In Medals Contest, U.S. And China Are Tops

Crystl Bustos of the United States hits a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to give the U.S. a 4-0 lead against Japan in the women's semifinal softball game.




Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after breaking the 200-meter world record with a time of 19.3 seconds to win the gold medal. Churandy Martina (left) of Netherlands Antilles and Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe come in after him

Like two sprinters leaving the rest of the field behind, the United States and China are neck-and-neck in total medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The U.S. leads the host country 82-79 in total medals. But China leads the U.S. in gold medals, 45-26. Russia is running a distant third with 45 total medals.

Speaking of swift runners: Usain Bolt of Jamaica won the 200-meter race — and a gold medal — in a world-record 19.3 seconds Wednesday night. He finished 0.52 seconds in front of Churandy Martin of Netherlands Antilles. Bolt is the first sprinter to win gold in the 200- and 100-meter races in the same Olympics since American Carl Lewis in 1984. Bolt is also the only racer to date to smash world records in both races at the same Olympics.

Softball star Crystl Bustos swatted a three-run, ninth-inning home run against Japan to send the U.S. softball team into the gold medal game. The final score was 4-1. The Americans have a 22-game winning streak. Also in softball, Australia beat Canada 5-3.

In men's beach volleyball, Americans Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser advanced to the gold medal round by beating Georgia 21-11, 21-13 in the semifinals Wednesday.

In women's field hockey, China beat Germany 3-2 to advance to the finals. And China's Wu Jingyu won a gold medal in tae kwon do.

But the host country has run into a few athletic obstacles on Day 12. In baseball, China lost to Cuba, 17-1. Meantime, South Korea cleaned the Netherlands' clock, 10-0.