U.S. women beat Brazil in soccer to finally claim gold

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BEIJING -- If you read the While You Were Sleeping blog, you know that U.S. women weren’t having their best day at the Olympics.

The softball team, astonishingly, lost in the championship game to Japan, and the water polo team lost a heartbreaker in the final to the Netherlands. (The U.S. women’s sprint relay team botched a baton handoff, but so did the men.)

But the women rallied.

The soccer team, on a goal in overtime by Carli Lloyd, upset Brazil, 1-0, for the gold medal, the third in four Olympics for the U.S. team and the first without Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain and friends. Hope Solo, famously benched in the World Cup final last year, earned redemption with a shutout.

And the basketball team, after leading Russia by one at halftime in the semifinals, won easily. It looks pretty certain at this point that the United States will play in the final against Brazil, which is leading China by 18 in the fourth quarter.

-- Randy Harvey