United States' Sanya Richards, right, celebrates winning the women's 1,600-meter relay on Saturday in Beijing. At left is Russia's Anastasia Kapachinskaya.

Beijing ? Sanya Richards took the baton for the final lap of the 1,600-meter relay with the U.S. in second place. Three turns later, Richards remained several strides behind, yet another disappointment looming.

Then, she made her move.

Richards steamed through the fourth and final turn and caught the front-runner heading into the stretch. The Russian leader looked at the stadium monitor to see Richards closing on her, but couldn’t do anything about it. Richards ended up far enough ahead to throw a celebratory punch and scream, “Yes!” before crossing the line.

It didn’t make up for a different set of U.S. women dropping the baton in qualifying for the sprint relay, but it did keep alive a streak of going home with at least one relay gold at every Olympics since 1984.

There was far less drama in the men’s version – which was to be expected considering the U.S. went 1-2-3 in the 400. With those guys on board, the Americans won in an Olympic-record time. The U.S. has now won that race at seven straight Olympics.

The relay golds were Nos. 32 and 33 for the United States, with women’s basketball making it No. 34 Saturday night.

Baseball

South Korea defeated Cuba, 3-2, for the gold in the final Olympic baseball game until at least 2016.

If indeed baseball never returns to the Olympic agenda, at least the United States can say it went out a winner.

Behind home runs by Matt LaPorta, Matt Brown and Jason Donald, the Americans beat Japan, 8-4, to claim the bronze medal.

Track and field

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele won the 5,000 meters in an Olympic-record time, completing a distance double. World champion Bernard Lagat of the United States finished ninth.

Women’s basketball

Lisa Leslie scored 14 points to cap off her illustrious Olympic career with a fourth straight gold medal and the U.S. women’s basketball team beat Australia, 92-65, on Saturday night.

Leslie joined former teammate Teresa Edwards as the only basketball players ever to win four gold medals.

The Aussies have now lost to the Americans in the gold medal game in the past three Olympics with all three defeats coming by double-digit margins.

Women’s volleyball

Brazil won a tight and tense deciding set to defeat the U.S., 25-18, 18-25, 25-13, 25-21, and finish the Olympic tournament without a loss.

Taekwondo

Cuba’s Angel Matos was winning, 3-2, with 1:02 in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan’s Arman Chilmanov. He was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for exceeding the one minute he’s allowed.

Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden. Matos then spat on the floor and was escorted out.

Then came this release from the World Taekwondo Federation: “Lifetime ban of the coach and athlete in all championships sanctioned by the (federation) and at the same time, all records of this athlete at the Beijing Games will immediately be erased.”

Diving

China won seven of eight gold medals at the Water Cube and claimed 11 of the 24 medals awarded in the sport that has produced the host nation’s most Olympic medals.

Men’s soccer

Angel di Maria scored off a pass from Lionel Messi in the 58th minute, helping Argentina defeat Nigeria, 1-0, and win its second straight Olympic soccer title.

Synchronized swimming

Russia’s Anastasias and their friends won synchronized swimming’s team title. The bigger news was a Japanese competitor passing out on the pool deck.

After Japan’s number concluded, two men in swimsuits jumped into the pool to assist Hiromi Kobayashi to the side of the pool. After the men lifted her, she buckled to her knees. Her body and head went limp as they carried her. She was wrapped in a white sheet and rushed away on a stretcher, attended to by several volunteers and medical personnel.

Japanese team officials said Kobayashi made a complete recovery. Their team finished fifth, tied with the Americans.