BEIJING (AP) – Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin are familiar faces by now, so seeing the gymnasts side by side on the medals stand Tuesday was nice, but nothing new.

For that, get to know another American gold-medal winner, freestyle wrestler Henry Cejudo.

The son of illegal immigrants from Mexico, Cejudo was 4 when he last saw his dad. His mom raised six kids and often struggled to make ends meet. The family moved more times than anyone remembers.

He got into wrestling as a youngster because his older brother Angel was good at it, good enough to get invited to live at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Only halfway through high school, Henry went with him.

The kid became a national champ at 17, then defied conventional wisdom by blowing off college to study nothing but wrestling. Yet last year, at the world championship – his first senior-level international event – he didn’t win a single match.

Now he’s the world’s best in the 55-kilogram division, the youngest American ever to win an Olympic wrestling gold medal. That’s saying something, because his was the 50th gold won by U.S. wrestlers; swimming and track and field are the only sports to produce more.

His story is packed with vines of inspiration for all kinds of people to grasp. The parts he hopes resonate most: Dream big, work hard and never give up.

“Anybody can do it,” he said. “It’s just a matter of seeing it, believing it and just working at it, and achieving it. … The guy who went 0-1 (at the world championship) just won the Olympic title.”

Cejudo’s gold and Johnson and Liukin finishing 1-2 in the balance beam were among the highlights for the U.S. delegation at the Olympics on Tuesday. Another gold medal came in the 100-meter hurdles, but it wasn’t from the expected sprinter, Lolo Jones.

Jones was leading the pack, then hit the second-to-last hurdle and wound up seventh. Gold instead went to Dawn Harper, who grabbed the last spot on the American squad at trials.

“This is a kid nobody knew,” said her coach, Bob Kersee. “Now she’s an Olympic gold medalist. It’s breathtaking.”

Gymnastics

Johnson and Liukin went 1-2 in the all-around also, but it was the other way around. In fact, Johnson came into the balance beam finals with three silvers.

While Johnson finally got her gold, Liukin’s fifth medal of these games matched the most ever for an American female gymnast at a single Olympics. Mary Lou Retton did it in 1984 and Shannon Miller in 1992.

China’s men won two more events, with Zou Kai winning high bar and Li Xaiopeng winning parallel bars.

The United States got its only men’s individual medal when Jonathan Horton took silver on high bar.

Women’s basketball

Not that there was much doubt, but the U.S. women are headed back to the Final Four of this tournament.

Sylvia Fowles had 26 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Americans on their latest rout, a 104-60 victory over South Korea.

The Americans will play Becky Hammon and Russia in the semifinals Thursday night. Russia rallied to beat Spain 84-65 Tuesday night. China plays Australia in the other semifinal.

Baseball

Despite losing its opener, losing one key player to a gruesome injury and seeing another key player get hurt, the U.S. is headed to the medal round.

The Americans advanced with a 4-2 victory over Taiwan, powered by John Gall’s go-ahead homer and a solid outing by pitcher Brandon Knight. The final prelim test comes Wednesday night against medal favorite Japan.

South Korea and Cuba are advancing, too. Those teams squared off in a battle of unbeatens, and South Korea won 7-4.

Men’s soccer

The final is set: Argentina vs. Nigeria.

Argentina is headed back to the Olympic final with the chance to become the first nation in 40 years to defend its title – and to avenge a loss to Nigeria in the 1996 finals.

Weightlifting

Germany’s Matthias Steiner won the men’s super heavyweight division, getting gold and the right to call himself the world’s strongest man.

At the medal ceremony, Steiner held up a picture of his wife, Susann, who died in a car accident last year.

“I thought of her before the competition,” he said. “I won this for her, for friends and family. But mostly for her.”

Steiner lifted a total of 461 kilograms (1,016.3 pounds), clinching the win with a clean and jerk of 258 kg (568.8 pounds).

Cycling

This wasn’t Olympic cycling. It was the British Open.

