Even though she fell from the balance beam, possibly costing her team the gold; was browbeaten by Andrea Joyce, and finished with one measly team silver medal, U.S. gymnast Alicia Sacramone is emerging as one of the biggest stars of the Beijing Games. In fact, according to the San Diego Union Tribune, our pert hero is second only to Michael Phelps as most-Googled Olympic athlete.

Charts on Google Trends, which tracks Web searches, indicate more people have performed Google searches in the past week for Sacramone than for Liukin or Johnson. At one point, Sacramone ranked No. 4 on Google's Hot Trends list. Her hotness, as Google puts it, was rated as “volcanic.” Dozens of new Sacramone pages have been created on Facebook. One is called “Alicia Sacramone cost us the gold.” Another is called “Alicia Sacramone has a gold medal in my heart.”

Still another: “Alicia Sacramone Transfer to SDSU.” The page's stated goal is “to have Alicia Sacramone visit or transfer to San Diego.” (The U.S. women's gymnasts, in fact, are to tape an ABC television special at the Sports Arena on Sept. 14.) “I guess it's kind of surprising,” Sacramone said of her sudden fame, “because I didn't have that good an outcome here.”

And, update, one entry that is NSFW. Ha.

None of this should be a shocking surprise to anyone except Buzz Bissinger.

Meanwhile, Shawn Johnson won the gold medal in the beam finals on Tuesday, and Nastia Liukin finished second. They were also 1-2 in the all-around last week, Liukin winning gold and Johnson silver.

Marco! Polo! Brenda Villa, known as the Wayne Gretzky of women's water polo (does not compute), scored with one minute remaining to win it for the U.S., 9-8 over Australia in the semifinals. Brittany Hayes of Santa Ana, Calif., had two goals. The United States will play the Netherlands in the championship game.

Soon To Be A Lifetime Movie Of The Week. To the horror of Lou Dobbs, Henry Cejudo of the U.S. beat Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga, 2-2 on a tiebreaker and 3-0, for the gold medal in freestyle wrestling at 55 kilograms (121 pounds). Cejudo was born in Los Angeles to parents who were undocumented workers.

Chinese police guard the land events like dobermans on Red Bull, but evidently they consider 10 feet from shore international waters. No sooner had Marit Van Eupen and Kirsten Van Der Kolk of the Netherlands won gold in lightweight women's double sculls, than two fans stripped to their underwear and swam out to congratulate them. No one tried to stop them, and what's more, they swam back, got dressed, and rejoined the crowd. A shocking breach of security, considering that these guys could have been packing anything, from a Free Tibet sign to a torpedo. For his trouble, one of the fans got this lovely parting gift. Ha. Classic.

• Run, Jump, Run, Jump, Run, Jump. The U.S. pulled off the first medal sweep in men's 400-meter hurdles since 1960, as Angelo Taylor won the gold in 47.25 seconds, followed by Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson.

• Ejections In Olympic Baseball? Jim Lefebvre — he's been coaching the Chinese team for five years, as you know — was tossed along with two players during the United States' 9-1 win on Monday. Ah, Lefebvre, could it be only two weeks ago that you were saying this? Jake Arrieta struck out seven in six innings Monday night and Taylor Teagarden and Nate Schierholtz each hit two-run doubles for the U.S. China’s top player, catcher Wang Wei, was knocked out of the game with a left knee injury following a collision at the plate with Matt LaPorta in the fifth. This began a beanball war, which resulted in China calling in all of our loans.

• Liu Xiang, Adieu. Much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth as Liu Xiang — the Michael Phelps of China, or so I'm told — was forced to withdraw from the 110 hurdles due to an Achilles injury.

• But There Is Something You Do Not Know. I Am Not Left-Handed. After two upsets, the U.S. men's saber team ran out of luck. But it was still good enough for a silver medal. First it upset second-seeded Hungary in the quarterfinals, 45-44, and then eliminated third-seeded Russia on the final touch, 45-44, to make the gold-medal match. But top-seeded France was too much, winning 45-37. The U.S. was seeded seventh.

• It's Individual Apparatus Time. Alicia Sacramone came close but failed to medal in the women's vault, this time successfully avoiding an interview with Andrea Joyce, so that's something. Shawn Johnson of the U.S., the all-around runner-up, was second again in the floor exercise, to Sandra Izbasa of Romania. America's Nastia Liukin took the bronze.

• Olympic Tennis! ... Hello? Is This Thing On? Rafael Nadal of Spain beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, in the men's singles final (sorry, no Roger Federer). In women's singles, Elena Dementieva of Russia beat teammate Dinara Safina, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 (Sorry, no Williams sisters). Serena and Venus did win doubles gold, however, by beating Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain, 6-2, 6-0.

We knew Greece was in trouble when they went to a zone. Also when their best player, Teen Wolfopoulos, fouled out in the first half. Dwyane Wade had 17 points and LeBron James scored 13. Greece stunned the Americans two years ago in the semifinals of the world championships, 101-95.

• So We Meet Again, Ricky Booby ... This time, Alain Bernard of France beat Jason Lezak. Bernard won gold in the 100 free, touching out world-record holder Eamon Sullivan of Australia by .09 of a second, with Lezak winning the bronze; his first Olympic individual medal. France had lost the 4x100m free relay when Lezak beat Bernard on the anchor leg by .08 of a second. Sullivan still owns the 100m world record.

