BEIJING — China issued the challenge, and the short-handed U.S. women couldn't answer yesterday.

Now on to the showdown in the gymnastics team final at the Beijing Olympics, where every element truly counts.

Neither powerhouse was at its absolute best, and the Americans were severely handicapped after Samantha Peszek sprained her left ankle in warm-ups. On floor, vault and balance beam, the Americans could put up only four gymnasts — meaning they had no room for error.

Peszek and Chellsie Memmel did one event each, the uneven bars, and neither performed particularly well. Memmel even fell.

Still, the United States trailed the hosts by 1.475 points.

"There somewhat is relief the day is over. We overcame so much, it was all kind of a whirlwind," Shawn Johnson said. "And we got the nerves out and the mistakes out."

Johnson and Nastia Liukin were 1-2 in the all-around halfway through the day's qualifications, which should stand up.

"I knew things were happening I couldn't control and that were obviously not very good," Johnson said. "So I couldn't let it affect me."

But Peszek's injury — her status for Wednesday's team final is uncertain — had to take a toll on the Americans.

It meant they basically were going 4 on 6 against the Chinese yesterday.

"It was a little bit hard to go out from there," Liukin said. "A few of us had tears in our eyes because we know how badly she wanted to be out there."

With the slates wiped clean for team finals, the Americans aren't in a mathematical hole.

"We'll come back strongly in the team finals and fight for it." Johnson promised.

Johnson, Liukin, Alicia Sacramone and Bridget Sloan had to carry most of the load. They were able to beat China's score in vault, but were hurt when Liukin fell on the landing in her specialty, uneven bars.

"I wanted to make my dismount so bad," Liukin said. "I've been doing it so well in training. I think I just pulled so hard and I overrotated."

Still, to surpass the Chinese on Wednesday without a full team will be extremely difficult for the Americans.

SOCCER

U.S., NETHERLANDS TIE

TIANJIN, China — The United States was within seconds of a major win and a quarterfinal berth in men's Olympic soccer. Now it's a tie away.

The Americans allowed a goal on a free kick by Gerald Sibon in the third minute of injury time, forcing them to settle for a 2-2 tie with the Netherlands yesterday.

The result left the United States with four points, tied atop Group B with Nigeria and two ahead of the Netherlands. Japan has zero. Only two teams advance.

The U.S. team faces off against the Nigerians on Wednesday in the final group game for both in Beijing. The Dutch will need a victory against Japan while the United States, with a superior goal difference to Nigeria, will require only a tie to advance.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

U.S. WOMEN WIN

BEIJING — Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor didn't need any time at all to get used to the Olympics.

The defending beach volleyball gold medalists easily won their opener, beating Mika Teru Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara of Japan 21-12, 21-15.

"We hadn't even seen center court yet," Walsh said. "We were excited to get the Olympics started."

DIVING

CHINESE DUO GOLDEN

BEIJING — Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia of China won the first diving gold medal of the Games, putting the host country on a path toward a possible sweep of the eight medals.

Guo and Wu, the current world champions, defended the 3-meter synchronized springboard title they won four years ago in Athens, finishing with 343.50 points.

They led through all five rounds of the competition in the Water Cube.

Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdnyakova of Russia took silver with 323.61. Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer of Germany earned the bronze with 318.90.

CYCLING

U.K.'S COOKE WINS GOLD

JUYONGGUAN, China — Nicole Cooke of Britain won the gold medal in Olympic women's road cycling, a race held in torrential rain on a course that started in Beijing and ended at the Great Wall.

Cooke won a sprint of five riders who had broken away in the final lap. She came in ahead of Emma Johansson of Sweden and Tatiana Guderzo of Italy.

Sixty-six women from 33 countries took part in yesterday's 126.4-kilometer (78.5-mile) race.

BOXING

AMERICANS GO 1-1

BEIJING — Americans went 1-1 in boxing yesterday, with Demetrius Andrade beating Georgia's Kakhaber Juania 11-9 and Javier Molina getting clobbered 14-1 by Bulgarias Boris Georgiev.

Afterward, U.S. coach Dan Campbell revealed that Molina, who at 18 is the youngest American boxer, wasn't cleared to fight until late Saturday after doctors discovered a hole in his lung had leaked air into his body.

TENNIS

BLAKE VICTORIOUS

BEIJING — James Blake beat the rain and won his Olympic debut. Playing the first center-court match before rain wiped out most of the schedule yesterday, Blake beat Chris Guccione of Australia 6-3, 7-6 (3).

After a 2 1/2-hour delay, play was suspended for the night with Serena Williams leading Belarus' Olga Govortsova 6-3, 2-1.

Women's top seed Ana Ivanovic withdrew because of inflammation in her right thumb.