BEIJING The long jumpers flamed out. Pole vaulter Derek Miles was a late bump from the medals stand.

All in all, another lousy night was on hand for the U.S. track and field team.

Then Bryan Clay finished last in a 1,500-meter run – and the U.S. struck gold Friday.

Clay became the first American in 12 years to win the decathlon. The 28-year-old finished 13th out of 13 in his heat of the 1,500, the final event of the 10-discipline competition. The run – four trips around the Bird's Nest track – was also his weakest.

But with a 479-point lead entering the final run, Clay was in strong position to turn his Athens silver into Beijing gold.

Track and Field

Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska was stripped of her silver medal on Friday after her positive doping test, the International Olympic Committee announced.

Blonska, 30, faces a lifetime ban from track's world governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, because it is her second doping offense. She came back last year after a two-year ban for a positive test for stanozolol.

The silver medal will now be awarded to Hyleas Fountain of the United States, who had finished third in the competition. Russia's Tatiana Chernova will move up from fourth to win the bronze medal. Blonska's Ukranian teammate Nataliia Dobrynska won the gold.

Baseball

Before his U.S. team plays Japan today for the bronze medal, Manager Davey Johnson plans to make a quick speech. He will simply remind his players that a consolation prize in what might be the final Olympic baseball competition is better than no prize at all.

“It's a pretty good group,” Johnson said after the Americans lost, 10-2, to Cuba on Friday. “They're not a group I need to motivate a whole lot.”

At least that is his hope. His players looked deflated afterward, having expected to ride the momentum of four straight victories into a semifinal matchup against Cuba, their rival. The United States could not match Cuba's power or pitching, giving up four home runs – including a pair of three-run blasts in Cuba's six-run eighth – and 14 hits while mustering only six of its own.

Boxing

The poorest performance by a U.S. boxing team since the sport's Olympic debut in 1896 came to an end Friday when heavyweight Deontay Wilder dropped a 7-1 decision to Italy's Clemente Russo.

Wilder's automatic bronze for reaching the semifinals will be the Americans' only boxing medal of these Games.

Not since the 1948 London Olympics has a U.S. boxing team come away with a single medal.

Men's Volleyball

David Lee's block landed safely on match point, securing the first U.S. medal in men's indoor volleyball since 1992 and dispatching the vaunted Russian team in five, nerve-wracking sets.

Water polo

In U.S. water polo, the Americans' 10-5 victory against Serbia on Friday night at the Yindong Natatorium set up a gold medal opportunity that, if accomplished against two-time defending Olympic champion Hungary, would rank high on the short list of the biggest U.S. team achievement in these Games.

The Americans received outstanding performances defensively (goalie Merrill Moses had 16 saves; Serbia had one) and offensively (scoring on 10-of-21 opportunities to Serbia's 5-of-33).

“A lot of it is just belief in yourself,” said the U.S.'s Ryan Bailey, who scored twice.