Sisters, sisters, there were never two such kick-ass sisters ...Yes, Serena and Venus Williams [left, top and bottom, respectively] kept up a family tradition by serving it up to the Spaniards to win the Olympic gold in the women's doubles tennis tournament.
The Williams sisters, of Lynwood, CA, won the gold eight years ago in Sydney, but were forced to skip the 2004 games in Athens due to an injury for Serena. Though both had withdrawn from tournaments last month with knee injuries, they showed no signs of struggle Sunday, easily overpowering the Spanish team who, despite being the reigning French Open doubles champions, earned the silver. The Chinese, who got the women's doubles gold four years ago, walked away with the bronze this time around.
Venus, 28, is ranked 5th worldwide as a singles player and has won 16 Grand Slam titles, 9 of them doubles. Serena, 26, is ranked 8th worldwide and has won 30 singles titles, 8 of them Grand Slams. The duo also dominated in doubles at Wimbledon this year. The tight twosome climbed the medals podium together, holding hands.
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Team USA won the gold in women's eight rowing, besting the silver they earned in Athens in 2004. The Netherlands crew earned the silver this time, while the crew from Romania, having gotten the gold the last three Olympic Games, had to settle for the bronze.
Americans Erin Cafaro (Modesto, CA), Anna Cummins (Bellevue, WA), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, NY), Susan Francia (Abington, PA), Anna Goodale (Montville, ME), Elle Logan (Boothbay Harbor, ME), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, NC) and coxswain Mary Whipple (Sacramento, CA) finished the race at 6 minutes, 5.34 seconds. The Netherlands finished at 6:07.22, and the Romanians at 6:07.25.
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On the vault, on the floor － gymnast drama, more and more ... American Shawn Johnson is seeing the silver lining once again as the gold slipped through her fingers － and into Romanian Sandra Izbasa's hands － in floor exercise. Just two days earlier, Johnson earned the silver to her teammate Nastia Liukin's gold-worthy performance in the all-around.
Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, IA, had to perform first － the worst position － but earned a respectable 15.50 score. It held up through six other finalists' performances － including Liukin's, which got her the bronze － but fell to Izbasa's soaring somersaults and solid landings, which earned her a 15.65.
Still, Johnson has earned three silver medals in Beijing; Liukin, 18, of Parker, TX, has won one of each.
Neither American competed on the vault, where North Korea's Hong Un Jong, 19, won the gold － the first gymnastics medal for her nation. China's highly favored Cheng Fei, 20, the gold medalist at the last three world championships, landed on her knees during her second run, letting Oksana Chusovitina of Germany take the silver while Cheng got the bronze.
Chusovitina is a 33-year-old native of Uzebekistan who is now a German citizen. Competing in her fifth Olympics, but her first for Germany, Chusovitina said medaling made her feel 18 again.
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Finally, Japan's Kaori Icho defended her title in women's 63-kilogram wrestling, winning the gold over Alena Kartashova, 26, of Russia in two overtime matches. Icho, 24, has won every world championship in her weight class since 2002.
Dual bronzes went to Kazakhstan's Yelena Shalygina, 19, and American Randi Miller. For Miller, 24, of Arlington, TX, it was her first senior-level international tournament for the U.S.
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