2012 Olympics | featured news

More than 16 million of the 30 million-ish people who were still watching NBC’s London Olympics about 11 p.m. Wednesday stuck around to see the ad-free unveiling of the network’s new Matthew Perry comedy, “Go On.”

Usain Bolt becomes the first man to retain both Olympic sprint titles as he led home a Jamaica clean sweep in the 200m. Bolt matched Michael Johnson's then world-record time from the Atlanta Games of 19.32 seconds as he held off training partner Yohan Blake in silver and Warren Weir in bronze.

China complete a clean sweep of table tennis at the Olympics as their men's team beat South Korea to gold.

The Americans win their third Summer Games gold with a 21-16, 21-16 victory over U.S. teammates Jennifer Kessy and April Ross. The serve of April Ross kept on going and going, landing long on match point. Kerri Walsh Jennings watched it hit the sand and thrust her arms in the air, child-like delight on her face on this electric night. Three-peat achieved.

Making her Olympic debut three years after being forced to undergo gender tests, Caster Semenya of South Africa finished second in her 800-meter preliminary heat Wednesday.

Nursing a broken heart from a disappointing fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s 100-meter hurdles, an emotional Lolo Jones fired back at her critics on Wednesday. Jones opened up about a Saturday New York Times piece that compared her to Anna Kournikova, the former tennis pro known more for her good looks than her accomplishments on the court.

Aly Raisman added a gold and a bronze to the United States’ medal count, but her bronze only came after judges re-counted her score in the balance beam final.

They defeat Brazil's Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva to advance to the gold-medal match against Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings on Wednesday. Jennifer Kessy and April Ross were getting a little sick of this rivalry.

Liu Xiang, the 2004 gold medalist and former world-record holder in the event, appeared to mistime his approach to the first hurdle, ran directly into it and fell.

They talked about redemption for months on end, and now it's here, the pending denouement of a script fit for Hollywood. With a 4-3 semifinal victory against Canada late in the second period of extra time Monday, the U.S. women's soccer team advanced to play Japan for Olympic gold. The Americans also get a shot at payback for the island nation's victory on penalty kicks in the World Cup last summer.