The US swim team totally owned the 2012 Olympics

I really like Ryan Lochte. He such an easy-going guy, but he worked his butt off to win 5 medals at these Olympics. Though he didn't win as many golds as was expected, he did get one in the 400m IM, beating Phelps soundly, so he can add that to his list of accomplishments. Plus, he wore grills on his teeth during that gold medal ceremony--so silly, but hilarious!

Missy Franklin won gold in the 200m backstroke, smashing the world record by nearly a whole second. Then she went on to win her 5th medal with an all-star relay team for the 4x100m medley. Every leg of our team had the gold from their individual events, so it was no surprise that they easily won gold again together. Missy is only 17 years old, so we'll mostly likely see her, along with some of her teammates, at Rio in 4 years, and maybe even the Olympics after that, as well. I definitely look forward to watching them swim more in the future.

Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, has set the bar at 22 medals, 18 of those gold. There's no doubt that this record is going to last quite some time. Our whole swim team was just so damn good this year! The US medaled in 26 out of 32 swimming events, and in 4 of those we had 2 medalists! IN-freaking-CREDIBLE! A-freaking-MAZING!
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British athlete Jessica Ennis won gold in the heptathlon, one of my favorite events of the games. The heptathlon and decathlon are so fun to watch because it's amazing that these athletes can do all of those events so well. Strength, stamina, speed, and flexibility are all required at the highest level, making them the best overall athletes in the world. To me, that is seven times (for the heptathlon) or ten times (for the decathlon) more impressive than being the best in just one event.

Funniest thing I've seen in a while:

The discus officials use a remote-control car to return the discs from the field back to the ring. When I saw that I could NOT stop laughing. Ha! :P  (Perkovic of Croatia won gold with a distance of 226 ft.) Randomly, here's a video of the top 5 screams from women's discus.

Oscar Pistorius of South Africa ran in the 400m, making it to the semifinal race, but not the finals. That doesn't sound all that special... until you find out that he's a double amputee. Both of his legs were amputated below the knee, so to compete, he wears artificial limbs made especially for sprinting. It's the first time an amputee has ever qualified for the Summer Olympics, to compete against able-bodies athletes (that's not counting the Paralympics). It's a huge accomplishment and inspiration. Love it!

World's Greatest Athlete

American Bryan Clay won the decathlon! Woo! He finished last in the the 1500m, the last of the 10 events, but he was so far ahead by that point that it really didn't matter. Man, I love that decathlon. It's so amazing that those guys can do all of those events, no matter whether they medal or not. It's probably my favorite event of the Summer Olympics. I definitely think "World's Greatest Athlete" is a much cooler title than "World's Fastest Man/Woman" or "World's Strongest Man/Woman". I especially love watching the field events that the athletes do, and it has so much history. You gotta be great at not one thing, but 10! Awesomes.

One thing that I've never understood is why there's not a women's decathlon. There's a heptathlon, but that's 3 less events. American Hyleas Fountain got bronze in that, which is awesome. I just wish they would add pole vault, a longer distance run, and most of all DISCUS! They don't get to throw discus. How dumb is that?

Anyway, we've done really well this year in the team events. Our men's water polo team will play for gold, the women's team got silver. Men's and women's indoor volleyball will both play for gold. We already swept beach volleyball in both. The men's and women's basketball teams will play for gold, too, and are both expected to win. Women's soccer got gold. Baseball should end up with bronze. And softball got silver (which was a bad shocker, as I already explained). Overall, our teams are ruling majorly.

Mary Carillo did a story on kung fu monks, which was really awesome. On that note, the Lopez family dominated in tae kwon do. Mark won silver, Diana won bronze, then Steven (a 2 time gold medalist and 4 time world champion) got silver after a controversial penalty deducting a point from Steven, leading into overtime. They're the first tae kwon do family, and they're even all coached by their oldest brother Jean. That's pretty cool.

I haven't been able to watch any Judo at all, but according to this article, a variety of countries are medaling this year (the sport is usually dominated by Japan), including a first medal ever for Tajikistan. Ronda Rousey won the bronze for the US, too. I love martial arts!