Russia captured silver, while Jamaica took the bronze.

The win comes after fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba won gold in both the Women's 5000m and 10000m.

Ukraine rounded out the podium, with 2007 World Championships bronze medalist Iryna Lishchynska claiming the silver medal in 4:01.63, while compatriot Nataliya Tobias took bronze in a personal best time of 4:01.78.

Langat was the fastest qualifier for the final, taking the semifinal in 4:03.02.

Great Britain's Lisa Dobriskey ran a personal best time of 4:02.10 to finish fourth.

World champion Maryam Jamal of Bahrain easily won her heat and was the standout favorite to win her first Olympic gold, but struggled in the final, finishing fifth in 4:02.71, well below her personal best of 3:56.18.

Jamal led a break-out with 500 meters to go but Langat overtook her on the last bend and pulled away for the win.

Potential medalist and 2008 African champion Gelete Burka of Ethiopia was knocked out in the first round after finishing in sixth place.

Argentina was the better side in the early part of the first half but Nigeria began to threaten the South American team in the latter part. Nigeria actually defeated Argentina 3-2 in the final of Atlanta 1996.

Nigeria carried out the first attack on goal when Peter Odemwingie fancied his chances and attempted a long-range shot in the sixth minute. The ball skidded through Argentina's defensive wall, but the Argentine goalkeeper, Sergio Romero, was equal to the task. Four minutes later, Argentine captain Juan Riquelme received a free kick from near the arc, but the ball sailed harmlessly over the bar.

Nigeria focused on defending against Argentine playmakers Lionel Messi and Riquelme, ensuring that Argentina had no chance to launch an attack on goal in the opening minutes of the first half. Argentina appealed for a penalty when Messi was felled in the box 21 minutes into the game, but the referee let it go.

Nigeria looked threatening in the 35th minute when Odemwingie whipped the ball across the face of the box, but the ball bounced off the unprepared Nigerian captain Promise Isaac.

Argentina also tried hard to break the deadlock but it was to no avail. Argentine midfielder Fernando Gago chipped the ball to Sergio Aguero in the 37th minute, but Aguero's tame header was easily stopped by Nigerian goalkeeper Ambruse Vanzekin.

In the closing minutes of the first half, Argentine midfielder Angel Di Maria unleashed a great long-range shot that forced Vanzekin to make a diving leap to his right and tip the ball behind the line.

Messi started well in the second half, squeezing a shot towards goal but Vanzekin punched the ball away.

The winning goal came only eight minutes later when Messi found an unmarked Di Maria who calmly chipped the ball over the fast-approaching Vanzekin and into the back of the net.

Nigeria almost snatched an equalizer when the ball bounced off Isaac's toes in front of goal. However, Romero quickly cleared the ball from danger.

Nigeria had another chance to equalize when Victor Anichebe, who came on in the 60th minute, almost scored a goal with his first touch of the game. Romero, however, forced the Nigerian forward's shot to dribble past the post.

Messi had a chance to double Argentina's lead in the 77th minute, but he was stopped by the Nigerian defense. Anchibe again had a great chance to score for Nigeria but a great diving save from Romero averted a disaster.

Despite facing stern competition from the Chinese team in the first set, the US duo won four out of the last five points to win the first set 21-18.

The US team won the first three points of the second set, but a mistake by the American duo allowed the Chinese team back into the match. A pair of aces by the hard-serving veteran of the Chinese team, Tian Jia, gave her and Wang a 9-8 lead.

With heavy rain causing the ball to be extremely slippery, the Chinese team tried hard to defeat the US pair, which are yet to lose a match in Olympic competition. However, both May-Treanor and Walsh were able to quickly anticipate Tian and Wang's offensive moves, while Walsh scored many points through blistering smashes. The US pair wrapped up the match by winning the second set 21-18.

