Beijing - Alex Schwarzer braved the heat to give Italy Olympic gold in the men's 50 kilometres walk Friday for the first time in 44 years.

Latvian Maris Strombergs and Anne-Caroline Chausson of France won the inaugural BMX cycling gold medals, while Todd Rogers and Philip Dalhausser of the United States took men's beach volleyball gold.

In the walk - taking oplace in merciless sunshine after Thursday's steady rain - Schwarzer broke a three-man leader group after the 40km mark to claim victory in 3 hours 37 minutes 9 seconds.

Jared Tallent of Australia added the silver to his 20km bronze in a personal best 3:39:27, while Russia's Denis Nizhegorodov won bronze to go with 2004 Olympic silver in 3:40:14 hours.

"It was relatively easy, though with the usual suffering. It went well ... The last lap outside the stadium was very emotional and when I entered the stadium my emotions were very high," said Schwarzer.

The course outside the Bird's Nest stadium offered no shade as the temperatures soared above 30 degrees Celsius in blazing sunshine in the closing stages - after lots of rain on Thursday.

The race took its toll as fifth-placed Norwegian Erik Tysse collapsed after crossing the line and had to be led away in what appeared total exhaustion.

Schwarzer is the first Italian to win the walk marathon since Abdon Pamich 1964 in Tokyo. The last three editions were won by now retired Polish great Robert Korzeniowski.

In the inaugural BMX cycling, Strombergs won ahead of American duo Mike Day and Donny Robinson, finishing in 36.190 seconds, beating Day by 0.416 seconds.

The reigning world champion won all three of his semi-final races to give him the preferred inside gate and stay outside the melee in the middle for the final.

Chausson won the women's event in a close finish against her teammate Laetitia le Corguille and American Jill Kintner. Pre-race favourite Shanaze Reade from Great Britain, crashed out in the final.

Rogers and Dalhausser beat Brazilian pair Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz Friday to take gold in men's beach volleyball in three sets, 23-21,17-21,15-4. Bronze went to Brazil's Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego who beat Brazilian-born Gergians Jorge Terceiro and Renato Gomes in straight sets, 21-15, 21-10.

The International Olympic Committee meanwhile confirmed that it has requested gymnastics' ruling body FIG to look into whether any underage Chinese women gymnasts have competed at the Beijing Games.

There have been constant allegations that He Kexin, who won the uneven bars competition and was also a member of China's gold- winning team, was 14 rather than 16 as stated. There has also been controversy surrounding Jiang Yuyuan, who also took team gold.

Outside the sporting competition, Beijing police ordered six pro- Tibet activists - all Americans - to 10 days in detention in the harshest treatment so far of Tibet activists since a series of demonstrations in the capital during the Olympics.

Police said the six were arrested on Tuesday for "disturbing public order". Thez were believed to be the same six from the US- based group Students for a Free Tibet, which had held eight pro-Tibet protests in Beijing since August 6.