Thursday, September 27, 2012


2012 London Olympic Games For the U.S.A. Recap                                                                      Mark Karenbauer


                The 2012 Olympics took place in London, England, from July 27, to August 12th, 2012. The United States of America sent a total of 539 athletes to London and then they competed in 25 different sports, (The only sport we did not compete in was handball.) Of the 539 athletes that went to London, 208 won at least one medal. In other words, 39% of all American athletes won a medal, which is a pretty good average.  The oldest athlete was 54 year old equestrian Karen O’Connor and the youngest athlete was 15 year old swimmer Katie Ledecky. For the first time in America’s history, we sent more female athletes than male athletes to the Olympics. We won medals in 18 sports in which 15 of those sports won a gold medal. However, we did not win gold medals in fencing, archery, and taekwondo.   


The main goal for the Americans coming into the 2012 London Olympic Games was to be first in the overall medal count to continue our dominance. For example, we came in first in Beijing in 2008 with 110 medals. We were neck and neck, going back and forth every day, with China. Until a couple days before the closing ceremonies we broke it open and we ended the 2012 Olympics with 104 medals. China had 84 medals while the U.S. ended up with 46 gold medals, 29 silver medals, and 29 bronze medals. 

Here is sport by sport the medal count:

·         In swimming we won 31 medals.

·         In track and field we won 29 medals.

·         In gymnastics we won 6 medals.

·         In shooting, tennis, cycling, diving, and wrestling, we won 4 medals.

·         In volleyball and rowing we won 3 medals.

·         In basketball, boxing, judo, and taekwondo, we won 2 medals.

·         In archery, soccer, water polo, and fencing, we won 1 medal.

Here is the day by day medal count:

·         Our biggest days were August 4th and August 8th, with 11 medals.

·         We won 9 medals on August 9th.

·         On August 2nd and August 11th we won 8 medals.

·         On August 7th we won 7 medals.

·         On July 29th , July 30th , July 31st , August 1st , August 3rd , and August 5th , we won 6 medals.

·         On July 28th , we won 5 medals. On August 10th , we won 4 medals.

·          On August 3rd , we won 3 medals.

·         Our worst day was August 12th when we only won 2 medals.

Now for those of you interested here is the gender medal count: The women won 58.5 medals. The men won 48.5 medals.

 

As usual the U.S.A. had multiple medalists:

·         Michael Phelps won the most medals for America with 6.

·         Missy Franklin, Allison Schmitt, and Ryan Lochte won 5 medals.

·         Allyson Felix, Dana Vollmer, Nathan Adrian, Matt Grevers, Rebecca Soni, Aly Raismon, Cullen Jones, and Camelita Jeter all won 3 medals.

·         Gabrielle Douglas, Sanya Richard-Ross, Serena Williams, Ricky Berens, Brandon Hansen, McKayla Maroney, Nick Thoman, David Boudia, Mike Bryan, Jessica Hardy, DeeDee Trotter, Sarah Hammer, Elizabeth Beisel, Will Claye, and Justin Gatlin all won 2 medals. There were 27 multiple medalists.

By all accounts, the 2012 Olympic Games were a huge success for the United States of America.

I asked Mary Kate and Ellie three questions about the 2012 London Olympic Games.

My first question was, “Did you watch the 2012 London Olympic Games?” May Kate replied, “Yeah.” Ellie replied “Heck to the yeah!”

My second question was “Who was your favorite athlete in the Olympics and why?” Mary Kate replied, “Ryan Lochte, because he is a hottie, but not as hot you, Mark!” Ellie replied, “Michael Phelps, because he’s so talented and skilled.” Mr. Ellis also piped in on this question and said, “Gabby Douglas, because I liked her personality and her inspiration to us all and she was a positive influence on degenerate people like you, Mark Karenbauer!”

My last question was, “how do you feel the United States did in the Olympics?” Mary Kate said, “I don’t know, we didn’t do very good, did we?” I then said, “Mary Kate, we lead in the medal count, retard!” She replied, “Ohhhhhh, then we did great!” Obviously she didn’t watch the Olympics! Ellie said, “We did so well, look at all the medals we won! … Mark, I am afraid to answer your questions!”

 

 

Sources: Mary Kathryn Phillips, Grace Elizabeth Turner, Mark "Elmo" Ellis

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