Tian and Wang's silver medal is only the second Olympic medal that China has won in Beach Volleyball, following on from the bronze medal won by Zhang Xi and Xue Chen in the preceding match. Zhang and Xue beat Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil in straight sets to win the bronze medal.

Rating-***(3 star)

Plot:

Kumar extended an impressive run by winning a 9-4 points decision to reach the last four and make sure of at least a bronze.

Since first sending seven boxers to the 1948 Games in London, the Indians have failed to reach the medal rounds in all 12 Olympics they have participated in.

Cheered on by a small but raucous Indian contingent at the Workers' Gymnasium, the 23-year-old took a 2-0 lead in the first round and firmly defended it in the three close rounds that followed.

"It was a very tough bout and I want to do better next time," Kumar, who was mobbed by thrilled Indian supporters after his win, told Reuters.

"Everybody is very excited and the whole of India was watching on television," he added. "This is a historic moment in my life."

Kumar might struggle in his semi-final against Cuba's Emilio Correa, who advanced by outpointing Uzbek Elshod Rasulov 9-7.

Unheralded Susheel Kumar rose from obscurity to find a place in the history of Indian sport when he won a bronze medal in men's 66kg freestyle wrestling at the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday.

Sushil's campaign seemed over when he lost his first round bout 1-8 to eventual silver medallist Andriy Stadnik, but the repechage provided him a ray of hope, and the Indian proved simply irresistible as he beat three grapplers on the trot to win the bronze.

Down in the dumps after the opening round defeat, Sushil came up with an incredible show, beating Doug Schwab (3-1) of the United States, Albert Batyrov (3-1) of Belarus and, finally, the losing semi-finalist, Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan in the repechage rounds to earn his slice of history.

Spiridonov had finished fourth in the 66kg weight class at the Athens Games, while Kumar took 14th place there.

This is the first time since 1952 Helsinki Olympics that India has won two medals in a single Olympics.

Sushil thus became the second Indian wrestler after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, who won a bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Games, to win an Olympic medal.

Incidentally, in the 2006 Doha Asian Games also Sushil had beaten Spiridonov to win the bronze.

Against Spiridonov, Sushil grabbed early initiative by scoring two technical points that proved decisive in the end.

Though the Kazakh grappler scored a point in the second period to check Sushil, the Indian proved his superiority in the third period and eventually prevailed 3-2 to trigger frenzied celebrations among the Indians present at the Chinese Agricultural University in Beijing. Sushil scores read 2-1, 0-1, 1-0 in the three periods.

Otar Tushishvili of Georgia also won a bronze, beating Geandry Garzon of Cuba 3-1 in the other third place match.

Ramazan Shahin of Turkey took the gold, defeating Stadnik, Sushil Kumar's conqueror in the pre-quarter-finals.

In the gold medal bout, Stadnik took the first period 2-2 by scoring the last point. Shahin then clawed back to take the next 2-1. The deciding period was 2-2 after the first two minutes, but Shahin scored the last point and thus won the bout.

This is the first gold medal won by Turkey at the Beijing Games' wrestling tournament.

Kerri Walsh reaches to save a ball. (Photo credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 19) -- Reigning Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States advanced to the Beijing 2008 Beach Volleyball final with a 21-12, 21-14 victory in 39 minutes over sixth seeded Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil.

They will meet top-seeded Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China, who defeated their compatriots, fourth-seeded Xue Chen and Zhang Xi, in another semifinal match on Tuesday.

Both the US and Brazilian teams went to the semifinal with an undefeated record in the Beijing 2008 tournament. However, the US pair, who had posted 12 straight wins in a row in Olympic matches since Athens 2004, turned out to be too strong for the Brazilians to overtake.

The first set was lopsided, with the US duo maintaining a five to six point lead through the whole set. May-Treanor's spike in the last minute nailed the score at 21-12.

The second set wasn't much different. The Brazilian pair fought to take an early 4-3 lead; however, May-Treanor and Walsh quickly leveled the score at 5-5 and again took over the lead. The Brazilian pair saved themselves twice at match point after the score reached 20-12, but Rocha's service error gave the US team the point to win the match.