• Who Framed Roger Federer? Why does Roger Federer suck in Olympic competition? The answers are shrouded in mystery. Federer Express lost to American James Blake in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, 6-4, 7-6 (2). Considering that Blake had won only a single point in their previous eight matches, and Federer was the top seed, that was something. So no Wimbledon finals rematch with Rafael Nadal for you. Also, Serena Williams boarded the Failboat by losing to No. 5-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

• Back To The Beach. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor of the United States mock the concept of beach volleyball in Norway. What's next, the Saudi Arabian ski team? The U.S. duo beat 11th-seeded Nila Ann Haakedal and Ingrid Toerlen 21-12, 21-15, concluding pool play at 3-0. The 37-minute beatdown was their 104th straight overall and 10th straight Olympic victory, both records.

• Who Were The Ad Geniuses Who Came Up With This Matchup? The U.S. women's basketball team beat Mali 97-41 on Wednesday night, and will next play on Friday against Spain, ranked No. 5 worldwide by FIBA. Spain features ex-WNBA players Amaya Valdemoro and Anna Montanana, and many spicy chicken recipes.

Meanwhile, in other non-Phelps swim news, Ryan Lochte and Aaron Peirsol set up a rematch in the 200 back, qualifying 1-2 in preliminary heats in 1 minute, 56.29 seconds and 1:56.35, respectively. They share the world record of 1:54.32. Lochte also earned a berth in the 200 IM final, winning his heat in 1:58.15.

• This Is Why They're Canceling Softball After These Olympics, You See. The U.S. threw its second consecutive no-hitter, dominating the Olympic softball competition like Germany dominated Lichtenstein in 1941. Cat Osterman struck out 13, including eight of the last 10, as the U.S. beat Australia 3-0. In three Olympic decisions dating to 2004, Osterman is 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Now this is how the U.S. men's team should be dominating in basketball.

• The Olympics Are Bad For Your Groin. Or so says With Leather.

• Nigeria, Please. The U.S. men's soccer team eliminated by Nigeria, 2-1. Where's Hirshey to make sense of all of this? In a clear case of Soccer Rage, the U.S. was playing without central midfielder Michael Bradley and midfielder Freddy Adu, who have both been suspended. And in the fourth minute on Wednesday, defender Michael Orozco was ejected for elbowing forward Solomon Okoronkwo.

• Oops. My Bad. In a mistake that the ever-forgiving Chinese government will have no problem with whatsoever, rower Zhang Liang, China's national single sculls champion, showed up for the wrong heat on Saturday and was disqualified. He was a favorite to win the gold medal.

There is possibly no Olympic event more random and pointless than 10-meter air pistol, unless it's "20-meter hurling a coconut," which will be a trial event in 2012. But could it also be our last, best hope for world peace? Two medalists in the event — one from Russia and one from Georgia — put aside their political differences and embraced on the victory stand on Sunday. And any day now, Russia should be sending Georgia an FTD "Sorry We Bombed You" Pick-Me-Up Bouquet.

Russia's Natalia Paderina and Georgia's Nino Salukvadze hugged after winning Olympic silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the women's 10-meter air pistol competition. The rivals kissed each other on the cheek after standing on the medal podium with China's Guo Wenjun, who won the gold medal in the event.

Waving flower bouquets high, the women smiled broadly at the audience. "If the world were to draw any lessons from what I did, there would never be any wars," Salukvadze, 39, said afterward, according to media reports. The reports described the two as friends.

So anyway, be prepared for a lot of "This is what the Olympics are all about" stories in the coming days. But really, doesn't this just underscore the disconnect between sports and reality? Pretty much at the very moment Paderina and Salukvadze were hugging it out on the medal stand, Russian jets were bombing the bejeebers out of Georgia. So when you think about it, it's the men's 10-meter air pistol competition that's really what the Olympics are all about. After all, they all look like James Bond villains.

• Down Goes Frazier Ali! U.S. lightweight Sadam Ali — who has the most intimidating name the Americans could muster — nevertheless went to the canvas in the second round and ended up losing his lightweight bout against Romania's Georgian Popescu on Monday night in the round of 32 by a score of 20-5. So far, the U.S. team is 3-2 with three fighters remaining in the round of 32 — flyweight Rau'shee Warren on Tuesday and heavyweight Deontay Wilder and light flyweight Luis Yanez on Wednesday.

• No Trouble In Little China. U.S. throttles China in women's basketball, which isn't a big surprise. Buy Yao Ming's wife, Ye Li, isn't on the Chinese team. That is a surprise.

• American Stabbing Victim Improving. The condition of Barbara Bachman, the woman who was attacked by a knife-wielding lunatic in Beijing on Saturday, has improved from critical to serious but stable. Bachman is the mother-in-law of U.S. men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon. Her husband, Todd Bachman, was killed in the attack.

• Waterworld. Kirsty Coventry set a record in her heat of the 100 backstroke, winning in 58.77. That beat Natalie Coughlin's mark of 58.97 set at the U.S. trials last month. Coughlin won her heat in 59.43, and the two will face off on Tuesday in the final. Kosuke Kitajima of Japan winning the 100 breaststroke in 58.91 seconds to get a gold medal.

• USA! US ... Oh, Forget It. The U.S. men's soccer team continues to underwhelm, ending up with a 2-2 tie with the Netherlands. Medal favorites Argentina, Brazil and Italy each advanced to the final eight with victories Sunday, while the U.S. must tie or beat Nigeria on Wednesday in Beijing to move on.

Russia, Georgia Medalists Embrace Despite Conflict [NBCSports]
U.S. Official: Russia's Attack On Georgia Is 'Disproportionate' [CNN]
Swarms Of Russian Jets Bomb Georgian Targets [USA Today]