Hope and glory for U.S.

BEIJING – They came to the Beijing Olympics as a team trying to find its way, still adjusting to a new coach and each other, still smarting from a loss that brought humiliation on and off the field.

They dropped their first game, hardly an auspicious start for a country that had lost only one other in three Olympics. But bit by bit, game by game, they came together, figuring out what it would take to win.

On Thursday night, the U.S. women’s soccer team stood as one, Olympic gold medals around their necks, champions once again.

“Vindicated? I feel great, I feel amazing. I just won a gold medal,” said goalkeeper Hope Solo, whose banishment at last year’s World Cup symbolizes the struggles these Americans have had and without whom they wouldn’t have won this game.

Solo made save after save to keep the United States in the game, and Carli Lloyd scored in the sixth minute of extra time to give the United States a 1-0 victory over Brazil and the gold medal for a third time in four Olympics.

It was the first victory in a major tournament for new coach Pia Sundhage, who took over less than nine months ago.

“It was hard, and this win wasn’t just down to my goal,” Lloyd said.

Softball

They walked around in a daze, unsure of what to do next.

Andrea Duran leaned on a fence and cried. Lovieanne Jung sat alone on the charter bus. Laura Berg politely signed a few autographs for Olympic volunteers.

The U.S. never thought it would lose. Not here, not now, not in these Olympics.

“This isn’t how it was supposed to end,” pitcher Cat Osterman said.

In softball’s final appearance for at least eight years, the good-as-gold Americans met their match.

Behind a rubber-armed pitcher who stared down the world’s mightiest lineup and never blinked, Japan stunned the U.S. 3-1, denying the Americans a fourth straight gold medal in the sport’s last swing until at least 2016.

The loss was the first for the Americans since Sept. 21, 2000, at the Sydney Games. They had won 22 in a row, most by outrageously lopsided scores.

But Yukiko Ueno worked out of two bases-loaded jams as Japan outplayed the Americans with solid defense and two big hits.

Men’s beach volleyball

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser completed the American sweep of beach volleyball gold medals, beating Brazil in three sets. It is the third beach volleyball gold for the American men in four Olympics.

BMX

In the sport’s debut at the games, Americans Mike Day and Donny Robinson won silver and bronze in the men’s final, while Jill Kintner took the bronze in the crash-filled women’s final.

Track and field

Both U.S. teams dropped the baton in the 400-meter relay, meaning the Americans would go 0 for 6 in the sprints for the first time.

“I take full blame for it,” Tyson Gay said of his bad exchange with third-leg runner Darvis Patton. “I kind of feel I let them down.”

About 25 minutes later, women’s anchor Lauryn Williams flubbed her exchange with Torri Edwards, who stared in disbelief at the baton sitting on the track. At the 2004 Olympics, Williams started running too early and missed a handoff from Marion Jones in the final.

But the Americans also swept the 400. LaShawn Merritt won, and Jeremy Wariner, the defending world and Olympic champion and the favorite, slowed up at the end and barely held off David Neville, who dived across the finish line.

Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown ran the fastest women’s 200 in a decade, 21.74 seconds, to beat American Allyson Felix and complete her country’s sweep of the four men’s and women’s sprint races.

World record-holder Dayron Robles of Cuba outran Americans David Payne and David Oliver in the 110 hurdles.

Women’s water polo

Danielle de Bruijn of the Netherlands scored seven goals in her final Olympic game, including the winner with 26 seconds remaining for a 9-8 victory over the United States in the gold medal match.

IOC will examine ages

The International Olympic Committee said today it had asked gymnastics officials to investigate whether the Chinese women’s gymnastics team that won the gold medal had underage athletes, saying “more information has come to light.”

“We’ve asked the gymnastics federation to look into it further,” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.

It was not immediately clear what new information prompted the IOC to act, three days after the gymnastics competition ended.

A gymnast must be 16 in an Olympic year to compete at the games. But questions about the ages of at least three of the athletes have persisted. Online records and media reports suggest three Chinese gymnasts – He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Jang Yilin – may be as young as 14.

The IOC had said previously that it had verified the passports of all athletes competing at the games.