China's top athlete pulls out of hurdles heat

Not so the gold by Brown Trafton, the American team’s first of these Olympics.

Considered a field filler more than a medal contender, Brown Trafton threw the discus 212 feet, 5 inches (64.74 meters) on her very first attempt — a throw that held up.

Olympic 100-meter champion Usain Bolt advanced to the second round of qualifying in the 200m.

The Jamaican didn't win his first-round 200m heat, taking it easy and finishing second to Rondell SORILLO of Trinidad and Tobago. The top three runners in each heat advance.

Bolt, who broke his own world record in the 100 by winning the gold medal in 9.69 seconds Saturday, moved a step closer to becoming the first man to complete a sprint double at the Summer Games since Carl Lewis did it in 1984.

Also advancing for the Americans were reigning Olympic 200m champion Shawn Crawford, Walter Dix, who won the 100 bronze Saturday, and Wallace Spearmon.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner and rival LaShawn Merritt have qualified for the Olympic semifinals at 400 meters.

Men's basketball

The U.S. Olympic team put away Dirk Nowitzki and Germany in a hurry.

Next up: the only team so far these Americans couldn’t blow out.

After destroying Germany 106-57 on Monday, the Americans (5-0) move on to a quarterfinal matchup Wednesday against Australia, the team that’s provided them with their toughest test in China.

The U.S. led by only seven points midway through the fourth quarter of an 87-76 exhibition victory in Shanghai two weeks ago over an Australian team that didn’t have starting center Andrew Bogut of the Milwaukee Bucks. He was resting a sore right ankle.

It’s hard to imagine a repeat of that semi-Shanghai surprise with the way the U.S. has played in Beijing.

“Nobody is going to beat them. No way, it’s just not going to happen,” Germany’s Chris Kaman said.

Not since the Dream Team rumbled through Las Ramblas 16 years ago in Barcelona has a team been this dominant. The Americans won their pool games by 32.2 points and averaged 103 points.

Women's soccer

Angela Hucles scored a goal in each half to lead the United States to a 4-2 soccer win over Japan and another Olympic final against Brazil.

The U.S. had to rally from an early deficit after Japan’s Yukari Kinga opened the scoring in the 16th minute, but Hucles netted the equalizer from the six-meter (yard) line in the 41st and Lori Chalupny put the Americans ahead after beating two defenders in the 44th.

Heather O’Reilly added to the lead with a long-range shot in the 70th, and Hucles closed the scoring Monday in the 80th with a crossing shot that caught Japan goalkeeper Miho Fukumoto by surprise.

Japan scored again with Eriko Arakawa in injury time.

Baseball

The U.S. team has beat China 9-1 in a game that featured three ejections.

Jake Arrieta struck out seven in six shutout innings Monday night and Taylor Teagarden and Nate Schierholtz each hit two-run doubles for the U.S.

China’s top player, catcher Wang Wei, was knocked out of the game with a left knee injury following a collision at the plate with Matt LaPorta in the fifth.

After Schierholtz made a hard slide home against backup catcher Yang Yang on a sacrifice fly in the sixth — and Yang was held back from Schierholtz by teammates — China manager Jim Lefebvre was ejected for arguing about the rough play.

Chinese reliever Chen Kun and China pitching coach Steven Ontiveros were tossed when Chen plunked LaPorta in the head to start the seventh.

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