And then, yesterday, the best thing that could have possibly happened for the sport. Japan, a day removed from holding the Americans scoreless into extra innings before giving up four in the ninth, took an early 2-1 lead before the Beijing rain forced a delay. Yukiko Ueno held the Americans down with five-hit pitching, and manager Hiroko Tamoto was given a ride in the sky (above) afterwards. For the Japanese, this is their 1980 Miracle On Ice parallel, their unreachable star achieved. They will make a movie about this, and all of Japan's top female actors will sign on for roles.

Finally, after four tries and on its last legs, softball gave the Olympics the game's single Olympian moment.

FOOTBALL: It was against Brazil that American leading scorer Abby Wambach went down with a broken leg, but she couldn't have stopped the defensive breakdowns that led to a Olympics-opening 2-0 loss to Norway before the Opening Ceremony.

That turned out to be the only game that the U.S. women would lose. In the gold medal final against the Brazilians, defenders emerged from everywhere whenever the yellow-shirted favorites touched the ball near the goal. The final 1-0 result, earned in extra time with a 96th-minute blast by Carli Lloyd, represented an Olympic title defense and the culmination of four hard years in the post-Mia Hamm era.

The win was "too perfect", with plenty of filmic subplots. The least of which was certainly now Hope Solo's strong extra-time shutout stand in goal a year after being pulled for Brianna Scurry before a 4-0 semifinal loss to Brazil in the World Cup, followed with her temporary ostracization from the team when she openly criticized the move. Redemption all around.

WATER POLO: The Netherlands fielded one of the great women's teams of the pre-Olympic era, consistently registering podium finishes at European and World Championships. When the Dutch finished fourth in the first women's Olympic tournament at Sydney 2000, their fate was sealed by the United States, which roared back from two goals down in the semifinals to win 6-5. There was no medal after a 4-3 loss to the Russians in the bronze match, and it took nearly a decade for the Dutch program to recover.

Danielle de Bruijn was there through it all, as the team failed to earn a spot in the 12-team Athens field. After a temporary retirement for three years, she came back to anchor a young squad, one that qualified for Beijing by winning the European qualifier in 2007 -- capped by an exciting 13-12 extra-time win over Russia. Now 30, de Bruijn announced that this would be her last tournament, and she scored a tournament-leading 17 goals.

Seven of those happened last night, in de Bruijn's final international tilt. She scored just one fewer than the Americans, the world's No. 1 team, and her last goal split open an 8-8 tie. And with that, the Netherlands earned its first water polo gold for either gender, and finally avenged that semifinal loss from eight years ago.

The American women were broken-hearted in water polo and softball, but two other teams moved into final games yesterday. Just 10 days after a straight-set loss to world No. 3 Cuba in pool play, the U.S. volleyball squad shocked the Cubans 25-20, 25-16 and 25-17, forcing them into unthinkable errors and shoddy defense. With the sweep, the United States will face Brazil, already assured of its best finish since 1984.

Meanwhile, the dominant U.S. women's basketballers, undefeated at these Games, destroyed a Russian team that had beaten them at the 2006 Worlds. Becky Hammon (Ребекка Линн Хаммон), the South Dakotan who joined the Russian nation team via dual citizenship when the U.S. team passed her over, put her hand over her heart for the American anthem but had just three points during the game.

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