Armstrong wins 2nd straight time trial gold

LONDON (AP) - Kristin Armstrong knew she was the favorite to win time trial gold in cycling at the Beijing Olympics. But when she looked at the start list in London, she counted nine riders with a shot.

In the end, there was only one.

The defending champion blistered an 18-mile course south of London on Wednesday to win her second straight gold medal. Her time of 37 minutes, 34.82 seconds was more than 15 seconds better than world champion Judith Arndt of Germany, who took silver.

Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia won the bronze.

"My mantra was, 'You have to live with this ride,'" said Armstrong, who briefly retired after the 2008 Beijing Olympics to start a family. "You're only as good as your last result."

It couldn't have been any better.

The former two-time world champion had already gained a second on the field by the first time check, and the advantage had swelled to five by the time she reached the 12?-mile mark.

The Boise resident and University of Idaho graduate knew she was headed for another gold when she started to pick off riders in the run-up to the finish, including Dutch champion Marianne Vos, who won gold in the road race.

The famously stoic Armstrong let a smile slip as she crossed the finish line, slowing to a stop and then slumping over her bike. She rested just enough to catch her breath before heading to the victory stand and her second consecutive Olympic gold.

“When she stopped, she was on top. You don’t lose what you’ve got,” said Armstrong’s teammate Amber Neben, who finished seventh. “You don’t lose the fact that you’re a great bike racer.”

Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins gave the thousands of fans packing the course reason to cheer when he triumphed in the men’s race.

Wiggins captured his fourth Olympic gold medal by beating world champion Tony Martin of Germany by 42 seconds, while British teammate Chris Froome took the bronze.

It was all gold for Armstrong, even if the path from Beijing wasn’t entirely smooth.

Armstrong thought she was finished after winning the world championship in 2009, but got the itch to ride again after delivering a son, Lucas, in 2010. She got back on the bike and started to win races, only to break her collarbone during a crash in May.

Armstrong admits that she rushed her recovery, getting back on the bike only a couple weeks later. But she also thinks the time off allowed her to refocus on the London Olympics.

“This is an amazing moment,” she said. “A lot of people ask me what the differences were between this and Beijing. I would say this was a much more difficult journey.”

Other Olympic action Wednesday:

The crowd booed as the badminton players dumped shots into the net, trying to improve their positioning for the next round. The umpire and tournament referee Torsten Berg issued warnings, imploring them to exert maximum effort.

Badminton’s governing body finally had its say, and it wasn’t pleased, either.

Four teams were kicked out of the women’s doubles at the London Games for trying to lose on purpose, and a couple of the sport’s top players said they were embarrassed by the whole episode.

The eight doubles players from China, South Korea and Indonesia were cited by the Badminton World Federation for “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.”

South Korea and Indonesia appealed the disqualification, but the BWF rejected the South Korean appeal and the Indonesia challenge was withdrawn. China had accepted the federation’s earlier decision.

The eight disqualified players are world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China and their South Korean opponents Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na, along with South Korea’s Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung and Indonesia’s Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

The players went before a disciplinary hearing Wednesday, a day after spectators at the arena booed their performance after it became clear they were deliberately trying to lose.

Kohei Uchimura wanted to lead Japan to the gold medal in men’s gymnastics, but he struggled in the final and settled for silver.

It was a much different story in the all-around competition.

Uchimura added Olympic gold to the world titles he’s won the last three years, and it was never much of a contest. Midway through the meet, the only question was how big his victory would be and who would be standing next to him on the medals podium.

Uchimura’s score of 92.690 was more than 1.5 points ahead of silver medalist Marcel Nguyen of Germany. American Danell Leyva got the bronze.

A day after swimmer Michael Phelps won a record 19th medal, he put himself in position to add to that total when he advanced to the 200-meter individual medley final. Fellow American Rebecca Soni moved on in the 200 breaststroke, setting a world record in the semis.

Nathan Adrian (100 freestyle), Daniel Gyurta (200 breaststroke) and China’s Jiao Liuyang (women’s 200 butterfly) each won a gold medal, and the United States finished first in the women’s 4x200 freestyle relay.

Adrian of the U.S. closed fast and clocked 47.52 seconds to finish 0.01 ahead of world champion James “The Missile” Magnussen of Australia. Hungary’s Gyurta set a world record when he clocked 2:07.28 in the final.

Venus Williams was eliminated in the singles competition at Wimbledon, losing 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) to No. 7-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany. Seeking a record fourth gold medal in Olympic tennis, Williams still has a shot with sister Serena in doubles.

Serena moved on, routing No. 13 seed Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-0. Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and Kim Clijsters also advanced.

On the men’s side, Britain’s Andy Murray outlasted Marcos Baghdatis 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Novak Djokovic beat Lleyton Hewitt in three sets, and Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin del Potro also won.

Angel McCoughtry scored 18 points, Tina Charles had 16 and the U.S. women basketball team beat Turkey 89-58 in a matchup of unbeaten teams.

Former North Idaho College standout Tugce Canitez had two points and two rebounds for Turkey.

In beach volleyball, two-time defending Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor picked up another win. But another one of their impressive streaks is over.

The Americans lost the first set of their match against Austria 21-17, the first lost set in three Olympics. But they came back to win the second set 21-8 and took the third 15-10 to remain unbeaten in this — and every other — trip to the Olympics.