With Victoria Pendleton winning the women’s track sprint and Chris Hoy taking the men’s version, the Brits won seven events and 12 medals in cycling, with Hoy claiming three golds.

The Americans? Not a single medal in the competition.

Wrestling

American Mike Zadick worked so hard to get to the Olympics. Was it worth it? He wrestled for less than 10 minutes over two matches and didn’t score in either one.

“This is an opportunity I’ve wanted since I started wrestling at 5, 25 years ago, and it’s pretty sour to have on me,” he said. “It happened so quick, it’s just kind of a shock to me, and it’s something I’ll deal with.”

Women’s volleyball

After a slow start, the U.S. took down Italy in five sets to advance to a semifinal matchup with undefeated Cuba.

Brazil plays defending champion China in the other semifinal on Thursday.

Women’s water polo

The U.S. will be playing for gold, taking on the Netherlands on Thursday, but will do so without center forward Lauren Wenger.

Wenger, the team’s most versatile player, broke her right hand in the closing minutes of a 9-8 semifinal victory over Australia. Brenda Villa scored three goals, including the winner with a minute left.

Canoe-kayak

Rami Zur left Athens with a broken neck because of a freak pool accident. He might leave Beijing with two medals.

Zur has reached the semifinals of two kayak single (K-1) events. His berth in the 500 meters was secured a day after making it in the 1,000 meters. Carrie Johnson advanced to the women’s semis, giving the U.S. hope of returning to the Olympic flatwater medal stand for the first time since 1992.

Beach volleyball

Get ready for a rumble.

Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor – the winners of 107 straight matches, including the last Olympic title – are headed to the finals against the Chinese duo of Tian Jia and Wang Jie.

The United States has now reached the podium in all four Olympics since beach volleyball was added to the games in 1996.

Boxing

A light heavyweight from Tajikistan was disqualified for biting his opponent on the shoulder.

Also, China clinched at least four medals after managing just one at all previous Olympics.

Lightweight Alexey Tishchenko, one of three Russians left after their powerful team’s collapse, stayed in contention with a victory. He won the featherweight gold in Athens before moving up in class two years ago.

Men’s triathlon

Germany’s Jan Frodeno, who was seventh at last year’s world championship, worked his way past a pack of foes with more glittering resumes and won the gold medal. The top American was Hunter Kemper, who finished seventh.

Jarrod Shoemaker was 18th, Matty Reed 32nd. Reed’s brother, Shane, competes for New Zealand and was 34th.

Sailing

The U.S. got its first gold from the regatta when British-born Anna Tunnicliffe won the women’s Laser Radial class. China’s Xu Lijia got bronze, marking the third sailing medal for the hosts.

Britain got its third gold in sailing when Paul Goodison won the men’s Laser.

Also, a jury rejected yet another protest about the 49er class gold medal that went to Denmark in a boat borrowed from Croatia. Spain, which would’ve moved from silver to gold if the Danes were disqualified, said they saw the markings for Croatia and didn’t realize it was really the Danes.

Diving

China is up to 6-for-6 in its bid for all eight golds.

He Chong easily won the men’s 3-meter springboard, getting 11 perfect marks of 10.0 in the six-round final.

American Troy Dumais was sixth for the third straight Olympics. Teammate Chris Colwill was 12th and last.

Synchronized swimming

Russia’s four-time world champion duo, both named Anastasia, kept their front-runner status going through the duet free preliminaries. The final is Wednesday. Americans Christina Jones and Andrea Nott came out of prelims fifth.

Women’s handball

Russia needed two overtimes to beat France 32-31 and advance to a semifinal game against Hungary. The Russians came out of pool play undefeated.

South Korea will play Norway in the other semifinal.

Men’s field hockey

Australia advanced to the semifinals against Spain. Germany will play the Netherlands.

Equestrian

Anky van Grunsven of the Netherlands won her third straight gold in individual dressage.