g3 － day 15.

Well, this is my last official daily post of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games. And while I've definitely enjoyed following the competition much more closely and being absolutely awed by performance upon performance － especially by the women － I'm tired. Not as tired as the Chinese cheerleaders who've been manically hopping along the sidelines of every event for over two weeks, but still, tired.

Team USA's women's basketball team, however, didn't seem a smidge sleepy as they won their fourth consecutive gold, 92-65, against Australia [above, the American women belt "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the medals ceremony].

It was center Lisa Leslie's final Olympics, and her fourth gold; only Leslie, 26, of Los Angeles, CA, and former teammate Teresa Edwards share a quartet of gold medals for Olympic basketball.

The Aussies have now lost to the Americans in the women's basketball finals in the past three Olympics, with all three losses coming at double-digit margins.

Russia got the bronze.

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While the U.S. women's volleyball team didn't go golden, the silver the team earned against number-one worldwide Brazil might rank as the happiest silver medal awarded during the Beijing Games.

The American women were ninth at the world championships two years ago, third at last year's World Cup. To even win a medal, they had to beat favored China, Cuba and Italy. And despite the tragic murder of a former team member's father and the serious injury of her mother at the beginning of the Olympics by a suicidal madman, the team overcame their competitive odds.

Brazil, which had never played in an Olympic final, won its first gold against Team USA, 3-1. The Americans, who have never won a gold, happily settled for silver, the team's first medal in 16 years and its best finish since 1984. That year, the Chinese took the gold; their star outside hitter at the time, "Jenny" Lang Ping, now coaches the U.S. women's team.

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Finally, Austin resident and favorite Sanya Richards, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, FL, made up for her fade the other day from first place to a disappointing third during the women's 400-meter individual by running an amazing anchor leg for Team USA to win the gold in the women's 4x400-meter relay.

When Richards accepted the baton for the final leg of the race, the U.S. was trailing Russia. But Richards closed the gap, and with 30 meters left, pulled to the outside and freight-trained past Anastasia Kapachinskaya to clinch the gold. Richards and teammates Allyson Felix, 21, of Los Angeles, Monique Henderson, 25, of San Diego, and Mary Wineberg, 28, of Cincinnati, OH, finished at 3 minutes, 18.54 seconds, the fastest women's 1,600-meter in 15 years.

Russia earned the silver at 3:18.82, and Jamaica got the bronze at 3:20.40.

Felix, who had earlier earned the silver in the women's 200-meter, ran the fastest lap of any of the 32 women in the final, a 48.55-second split that clearly made a difference. The U.S. women's track and field team takes home a total of nine medals, their highest count since 1992.

My husband and I were literally up out of our seats, yelling, "GO, SANYA!!" for the last few seconds of the relay. Like the rest of the Beijing Olympics, it was really something to experience.