Olympics roundup: U.S. wrestler makes good on golden vow

LONDON -- Wrestler Jordan Burroughs had his eyes on a gold medal for months, and he let everyone know about his plans.

Then he delivered.

The 24-year-old American backed up all that talk, beating Iran's Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi 1-0, 1-0 in the men's 74-kilogram freestyle division to give the U.S. its first wrestling gold in the London Games.

"A lot of people call it cocky, people call it over confident," said Burroughs, who selected @alliseeisgold for his Twitter handle. "But I knew I was going to win."

Burroughs, who grew up in New Jersey, has won 38 straight international freestyle matches and is the first Olympian to claim the $250,000 prize from the Living the Dream Medal Fund, a program designed to support U.S. wrestling.

Track and field: The South African team, anchored by double-amputee "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, fell behind in the men's 4x400 relay well before Pistorius received the baton and was eighth.

Turkey's Alsi Cakir Alptekin (women's 1,500 meters), Ethiopia's Meseret Defar (women's 5,000 meters) Russia's Tatyana Lysenko (women's hammer throw) and France's Renaud Lavillenie (men's pole vault) were the other winners.

Former Texas Tech standout Sally Kipyego was fourth in the 5,000. American Brad Walker had no mark in the pole vault.

Cycling BMX: Maris Strombergs of Latvia successfully defended his BMX title over a harrowing course in Olympic Park, taking the lead at the start and never relinquishing it. He cruised across the finish line in 37.576 seconds to add to the title he won in Beijing, when the sport made its Olympic debut.

Former world champion Mariana Pajon won the women's BMX competition, giving Colombia its first gold at the London Games. With David Beckham watching from the stands, Pajon hit form at the right time after being hampered by a shoulder injury earlier this season.

Swimming: Ous Mellouli of Tunisia won the grueling 10-kilometer race to become the first swimmer to win medals in the pool and open water at the same Olympics.

Mellouli finished in 1 hour, 49 minutes, 55.1 seconds in the murky waters of the Serpentine in Hyde Park. He also won bronze in the 1,500-meter freestyle last week.

The crowd favorite was Benjamin Schulte, a 16-year-old from Guam, who finished far behind all the other competitors. Fans stuck around and applauded loudly when Schulte finally finished nearly 14 minutes after Mellouli.

Taekwondo: Five-time world champion American Steven Lopez of Sugar Land lost his opening bout in the men's competition. His family later revealed he was competing with a broken right fibula after badly turning his ankle. His sister Diana revealed the day after her defeat that she had a torn meniscus.

But Paige McPherson of Abilene took the bronze in her weight class.

Elsewhere In London: Park Chu-young scored to lead South Korea to a 2-0 victory over Japan and a bronze medal in men's soccer. Brazil and Mexico play in the gold-medal match today at Wembley Stadium. ... Brazil and Russia advanced to Sunday's men's volleyball final. ... Qui Bo of China led the 10-meter platform preliminaries and teammate Lin Yue was second.

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