While you were sleeping

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BEIJING — Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson; Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin.

Except that one was born in Moscow and the other in Middle America (Des Moines, Iowa), the two U.S. gymnasts are pretty much interchangeable.

On Tuesday, Johnson, the one from Des Moines, won the gold medal in the balance beam finals. Liukin, who now lives in Parker, Texas, finished second.

They were also 1-2 in the all-around competition last week, Liukin winning gold and Johnson silver.

Liukin, whose father won four medals for the Soviet Union during the 1988 Games, upped him with her fifth medal. She finished here with one gold medal, three silvers and a bronze. Johnson, world all-around champion last year, leaves with a gold medal and three silvers.

Liukin tied the U.S. record for medals in a single Olympics by a woman gymnast. Mary Lou Retton, in 1984, and Shannon Miller, in 1992, also won five. Miller finished her career with seven medals after also winning two in 1996.

China later swept the men’s medals with a gold in the horizontal bars by Zou Kai. Jonathan Horton of Houston was a surprising silver medalist. Earlier Tuesday, Li Xiaopeng, who won a parallel bars gold medal in 2000 and a bronze in 2004, took gold again in the event. China won seven of the eight men’s gold medals awarded in Beijing.

Elsewhere:

(All times PDT)

11:33 p.m. (Monday) Anna Tunnicliffe, who moved to the United States from her native England when she was 12, won the gold medal in sailing’s radial laser class. It looked as if she had no chance for a medal when she feared she had crossed the starting line too soon and doubled back to make sure she had a fair start. That left Tunnicliffe, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ranked No. 1 in the world, in ninth place. But she benefited from a wind shift in the second half of the race and won by five points over Lithuania’s Gintare Volungeviciute.

12:40 a.m. Brenda Villa of Commerce, Calif., scored with one minute remaining to send the U.S. women’s water polo team into the final with a 9-8 victory over Australia. Villa, referred to as the Wayne Gretzky of women’s water polo, scored three goals. Brittany Hayes of Santa Ana, Calif., added two. The United States, which will play the Netherlands in the championship game, has a silver and a bronze in the two previous Olympics in which women’s water polo has been played.

1:20 a.m. Rami Zur of Costa Mesa and Carrie Johnson of San Diego have advanced to the semifinals in kayaking: Zur in the men’s 500-meter single and Johnson in the women’s 500-meter single.

2:35 a.m. It’s one of those classic Olympic stories you read about every four years. Henry Cejudo. Born in Los Angeles to illegal immigrants. Father returned to Mexico when Henry was 4. Mother stayed behind to raise six kids, family sleeping four to a bed. Moved from California to New Mexico to Arizona. At 17, Henry and his brother, Angel, started working at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., so they could be around wrestlers. Angel didn’t make the Olympic team. Henry did. He had experience in one international wrestling tournament before coming here, finishing 31st. On Tuesday, he won the gold medal. Of course, he did. No, really. He beat Japan’s Tomohiro Matsunaga, 2-2 on a tiebreaker in the first period and 3-0 in the second, and immediately broke into tears, wrapping himself in the U.S. flag. Bring on the chariots of fire.

4:30 a.m. Favorite Allyson Felix of Los Angeles, Muna Lee of College Station, Texas, and Marshavet Hooker of San Antonio advanced through the heats in the womens’ 200.

6:44 a.m. Sylvia Fowles was dominating for the United States, her 26 points and 14 rebounds leading the U.S. women’s basketball team to a 104-60 victory over South Korea. Diana Taurasi scored 12 and Lisa Leslie scored 10. The United States, 5-0, moves into the semifinals.

6:45 a.m. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, who set a world record in the 100 meters, is favored in the 200 after winning his semifinal heat. Shawn Crawford of the United States, the reigning Olympic champion, was second to Bolt in the heat and also advanced. The United States’ Walter Dix, who finished third in the 100, advanced from the other semifinal.

6:50 a.m. The United States beat Taiwan, 4-2, in baseball. The U.S. team advances to the medal round with the victory.

7 a.m. Wake up, smell the rock tea!

Now playing: U.S. vs. Italy in women’s indoor volleyball quarterfinal; men’s discus throw final.

Coming up later this morning: Track and field finals in women’s 400, women’s 100 hurdles, men’s 1,500.

-- Randy Harvey