BEIJING OLYMPICS:

BEIJING — Rain served as the backdrop for the gold-medal match in women’s beach volleyball Thursday morning at the Beijing Olympics. But it was reign that proved primary and was assuredly evident when the American duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won their second consecutive gold.

May-Treanor, a former Newport Harbor High standout, along with Walsh celebrated enthusiastically after beating Wang Jie and Tian Jia of China 21-18, 21-18. May-Treanor and Walsh extended their winning streak to 108 matches. They never lost a set in Beijing. They also didn’t lose a game when they won their gold medal in Athens 2004.

They wanted to be perfect again. Thoughts of winning a second gold medal started four years ago.

“Ever since the [last] ball dropped in Athens, we’ve wanted to repeat as Olympic champions,” May-Treanor told the Associated Press. “No one’s ever done it.”

A chance to complete a run for a third-straight gold might never come about. Reuters reported that May-Treanor, 31, and Walsh, 30, plan to stop competing to have children after the Games and are not sure they will come back on tour together.

If this was their final Olympics the American tandem certainly went out on top and in dominant fashion. They did it in front of their opponents’ home crowd and left them humbled.

“We’ve never defeated a U.S. team in a big final. They’re just too strong for us,” Tian said. “Hopefully in the next couple of years we can manage to beat them.”

After the match, the Americans reveled in the win, dropping to their knees and hugging each other in front of 12,200 at Chaoyang Park, according to the Associated Press. The AP also reported May-Treanor and Walsh shook hands with the officials and ran to the stands to embrace their friends and families.

They were still celebrating, wrapping themselves in U.S. flags, as organizers worked through the rain to set up the podium for the medal ceremony.

The Chinese settled for the silver medal after hanging tough in both games. May-Treanor and Walsh scored three straight points to break a 17-17 tie in the first game. China survived one set point before May-Treanor spiked one down the line for the winner.

Walsh set off the wild celebration when she put an early end to China’s chances to add a gold when she quick-hit May-Treanor’s pass between Wang and Tian to win the match.

— From staff reports