2012 USA Performance Recap
Their is no way of easily condensing all that occurred in the Olympics this year. For those that were there, the live excitement of catching a few events in the stands or the ultimate delight for the competitors to be front and center displaying their hard working athletic ability was definite excitement. For the rest of us patriotic souls who were at home, catching feeds during work and watching the delayed evening coverage in earnest, the experience fulfilled a pride for our fellow countrymen and admiration for the all of the effort the competitors put on display.
From the get go with swimming taking a lead as a sport to watch, anticipation ran high for the dominate men Ryan Lochte and Phelps. Eclipsing a stellar carreer, the 27 year old Phelps won an 18th gold and 22 medal overall. In the individual 200M medley, 100M Fly, 4X100 team medley and 4X200 team freestyle he secured a three peat gold performance during the last three Olympics. He'd claimed gold in the 400M individual
medley in the last two Olympics but ceded this event to his teammate Lochte this year who won the gold. The 4X100 freestyle got Phelps the silver this year, gold in 2008 and bronze in 2004. 200M butterfly has been his strong suit as well going for the three-peat but came up short this year with a silver to Chad Le Clos, 20 of South Africa. The 200M freestyle had won Phelp's gold in 2008 and bronze in 2004 marking him as the most medaled athlete ever after the team 4X100 medley was completed on Friday. Others from the US Men's team appearing on the podium blocks were in backstroke Lochte getting third in the 200M and teammate Tyler Clary getting gold. Matt Grevers and Nick Thoman claimed first and second in the 100M backstroke. Brenden Hansen claimed the only medal in the breastbone events with a bronze medal in the 200M . Nathan Adrian earned... in the 100M freestyle while Cullen Jones got silver in the 50M short sprint. That's a total of 15 medals swimming medals for the men. Their female counterparts excited a lot of people by also earning 15 this year. Several stars like Allison Schmidt drew attention with her gold in the 200M freestle and silver in 400M Freestyle . Katy Ledecky earned a gold in the 800M freestyle while Rebecca Son placed gold and silver in 200M and 100M breastrokes. Missy Franlkin got gold in the 200M and 100M backstroke as teammate Elizabeth Beisel bronzed in the 200M and silvered in the 400IM. Dana Vollmer set a world record in the 100M butterfly. 
Caitlin Levernze made the podium with a bronze in the 200IM. Of the 3 team swimming events, the US Women won gold in two and bronze in one. And lastly to reminisce on the great overall performance, Haley Anderson, competed in the grueling 10KM open water marathon, earning a silver just fractions of a second behind the leader.
Coming into the diving events, a big challenge was going up against the Chinese who had in part prevented the Americans from medaling in any of the eight springboard or platform events during the previous 2004 and 2008 Olympics. While China won seven out of eight events in Beijing, this year the US desire to reclaim glory was apparent. China though again took the largest medal count in this summers events that included the 3M individual and springboard plus the individual and synchronized 10M platform. The US men bronzed in both of the synchronized and got gold in the individual 10M platform. As the women competed in the same four categories, their team of Kelci Bryant and Abigail Johnston silvered in the 3M springboard. That amounted to a total diving medal count of four for the US.
In the gymnastics category the men competed in eight categories while the women in six. These muscle toned athletes are cut from a superb breed as they manage to support their body weight in unthinkable positions or spin themselves through the air only to come down on a four inch wide block of wood. You cant's think of Olympic competition without acknowledgement of these rigorously trained stars. Eighteen year old Bostonian Alexandra Raisman had a stunning performance with gold in the floor exercise, bronze in the beam and fourth in all-around while teammate Gabby Douglas took gold in the all-around. MC Maroney won silver in Vault while the five member team of those three plus Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber secured a gold.
The men's gymnastics events add, the rings, the pommel horse, another bar event minus the balance beam as part of their competitive rotation. Yet only Danell Leyva could manage a bronze in the individual overall which is comprised of all events.