"We don't think about numbers. The only numbers we think about are 21 (points, to win a set), winning in two sets and finishing No. 1," May-Treanor said when asked what she thought of their winning streak.

Wang Jie (R) and Tian Jia celebrate their victory. (Photo Credit: Xinhua)

The other semifinal match, staged between the two Chinese teams, was close and intense. Top-seeded Tian and Wang came back from one set down to win the next two in one hour and 14 minutes.

In the first set, Wang and Tian got two set points first, but were unable to put away their young, determined compatriots, who won 24-22.

The second set again was played in a seesawing fashion, with Wang and Tian narrowly taking the win, 29-27.

Top-seeded Wang and Tian started to show their strength in the tie-breaker, winning the set by a larger margin than the previous two, 15-8.

Wang and Tian will challenge the US pair in the final in an attempt to earn the first Chinese gold medal for Beach Volleyball in Olympic history.

The final will begin on August 21 at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground.

Let´s be honest, women´s beach volleyball doesn´t have to work too hard to catch our eye, what with all the bikinis and the bouncing and whatnot. But you add in one-time youngest-ever volleyball Olympian Logan Tom and our eyes are glued in a way that seems unheard of anywhere near the word "Olympics."

There are more reasons to admire Ana than there are vowels in her name. This year´s French Open champion and current No. 1-ranked tennis player in the world will be grunting and baseline stroking her heart out on center court in Beijing. And we´ll be watching. Oh yes, we´ll be watching.

With a background including French, Native American, African-American, and Norweigian, this first-time Olympic hurdler is a virtual one-woman opening ceremony, only watchable.

At 28, El Cid is considered the Brett Farve of rhythmic gymnastics, but we don´t mind that her sultry Spanish looks are underscored with a refreshing lack of underageness. Now we finally have a reason to watch rhythmic gymnastics. Of course, now we have to find another sport to completely ignore (we´re looking at you, Handball).

A former floor exercise world champion and vault national champion, America’s Alicia Sacramone seems a good bet to have gold draped around her elegant neck. Besides all her enticing agility, however, she’s also a CoverGirl spokesmodel, if this whole "gymnastics" thing doesn´t work out.

Leryn Franco

Leryn Franco, a javelin thrower for the Paraguay Olympics team competing in her second Olympics, is unarguably one of the hottest Olympians ever!
26-year-old Franco is a professional model and was runner up in the 2006 Miss Paraguay competition and Miss Bikini Universe pageant. Runner up? Wait…what!?!
“Modeling is a way for me to continue with my sport, the hours are flexible, and you can earn good money through photographic modeling and the catwalk,” Leryn says.

We can´t get enough of women´s swimming because, next to beach volleyball, it´s the closest the Olympic Games come to Spring Break in Cabo. Former World Swimmer of the Year and sometime nude model Amanda drives that point home, er, harder than the others thanks to the whole "sometime nude model" thing.

Achieving the rare triple crown of NCAA title, WNBA title and Olympic Gold has made Sue one of the most feared ladies on the court. But it’s her fit physique and careful balance between tomboyishness and femininity that has us longing for three seconds in the paint with her.

2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2007 World Champion Britta Heidemann is blonde, German, and wields a sword for a living. This combination would have us scrambling to find a happy place if Britta didn´t happen to be a nordic goddess.

This daughter of an Australian Rules Football player put her athletic genes to good use, tearing up the courts for WNBA´s Connecticut Suns. But it´s blonde-bobbed Phillips’ curvy body and sexy down unda’ accent that has us completely forgetting that her father could eat us alive.

Olympic and World Champion Laure comes into Beijing boasting world records in the 400- and 200- meter freestyle, as well as a fierce determination to prove to the world that seductive French women in swimsuits are sexy, goddamnit. What else does she have to do, seriously?