American Misty May sprinkled her mother’s ashes over the beach volleyball court yesterday after winning the gold medal at the Athens Olympics.

May’s mother, her biggest fan, died two years ago and May had always wanted her there when she and teammate Kerri Walsh went for gold, beating Brazil in the final.

Called by some the best women’s beach volleyball team ever, May and Walsh finished off their first Olympic competition together with a perfect record and a gold medal after beating Brazil 21-17 21-11 in the final match.

Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar had to settle with their second straight Olympic silver medal as the Americans became the first US women to bag a gold on the sand.

Earlier in the night Americans Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs beat an injured Natalie Cook and partner Nicole Sanderson of Australia 21-18, 15-21, 15-9 to claim the bronze medal.

The gold medal match was marked by several long rallies in which each side made spectacular defensive plays to keep the ball alive, but Walsh’s domination at the net proved to be the difference. Though Shelda scampered from one side of the court to the other to keep the ball in play, the towering Walsh was often soaring to spike down a winner or block a shot from the Brazilians.

In the bronze medal match, Youngs’ strong work at the net and dogged defense by McPeak helped them take the first set.

Although Cook, the 2000 gold medalist, aggravated her torn right shoulder late in the second set, Sanderson compensated to help the Australians pull even.

But Cook’s injury, which left her writhing in pain on the sand and prevented her from moving her right arm much above her head, proved too much and the Australians never took control in the tie-break set.