Parsing through the meat and potatoes of how the ancient Olympics got their start with track and field is a lot of competition, with a total of 24 events for men and 23 for women. So alot of action spanned out over the last week that was held at the 80,000 seat capacity Olympic Stadium,
designed specifically for the games and served as the central fixture for the London Olympic Park. The US showed superiority to these events by amassing a total of 29 medals, 9 gold, 13 silver, and 7 bronze, while Russia gained 18 total and Jamaica won 12 medals in track and field. The short distance track brought little as Leonel Manzano silvered in the 1500M and Justin Gaiton bronzed in the 100M sprint. The Jamaicans were dominant as their men's team held 5 of the 6 podium position in the 100M and 200M men's races. In the 200M, 400M the US women received gold and bronze plus a bronze in the 100M for a total of 5 in short distance track by the likes of Sanya Richards-Ross, Deedee Trotter, Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter. The long distance running events were all shared between Kenya, Ethiopia and the men's marathon winner was from Uganda. Of the long distance, the US men were only able to take a silver in the 10,000M track. Us men's and women's 400M and 110M hurdles though offered success with Jason Richardson, Aries Merritt, Michael Tinsley, Lashinda Demus, Kellie Wells and Dawn Harper all medaling. In team relays the 4X100 and 4X400 both brought silver for US men's while those two events earned gold for the women. The field events didn't add a lot of hardware for the US team.
Serena Williams secured a gold in women's singes against Anna Sharapova 6-1, 6-0 as well as a gold in doubles alongside her sister Venus. The men's doubles earned gold and a bronze in mixed doubles.
Beach Volleyball awarded gold and silver to the US women, while predicted favorite Dalhausser and company for the men couldn't make it to the quarter finals.
Women's indoor volleyball won silver against Brazil.
The ladies water polo took gold with a win over Spain.
Synchronized swimming had no love for the United Stares but men's and women's basketball both won gold.
Of thirteen boxing events between men and women just Claressa Shields got a gold in the middle weight division and Marlen Esparaza bronzed in the fly weight.
Across all cycling events the US received three medals, a silver for women's mountain biking and two silvers in track cycling while great Britain showed their most impressive glory by claiming seven of ten golds on the cycling track .
The women's soccer team had a successful encounter against the Japanese team that had beaten them in the world cup a year ago to claim a gratifying gold.
The men's soccer showdown came down to a 2-1 win by Mexico against Brazil.
Shooting gained four medals for us maybe prompted by some encouragement from hurdler Lolo Jones who twittered "when da Gun shooting competition?" after the US failed to receive any medals in archery.
On the old gymnasium mat several of the events brought glory to American athletes as four medals were awarded in wrestling, two in Taekwondo and two in Judo.
South of the city near the college of Exeter was the venue for several of the outdoor aquatic events including rowing where the US claimed three medals. Sailing or canoeing provided nothing for the US. Nor did events in pentathlon, badminton, field hockey, handball, table tennis, trampoline, triathlon or weightlifting add any to the total US medal count of 104. So, undoubtedly an accomplished performance by the red, white and blue. In winning the most gold finishes with 46, a claim that went to China's team in 2008's is great but off the mark from the most ever won by the US.
In 1948 when the Olympics were last held in London, the US showed a domineering performance with 84 total and 34 gold almost doubling Sweden, the second place finisher. But the 1952 Olympics that followed in Helsinki Finland saw the emergence of that Russian team who brought a formidable challenger in each of the next several decades until 1992's 108 US medal performance in Barcelona. Without encountering Russian competition in the 1984 Los Angeles games, the United States displayed sheer domination by combining for a total of 174 and 83 golds. A similarly telling story of cold war rivalry was Russia's total of 195 and 55 golds in the 1980 Moscow games where the United States declined participation.
Without major international conflict among the world's major powers, the games have shown even greater solidarity among diplomatic ties and mutual respect among most athletes. It was seen this year where Vladimir Putin, a former black belt, was enjoying a Judo match alongside Prime Minister David Cameron. Barrack Obama was seen sparsely around the games as first lady, Michelle, was said to be leading the administration's Olympic presence by attending several basketball games and heads of state gatherings. It'll be a lasting memory for hundred's of thousands who were emotionally effected and reveled in spectacular glory this year. Good times to carry along until four years from now in Rio de Janeiro.