8/18/08
By Phil Hersh
Special to The Times

BEIJING -- The hurdlers did not know the improbable had happened two hours earlier, that a women's discus thrower had won the first gold medal for the U.S. track team at the 2008 Olympics, an achievement historic and unexpected.

They were focusing on a similarly significant goal that was almost expected, a sweep of the medals in the 400-meter hurdles Monday night.