It wasn't the gold Shawn Johnson wanted. She had come here as the favorite to win the all-around title, had hoped to lead the U.S. team to a gold medal, had hoped to defend her world championship on floor exercise and add to that a balance beam gold medal.

But through a succession of silvers -- team, all-around, floor -- Johnson stuck out her chin, wiped away tears and insisted that silver was just as nice as gold. Yesterday, finally, she said something else.

"This gold means more than anything to me," Johnson said. "... It's the perfect ending to my Olympic experience."

The balance beam final ended in a 1-2 finish for the United States, with Nastia Liukin getting the silver. China's Cheng Fei won the bronze.

On the men's side, the U.S.'s Jonathan Horton claimed silver on the high bar.

The U.S. women are headed back to the Final Four of this tournament.

Sylvia Fowles had 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead the U.S. to its latest rout, a 104-60 victory against South Korea. The U.S. has made the medal round in every Olympics they've entered and have won 31 consecutive games since losing in the 1992 semifinals. They will play Becky Hammon and Russia tomorrow.

Americans Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser will play for the gold medal in beach volleyball.

The reigning world champions beat Georgia, 21-11, 21-13, in the semifinal in one of the quickest matches of the Olympics. The U.S. pair will play Friday against the winner of the other final-four game, an all-Brazil matchup.

The U.S. is headed to the medal round, advancing with a 4-2 victory against Taiwan, powered by John Gall's go-ahead homer and a solid outing by pitcher Brandon Knight. The final preliminary test comes today against medal favorite Japan.

A light heavyweight from Tajikistan was disqualified for biting his opponent on the shoulder -- and Evander Holyfield was at the arena for much of the evening card, but apparently was gone when Dzhakhon Kurbanov chomped on Kazakhstan's Yerkebulan Shynaliyev.

Mike Friedman, a Peters Township High School graduate, finished 16th in the Madison cycling event.

Megan Metcalfe, formerly of West Virginia University, ran a 15:11.23 in her heat of the 5,000-meter run and advanced to the final Friday night.

Jeremy Cummings, formerly of West Virginia University, did not pitch in Team USA's 4-2 win vs. Taiwan. Team USA plays Japan in its final pool play game before the medal round.