BEIJING • It has become obvious that nobody can beat Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh when their game is on.They won their second consecutive gold medal Wednesday, beating the Chinese team of Wang Jie and Tian Jia 21-18, 21-18 at the rain-drenched Choyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground.The Americans used amazing power, timing and deft touch to defeat the Chinese.In the first game, it was May-Treanor’s dink shots that hurt the Chinese. May-Treanor is known for her power. She’s not one of beach volleyball’s taller players, but she has an uncanny ability to get vertical enough to put a spike anywhere on the court. That power allows her dinks to be incredibly effective.”We watched video on them, and I’ve had success using that shot over Wang’s block,” May-Treanor said. “If you can get it up and over her, and if you make a fast approach, Tian, usually she’s going to fade back a little further.”What makes it difficult is the ball is a little heavier so you end up pushing it more than you want to. I pushed a couple out of bounds, which I wasn’t happy about. But I knew that shot would be available.”Wang and Tian said they gave their best performance and that the American team was simply too athletic and skilled.May-Treanor and Walsh will finish the season, and both plan to take time offi to have babies – which might be the only thing that can slow them down.”We’re so focused on having a family now that we got this gold,” Walsh said. “We want to start on that goal and dream and come back. But you never know when you have a baby, maybe I won’t want to come back – but I can’t imagine that.”I think it’d be a good slow down. I think it’s essential to slow down. We’ve been so focused on one thing that we need that balance to grow. Look, we feel like we can have it all. I want my life, and I want a family. We feel like we can do it all.”-Contact the writer: 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazettedev.gazette.com

U.S. beach volleyball players Kerri Walsh, left, and Misty May-Treanor after their gold-medal win. Photo by (MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE)