US beach volleyball queens Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor overcame a stern challenge from China's Wang Jie and Tian Jia to successfully defend their women's Olympic title on Thursday.
In heavy rain, the bikini-clad Americans won 21-18, 21-18 to stretch their winning streak to an astounding 108 matches without dropping a set in seven appearances here.
China made the early running but May-Treanor, 30, coolly reeled off three points in a row to create three first-set points before spiking the winner.
China briefly led midway in the second set before the US regained control with Walsh converting the first gold-medal point.
Earlier, Chen Xue and Zhang Xi claimed China's first Olympic beach volleyball medal with a 21-19, 21-17 victory over Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil.
China's silver-bronze finish breaks the stranglehold held by Brazil, Australia and the United States, who between them had collected all the women's Olympic medals since the sport's introduction in 1996.
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