Tuesday's Olympic Highlights

BEIJING, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Tuesday's Olympic highlights:

-- In a dramatic finish to the men's 1,500-meter run Ramzi Rashid of Bahrain defeated Asbel Kipruto Kiprop of Kenya by 0.11 of a second. It is routine to see a Kenyan at or near the lead of a distance running event. But until Tuesday, no athlete from Bahrain had ever been first in any Olympic competition -- or second or third, for that matter. Bahrain's first medal came in its seventh Olympic appearance.

-- China crept to within three overall medals of the United States. The sport of taekwondo is still to be contested and China is doing much better in boxing than the Americans. So it appears the Chinese have a great chance to be in front when the Games are over.

-- The gold medal race is no contest. China added four on Tuesday to get to 43. One of China's golds came in diving, where it is six for six.

-- Britain is having a tremendous Olympics. That country won four golds Tuesday, running its total to 16. Other than in the London Games of 1906, when the British had little opposition and won 56 golds, they had never won more than 14. In Atlanta 12 years ago, Britain won only one gold.

-- American Shawn Johnson won her first gold medal on the final day of gymnastics, capturing the balance beam. All-around champion Nastia Liukin took silver, her fifth medal in Beijing. That is one more than her father won in 1988 when he competed for the Soviet Union.

-- Women's teams from the United States reached the semifinals in basketball and volleyball. American women will also play for gold in soccer and beach volleyball.