Posted on 08/12/2012 6:23:58 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The 2012 London Olympic Games have officially come to a close and, once again, the U.S. sits atop the medal count.
In Beijing they did the same thing, but the host nation China made it interesting. America topped the Chinese by 10 in the overall medal count, but China earned 15 more gold medals than America—China had 51 and the U.S. had 36.
However, in London, the U.S. reemerged as the dominant athletic country.
The United States earned 104 medals, 15 more than any other country—China was second with 87. Plus, the Americans took back their lead in golds, winning 46 of those, eight more than the second ranked Chinese.
Team USA did this by winning medals in a mix of its traditional strengths and by winning surprising medals in lesser-known events.
The U.S. got its medal total kick started with a predictably strong performance in the pool.
Swimmers like Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin all earned multiple medals. Plus, fresh faces emerged from the water such as 100-meter freestyle winner Nathan Adrian and 15-year-old Katie Ledecky, who earned gold in the 800-meter free.
America also continued its superiority on the track.
Allyson Felix won three gold medals, Sanya Richards-Ross finally captured her gold in the 400-meters and Ashton Eaton won the decathlon.
In total the Americans won 29 medals on the track, only one short of their lofty pre-London goal of 30. But as Scott Blackmon of the U.S. Olympic Committee told the AP, nobody’s going home disappointed.
America also took home gold in men’s and women’s basketball, took gold and silver in women’s beach volleyball and the U.S. women's soccer team grabbed the nation’s attention with its thrilling gold medal run.
However, it wasn't just about the big sports, plenty of Americans were successful in the smaller sports.
David Boudia upset the favored Chinese divers to take gold in the men's 10-meter platform. Kayla Harrison took home America's first ever gold in Judo. Jake Varner and Jordan Burroughs both took home the gold in wrestling for the U.S. over the last few days of competition.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of athletes contributed to America's outstanding medal haul, whether they competed as a team or individually.
One thing is for sure, though. There is no question about America's standing as the foremost country at the Olympics.
China put that status into question in 2008, but this time around, the U.S. showed that it was up to the challenge.
Now, it's on to Rio. And once again, the U.S. will do its best to hold off a number of hard-charging nations that could outshine America's medal glory.
Only four more years, till we get to see.
Per capita, Australia is the greatest sporting nation in the Summer Olympics.
Leftists on either side of the Atlantic can be pretty despicable.
Ideologically, I have issues with more than a few of them even if I like their music (and I try to a degree to wall it off) but Roger Waters tops them all for me as a detestable leftist, anti-American, Marxist POS.
I used to love Pink Floyd, and went to see Roger Waters in concert back in 2004.
I have never been so angry as I was that night. I have seen a lot of lefties in music, but nobody even as close to him. He forced his leftist, marxist crap on a paying audience who came to hear him play music. Now, I cannot even listen to any music he had a hand in, including Pink Floyd.
That SOB. That alone is enough for me to condemn him forever.
Hahahahahah
“...but China earned 15 more gold medals than America—China had 51 and the U.S. had 36.”
BULL!
AMERICA - 46 GOLD
China - 38 Gold
China will be the new USSR in the summer Olympics. The Soviets won the most medals in 1956, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1988 (East Germans were second), and 1992 (United Team). There really was no competition. The Soviets kicked our asses. We boycotted the Moscow games in 1980 and they boycotted LA in 1984.
In 2008 China did have more gold medals, 51-36. We had more medals 110-100.
Thanks Kabar. I should have noticed the “Beijing”. :^)
When they start winning some team sports and some meaningful events in Track and Field, other than the 20 km Walk, get back to me.
No wonder they used to always win.
Obligatory: USA!!!! USA!!!! USA!!!! We’re #1!!!!! GREATNESS HAS BEEN FOUND!
God bless America and all our athletes who strove so hard and did so well. Especially that Jewish gal who stuck her finger in the eye of the IOC. Kudos to you, young lady and your team mates!
And congrats to all medal winners, you’ve made your home countries and families proud!
GB did amazingly well, to come in 3rd, ahead of Russia and behind on the US and China, think of how much smaller their population is. Very good. Also, France, I’m impressed by their number of medals. Evenly distributed between G/S/B too. Vive le Egalite!
Except for mixed doubles in Tennis and Badminton, team sports count as one medal.
Equestrian - do men and women compete together?
There are a few more events open to men — more weight classes in boxing, weight lifting and wrestling, but also shooting, canoe/rowing, and sailing.
Synchronized swimming is the only event in the opposite case.
US men - 17 gold 15 silver 14 bronze = 46 total
US women - 29 gold 14 silver 15 bronze = 58 total
Title IX probably puts men at a disadvantage in the minor sports.
Actually, I believe scotsman is correct. I started noticing a trend here in america about 10-12 years ago. The young males became overly obsessed with pumping iron and bulking up. Cops and military personel tend to be a bit on the heavy side and seem to prefer to cultivate muscles that are good for nothing but a 10 second burst of power followed by a 10 minute rest.
Those kinds of muscles may work out great for a cop who spends his days sitting in a squad car and MAYBE needs to pull a bad guy to the ground once a month and put cuffs on him. But it is entirely the wrong kind of build for a military man who is on foot carrying a rifle.
Look at the physiques of the guys competing in the decathlon. Those are muscles built to perform a variety of tasks. It is a much different muscle type than your average iron pumping gym rat. Now look at the physiques of the guys doing triathlons. In my experience, the most physically capable people there are, are midway between a decathlete and a triathlete, but with a stronger back. Athletes tend to have weak backs compared to the average working guy doing a physically demanding job.
Our British cousins did very well, I see. Congrats!
No steroids, just super fit, low body fat.
A more accurate picture of the dominance is shown by using the typical dual track meet scoring of 5-3-1; gold is 5, silver is 3, bronze is 1.
U.S., 346; China, 293; Britain, 215...
According to Obama’s way of thinking, the USA didn’t win any of those medals. It was BIG GOV that won ‘em. Phelps, May-Treanor, Franklin, etc. had no part in winng them.
China gets its medals from a broad range of sports. I have no doubt that they will increase their efforts in swimming and track and field to cut into the US strengths. The Chinese have the money and the motivation to win more medals than the US to claim their superiority and ascendancy. It is all about propaganda. The Soviets and East Germans were similarly motivated, which is why they kicked our asses in most Olympics during the period 1956-1992. And no doubt, drugs had a lot to do with it.
And what most people seem to be unaware of, the Germans won the 1936 Olympics.
Unless China does a lot better in Track & Field and some other areas it will be tough for them to reach the medal counts generated by the former USSR -- even after the addition of new medal sports.
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