g3 － day 13.

It was, overall, an unlucky day 13 for Team USA at the Beijing Olympics －but let's get going with the good news . . .

The U.S. Women's Olympic soccer team won the gold in a high-drama duel against Brazil, holding off their opponents' powerful offense for 90 minutes before scoring the winning － and only － goal of the game six minutes into overtime.

The historic 1-0 victory meant the third gold medal for the U.S. women in four Olympic Games － the team also won gold in 1996 and 2004, while earning a silver in 2000.

Superstar standouts in the game included Americans Hope Solo, 27, of Richland, WA, the goalkeeper who made six spectacular saves to secure the shutout, Carli Lloyd, 26, of Delran, NJ, the solitary scoring midfielder, and U.S. captain and center back Christie Rampone [above, redefining the term "soccer mom" with her two-year-old daughter, Rylie Cate], 33, of Point Pleasant, NJ, who led the team's almost-perfect defensive performance.

Germany got the bronze.

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Sadly, the U.S. women's softball team struck out on gold, losing 3-1 to Japan in a depressing denial.

The loss was the first for the Americans since the 2000 Sydney Games; their winning streak was at 22 － mostly won by ridiculously lopsided scores － when the Japanese women, led by power pitcher Yukiko Ueno, destroyed Team USA's run at a fourth consecutive gold medal. The Aussies got the bronze.

And just to put insult to injury, softball itself has been denied as an Olympic sport for London's 2012 Summer Games. The game won't return to Olympic competition until 2016 at the earliest － and it's possible it might never return.

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But the biggest bummer of the day had to be letting loose over at the track, where both the U.S. women and the U.S. men failed to qualify to compete in the the 400-meter relay finals, letting go of the medals by letting go of the batons. Yes, both relay teams dropped their batons in the final exchange of the race; for the men, the disconnect came between Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay; for the women, the mishap happened between Torri Edwards, 31, of Pomona, CA, and Lauryn Williams, 24, of Rochester, PA.

For Williams, it was a recurringly nightmarish moment － she also failed to hold onto the baton passed from Marion Jones in the same event's finals in the 2004 Athens Games, meddling with the U.S.' chance to medal.

The last time the U.S. women didn't reach the 400m relay finals was 60 years ago.

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This rainy day held silver (and bronze) linings for the rest of the women's events; we just couldn't seem to get to the pot of gold.

In the 200-meter, reigning world champion American Allyson Felix gave her best, but we guess her best wasn't good enough － Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown ran the fastest time in a decade, 21.74 seconds, to win the gold, her fifth Olympic medal overall. Felix, 21, of Los Angeles, CA, never recovered from a slow start, but still managed to silver with a finishing time of 21.93 sec. － a 0.07-second sliver ahead of Jamaican Kerron Stewart, who got the bronze.

In water polo, the Americans were highly favored to finally win the gold, having come close in both Sydney and Athens. But the Netherlands nudged us over and out, seizing the gold with a score of 9-8, and leaving us settling for a silver. Danielle de Bruijn of the Netherlands put on practically a one-woman show, scoring six of the team's nine goals, including the winning point with 26 seconds remaining.

In equestrian mixed individual jumping, American Beezie Madden, 44, of Mequon, WI, was the only woman medal-winner, getting the bronze astride Authentic. Canada's Eric Lamaze rode to the gold with Hickstead, winning a timed jump-off against Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and his horse Ninja, both of Sweden.

Riding her boss bike, American Jill Kintner, 26, of Seattle, WA, also got bronze in the first-ever women's Olympic BMX event. Anne-Caroline Chausson of France won the gold, and her compatriot Laetitia le Corguille earned the silver.

And finally, in the women's 57-kilogram (125.66 pounds) taekwondo, American Diana Lopez, 24, of Sugar Land, TX, got the bronze with a match-concluding kick in overtime against Italy's Veronica Calabrese. Taekwondo awards two bronze medals in each weight class; the other one went to Croatia's Martina Zubcic. South Korea's Lim Sujeong won the gold against Turkey's Azize Tanrikulu, who earned the silver.