Summer Olympics 2012: Day 4 Update

Another solid day for the USA yesterday, as Mike recaps nicely below:

Day 4 Update:

Well we lost a medal in equestrian that we were projected to win.  We lost another boxer.  Some mixed results in Tennis again with Roddic going down to Djokovic which was expected.  Disappointing that we almost stole a medal in Judo again, but came in 4th.  China picked one up in Judo and Fencing.

Great win for the women’s gymnastics team bring home the gold and knocking China to 4th place.  We also won a gold in Men’s Skeet shooting so there is no question which county has the best Skeet shooters. 

Team sports did well.  Women’s Soccer and Men’s Volleyball got nice wins as did Men’s Basketball.  Water Polo and Field Hockey also won.

In Swimming there were 4 events, and we were predicted to get 4 medals and that’s what we got.  In the 200 Free Schmidt dominated and go the gold.  Missy Franklin ALMOST stole a medal finishing 4th by 100th of a second…  So close!  Impressive race for her.

Phelps got caught and beat in the 200m Butterfly(his best stroke)  Not a good sign but still a silver.  The good news is in that race China was predicted to medal and didn’t.  We dominated the relay but China got the bronze picking up an unexpected medal.

Finally in Beach volleyball an intense matchup with the top USA pair of Dalhausser and Rodgers against a Spanish team.  The Spaniards won the first set and got real upset at some calls in the 3rd and final set.  In fact they even received a yellow card(WTF? They give them out in other sports than soccer?)  One Note I am sending this out before the final beach volleyball match that will start around 11:30 PM local time in London.  I have tickets for the Giants –vs- Mets tonight and have to get some beers in me first.

So we end the day tied with China again, and this time China picking up an extra medal vs what was projected.  Right now we trail by a deficit of 4.  It would be nice to close that down to 0 prior to the Track and Field events this weekend, and then leave it up to our Track and Field team to dominate.  One thing is clear, it’s a two country race!

Day 5 Schedule:

Another Synchronized diving event where both the USA and China are favored to win medals.  In Fencing we are actually projected to pick up a medal in Women’s Saber.  Men’s All-around Gymnastics’ is an opportunity for us to pick up a medal.  3 rowing finals are tomorrow and we are favored in the Women’s pair.  But we have a boat in all 3 races.  Fun to watch so keep your eye on rowing tomorrow.  Also there are some Cycling events in which we are projected to get medals, but we have multiple competitors in the top 10.

Of the 4 swimming events tomorrow, we are only supposed to pick up 2 medals, but we have people going in every event.  Contrast that with China which is projected to pick up 3 medals tomorrow.  If we can hold our own tomorrow in the pool it will go a long way to being top of the medal chart come Thursday.

Bad news is some Table Tennis medals will be awarded tomorrow and China dominates.  The Gold Medal match is 2 Chinese players against each other. China is also favored in 2 weightlifting events.

2012 Olympics US Snapshot Day 4
Country	Overall	Gold	Silver	Bronze	+/-	Prediction
China	23	13	6	4	+3	94
USA	23	9	8	6	+5	88
Team Sports	W	L	T	Standings	Place to make it to Medal Round
M-Basketball	2	0		T1	Top 4
W-Basketball	2	0		T1	Top 4
M-Volleyball	2	0		T1	Top 4
W-Volleyball	2	0		T1	Top 4
M-Water Polo	1	0		T1	Top 4
W-Water Polo	2	0		T1	Qualified
W-Soccer	2	0		1	Qualified
W-Field Hockey	1	1		4	Top 2
Beach Volleyball	W	L	T	Standings	Place to make it to Medal Round
M- Dalhausser/Rodgers	2	0		T1	Top 2/3*
M-Gibbs-Rosenthal	1	1		T4	Top 2/3*
W-Trenor/Walsh	2	0		T1	Qualified
W-Kessy/Ross	1	0		T1	Top 2/3*
Tennis	Round
M- Isner	3rd
W-Vwilliams	3rd
W-Swilliams	3rd
M2-Bryan	3rd
W2-Huber/Raymond	3rd
W2-Williams	2nd
Mix- ???
Boxing
M-Fly Warren	R16	3-Aug
M-Bat Diaz	R16	1-Aug
M-Heavy Hunter	R16	1-Aug
M-Middle Gausha	R16	2-Aug
M-Light Ramirez	R16	2-Aug
M-Welter Spence	R16	3-Aug
M-SuperHeavy Breazeale	R16	1-Aug
W-Fly Esparaza	R8	6-Aug
W-Light Underwood	R16	5-Aug
W Middle Sheilds	R8	5-Aug

My Two Cents:

Well, our big guns continue to choke in the swimming events, as Phelps let a SOUTH AFRICAN beat him to the wall for gold in the 200M Butterfly.  I guess we made up for it in the 4x200M Freestyle relay, but winning by 3 seconds or .03 seconds still only gets you 1 gold medal. 

Men's basketball looked a little sluggish in the first half, only outscoring Tunisia by 13 before blowing them out in the second half to win by 47.  For those of you who took Tunisia -55, congrats on your win.  And just to follow up on my 2012 vs. 1992 comments, I think Tunisia would have beat pretty much every team the Dream Team played in 1992.  That's how bad the international competition was back then.  Still, 1992 > 2012, but not because they beat everyone by 50+. 

Women's gymnastics....ah, forget it.  They won gold.  That's all that matters.  And frankly, the faster gymnastics are over the better.  Such a snoozer. 

According to Mike, not much on tap today as far as high profile events go.  Some swimming events that we should medal in, as well as a few others.  For a full slate of events check out Wednesday's Olympic Guide. 

USA USA USA!!!