asafa Powell, the only question was whether they’d get the world record, too. Yep. At 37.10, they were 0.3 faster than the mark set in 1992 by a U.S. squad featuring Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell. Bolt is the first sprinter to claim three world records at one Olympics. He’s the fourth guy ever to win all three sprint events; the last to do it was Lewis in 1984. Powell crossed 0.96 second ahead of Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson — the biggest margin in the Olympics since 1936. The U.S. got its fifth gold of this track meet when Bryan Clay took the decathlon. In other action, Australia’s Steve Hooker won the pole vault, Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia completed an unprecedented women’s distance double by adding the 5,000 meters to her 10K victory, Brazil’s Maurren Higa Maggi won the women’s long jump and Brazil won the women’s 400-meter relay. Italy’s Alex Schwazer won the 50-kilometer walk, setting an Olympic record.

Basketball: They started fast and finished strong. OK, so they let a 21-point lead trickle to six points in between. Still, the 101-81 victory over Argentina showed that the U.S. men are not just out to win, they want to dominate. Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points and LeBron James added 15. Argentina’s Manu Ginobili hurt his left ankle midway through the first quarter and didn’t return. Luis Scola picked up his workload and scored 28, helping the defending gold medalists mount a mid-game rally. In the other semifinal, Pau Gasol scored 19 points to lead Spain past Lithuania 91-86 for its first trip to the Olympic finals since 1984.

Volleyball: The Americans played their first three games without coach Hugh McCutcheon, who was with his wife’s family after her father was killed and her mother wounded by a knife-wielding attacker during a visit to a Beijing tourist site. They didn’t lose without him. And they haven’t lost since he’s returned. They will play Sunday against Brazil, which beat Italy in the other semifinal.

Beach volleyball: Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers gave the U.S. a sweep in this sport, adding to the gold won by the women. Americans have won five of the eight medals since beach volleyball was added to the games in Atlanta. The guys lost their very first game of the tournament, but closed things out with a dominating victory over Brazil: 23-21, 17-21, 15-4. The 6-foot-9 Dalhausser had nine blocks in the gold medal match, including three in a row to turn a comfortable 6-1 lead into a 9-1 runaway in the final game.

Water polo: After upsetting world No. 1 Croatia to win their group, the U.S. pulled off another shocker with a 10-5 win over Serbia. Tony Azevedo scored three times, with two assists, two steals and two blocks.

Diving: China is poised to go 8-for-8 in diving events, with Zhou Luxin leading after the men’s 10-meter platform preliminaries. No country has swept the diving medals since the United States did in 1952. Back then, there were only four events. American teenagers David Boudia and Thomas Finchum were sixth and seventh, giving the U.S. a chance to avoid being shut out of medals for a second consecutive Olympics.

Taekwondo: The Lopez family isn’t going home with a single gold medal. But all three of them have something to show for their games. Steven Lopez fell short in his bid for a third straight gold, taking bronze, just like his brother Mark did the day before. Sister Diana got silver. Steven Lopez lost for the first time since 2002. He was knocked out in the quarterfinals, paving the way for Iran’s Hadi Saei to win the 80-kilogram class. South Korea’s Hwang Kyung-seon defeated Canada’s Karine Sergerie with a kick in the final seconds to win the women’s 67-kilogram class.

Modern pentathlon: American Sheila Taormina will have to settle for becoming the first woman to compete in three Olympic sports. In this one, she finished 19th — one spot ahead of the defending gold medalist.

BMX: The U.S. took three of the first six medals ever handed out in this sport. None, however, were gold. Mike Day got silver and Donny Robinson the bronze on the men’s side. Jill Kintner survived a crash-filled women’s main event for bronze. World champion Maris Strombergs of Latvia won the men’s gold, sweeping to the front at the start of the winner-take-all final and never losing control. The French duo of Anne-Caroline Chausson and Laetitia Le Corguille took gold and silver in the women’s title race.

Baseball: What might be the last gold medal in America’s national pastime won’t be won by America. The U.S. squad lost 10-2 to Cuba and will now be playing Japan for the bronze today.

Boxing: One measly bronze medal is all the U.S. has to show for these games, its worst performance ever. Deontay Wilder was the lone recipient. It was his consolation prize after being outclassed and outpointed by amateur heavyweight world champion Clemente Russo of Italy in the semifinals. Three Chinese fighters and four Cubans advanced to the finals.

Men’s soccer: Bronze goes to Brazil, which beat Belgium 3-0.

Table tennis: As expected, China swept the women’s singles, just like it did in 1988. Zhang Yining got gold, Wang Nan got silver and Guo Yue the bronze.

Rhythmic gymnastics: Russia’s Evgeniya Kanaeva is the ribbon-twirling, club-throwing gymnast to beat. She was second entering Friday’s competition but passed teammate Olga Kapranova, who led after the rope and hoop portions Thursday. The individual finals are today, with the team finals Sunday.

Associated Press