Did you expect anything less from Michael Phelps? The most decorated Olympian ever added one more gold, his 18th out of 22 career medals, in the 4X100 Medley relay on Saturday night.
Speaking of golden performances in swimming relays, the U.S. Women set a world record in winning gold. Take a bow: Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni , Dana Vollmer and Allison Schmitt. In other Olympics news:
- Serena Williams added to her hardware haul, winning gold in tennis by blasting Maria Sharapova and becoming the only woman besides Steffi Graff to have won a Gold Medal and all the major tennis events.
- The Bryan Brothers also completed the “Golden Slam” by beating France.
- The Dream Team came back to earth, barely beating Lithuania in pool play thanks to Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony.
- Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce repeated as the women’s 100 meters champ, just edging out American Carmelita Jeter.
- In the day’s feel-good story, Oscar Pistorius became the first amputee to compete in track at the Olympics, finishing second in his 400-meter heat to reach Sunday’s semifinals.
AUG. 3: The U.S. swimming team continues to make BIG news in the pool. How big? Consider these efforts on Friday:
- Michael Phelps extended his already amazing record medals haul by winning his 17th career gold medal (now 21 medals in all), and third of these games, by winning the 100-meter butterfly in what he has said will be his final competition. But he does still have one relay left, which Team USA is expected to win.
- Meanwhile Missy Franklin, the young American superstar from Denver, won gold and set a world record in the 200-meter backstroke to position herself as the next big thing in swimming. She also has a relay left.
In other news: The U.S. Women’s Soccer team beat New Zealand 2-0 to reach the semifinals. Men’s Beach Volleyball, was not so lucky. The defending champs lost to Italy in the round of 16. The finals are set in tennis: Serena Williams will play Maria Sharapova while Roger Federer will face Britain’s Andy Murray. Federer reached the final after an epic, 19-17 third set win over Juan Martin Del Potro. Murray reached the final with a straight-sets win over Novak Djokovich.
For ALL results from the Olympics, visit here.
AUG. 2: It was a good day to root for Americans at the London Summer Olympics, but perhaps not as great a day for much-hyped swimmer Ryan Lochte. Here’s a sampling of U.S. heroics:
AUG. 1: It has been a BIG two days for American Allison Schmitt, who struck gold twice. Schmitt started late Tuesday with an Olympic Record and win in the 200-meter freestyle, then capped Wednesday by winning the 4X200 freestyle relay with Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer and Shannon Vreeland.
The Franklin juggernaut took a temporary break earlier when the talented 17-year-old only managed fourth place in the 200-meter freestyle. That being said, it isn’t Missy’s best event and Schmitt earned gold. See what happened.
Now the British REALLY have something to cheer about. Bradley Wiggins overpowered the field in the Olympics time trial to claim gold, while fellow Brit Chris Froome earned the bronze. See how they did it. Sadly, American Taylor Phinney collected his second fourth-place finish of the Olympics.
Meanwhile, American cycling fans got to cheer for women’s time trial winner Kristen Armstrong, who topped the field.
Cheating in Olympics badminton? It’s true. And the cheaters have been expelled, 8 players in all, including a Chinese team, two South Korean teams and an Indonesian pair. Read what happened in the National Post.
JULY 31: It’s official: Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian ever. The swimming legend won a gold in the 4X200 freesyle relay and just missed silver in the 200-meter butterfly to record his 19th medal (15 gold) to surpass the previous record of 18. And he still has three events left. Read more.
Also on Tuesday, the Dream Team crushed Tunisia after a slow start and the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team surged to gold in the Team Competition. Read more.
JULY 30: It was a pool party for the U.S.A. at the Summer Olympics on Monday as swimmers Missy Franklin and Matt Grevers struck gold.
Rising superstar Franklin won gold in her first individual event, the 100-meter backstroke, just minutes after a 200-meter freestyle semi-final. Then Grevers followed that up with an Olympic record in the men’s 100-meter backstroke. Learn more and see what American came in second. The news wasn’t as good for Ryan Lochte, as the American star failed to medal in the 200 freestyle.
Au revoir, France. It took the latest Dream Team a while to find its rhythm, but when they did, Lebron James and company easily put away Tony Parker and France 98-71 in the Olympics opener for both teams. Next up for the U.S.? Woeful Tunisia. More. In other events on Sunday.
- American swimmer Dana Vollmer didn’t just win the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly, she set a world record, too.
- A day after failing to reach the podium, Michael Phelps helped put the U.S. in position to win the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, but the French pulled off an amazing comeback for gold. Here’s what happened.
- One day after the British men failed to bring home a gold medal in the road race, a woman cyclist from Great Britain, Elizabeth Armitstead, managed to bring home silver in the driving rain.
- U.S. Soccer officials said goalie Hope Solo would not be disciplined for recent tweets critical of color commentator Brandi Chastain. Learn more and see why Julie Foudy finds the whole thing sad.
July 28: So much for perfection. U.S. superstar Michael Phelps not only didn’t top the podium in his first event at the London Olympics, he didn’t even make it on the podium. You read that right: U.S. rival Ryan Lochte won the 400-meter IM on Saturday,with Phelps a distant fourth. See what happened. In other events on Saturday:
- The U.S. Archery team stunned favored South Korea in the semifinals and then came within a point of gold in the finals, losing to the Italians but winning silver, America’s first medal in the Games. More.
- The American Women’s Soccer team cruised to a 3-0 win over Colombia, but the big news was the Twitter trash talk goalie Hope Solo directed at NBC color commentator Brandi Chastain. Find out why Solo was criticizing the former World Cup-winning defender. More.
- The U.S. Women’s basketball team struggled, but pulled away from Croatia while the Women’s Volleyball team also opened with a win over South Korea.
- The men’s road race produced a surprise winner when Alexander Vinokourov joined a big breakaway, then out-dueled Colombian Rigoberto Uran in the final 200 meters for the win. More.
JULY 25: The U.S. Women’s Soccer team had a slow start to its Summer Olympics, falling behind France 2-0, but then Abby Wambaugh scored, followed by a pair from Alex Morgan, as the team rallied to win 4-2. More.
Did you know you can watch every Summer Olympics event live? Here are the TV listings as well as the streaming schedule for watching online. Here’s a complete schedule.
Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter for updates on the Tour and more adventures.
Swany Gloves Outdoor Adventures 