Surprise twist: U.S. men’s gymnasts top qualifying
LONDON – The Americans insisted for months they can contend for the Olympic title in men’s gymnastics.
Another night like this, and they won’t need to say a word. The color of their medals will do the talking for them.
While perennial gymnastics powerhouses China and Japan bobbled and wobbled through qualifying Saturday, the Americans proved they’ve got the big skills to back up their big hopes. They didn’t count a single fall, and their final score of 275.342 was almost three points ahead of resurgent Russia.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make it finish like that,” American team captain Jonathan Horton said. “I was actually joking … earlier, ‘Can we just get the medals now?’ But we’ve got one more day to go, and we’re pumped about it.”
The team final is Monday. Since 1997, when scoring began starting anew in the final, only three first-day winners have failed to finish atop the podium at either the Olympics or world championships.
Surprising Britain, which has a full men’s team at the Olympics for the first time since 1992, hung onto third place after upstaging China in the first of the day’s three sessions. Germany is fourth.
Japan, the heavy favorite coming in, is fifth after several uncharacteristic errors by three-time world champion Kohei Uchimura. Defending Olympic champion China, which has won the last five world titles, is sixth after a splat-filled day. Ukraine and France rounded out the top eight.
Unlike qualifying, when teams get to drop their lowest score, there will be no margin of error in Monday’s final. Teams compete three gymnasts on each event, and all three scores count. Botch one routine, and it could be the difference between going home with a gold medal or a souvenir T-shirt.
But the Americans believe they are actually better built for that high-risk, high-reward formula, and this performance will only fuel their confidence that they can join Bart Conner and his Golden Gang of 1984 as the only U.S. men’s teams to win the Olympic title.
Danell Leyva posted the highest individual score and John Orozco was fourth, and the team posted the highest totals on floor exercise and high bar. The Americans had only three falls the entire day, and counted only four scores below 15. Every American – Leyva, Orozco, Horton, Jake Dalton and Sam Mikulak – made at least one individual final.
SWIMMING
Yes, the men’s 400-meter individual medley was the highlight, with Michael Phelps’ stunning setback and fellow American Ryan Lochte’s big victory. But there was plenty more going on in the pool.
China had a big night, claiming a couple of gold medals.
Sixteen-year-old Ye Shiwen set a world record in the women’s 400 individual medley – only the third mark to fall since high-tech bodysuits were banned at the end of 2009. She won in 4 minutes, 28.43 seconds, breaking the mark of 4:29.45 by Australia’s Stephanie Rice at the 2008 Beijing Games. American Elizabeth Beisel took silver, and China’s Li Xuanxu grabbed the bronze.
Former UNLV swimmer Zsuzsanna Jakabos of Hungary finished one spot away from reaching the eight-woman final. Jakabos, the Mountain West Conference Swimmer of the Year in 2009, placed third in her heat in 4:37.37 and was ninth in overall qualifying time.
Sun Yang flirted with a world record in the men’s 400 freestyle. He took gold in 3:40.14, just off the mark of 3:40.07 by Germany’s Paul Biedermann in a rubberized suit three years ago. South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan won silver in 3:42.06, and Peter Vanderkaay of the U.S. won the bronze.
Australia captured gold in the women’s 400 freestyle relay with an Olympic record of 3:33.15, rallying to pass the Americans and hold off the fast-charging Netherlands.
The Americans slipped to the bronze in 3:34.24, but that was still good enough to give Natalie Coughlin the 12th medal of her career, tying Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson as the most decorated U.S. female Olympians in any sport.
Coughlin swam in the morning prelims, then was reduced to the role of cheerleader in the evening as the Americans went with Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal and Allison Schmitt. Everyone who swims on a relay gets a medal, though.
SOCCER
The U.S. women clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and remembered an injured teammate in a 3-0 victory over Colombia.
Megan Rapinoe scored in the 33rd minute for the Americans. After her goal, she reached into her sock and pulled out a birthday message for Ali Krieger, who blew out her knee in a qualifying match in January.
Abby Wambach made it 2-0 in the 74th, and Carli Lloyd scored in the 77th.
Britain wrapped up a spot in the women’s quarters with a 3-0 victory against Cameroon.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
The Olympics’ sexiest sport opened with a raucous debut, mixing in a little local flair with all of the more traditional trifles that have made the event one of the most sought-after tickets in London (though Sir Paul McCartney managed to get one for the afternoon session).
A dance team in bathing suits jiggled for the sold-out crowd during timeouts, while rock music nearly drowned out the pealing of Big Ben.
Located just inside the gate used exclusively by the queen to ride up to Buckingham Palace, the beach volleyball venue offers views of the London Eye, the Big Ben clock tower and 10 Downing Street.
Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor, seeking a third consecutive gold medal, beat Australians Tasmin Hinchley and five-time Olympian Natalie Cook in the last match of the day, 21-18, 21-19. The No. 2 U.S. men’s team of Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb needed only 33 minutes to put away South Africans Freedom Chiya and Grant Goldschmidt, 21-10, 21-11.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Maybe it was first-game nerves or a hangover from the opening ceremony, but the U.S. had to overcome a sloppy performance to post an 81-56 win over Croatia in its first game.
The Americans, who got back to their hotel at 3 a.m. after the kickoff party, struggled for the first three quarters before winning their 34th consecutive Olympic game.
BOXING
Americans Joseph Diaz Jr. and Terrell Gausha posted impressive victories on the first day of competition.
Diaz looked sharp in a 19-9 victory over Ukraine bantamweight Pavlo Ishchenko in the opening bout, and Gausha knocked down Armenian middleweight Andranik Hakobyan twice in the final seven seconds, winning by stoppage with no time on the clock.
CYCLING
Britain got off to a shaky start when favored cycling star Mark Cavendish finished 28th in the road race.
Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokourov, who plans to retire from cycling after the games, won gold. Rigoberto Uran of Colombia took silver, and Alexander Kristoff of Norway won a mass sprint for the bronze.
TENNIS
Wimbledon champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams won their first matches – one struggled, one didn’t.
Federer, a four-time Olympian, overcame a jittery patch and beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. The top-ranked Swiss star was a point from victory in the second set, then lost three of his next four service games. But he recovered in time to avoid the upset.
U.S. first lady Michelle Obama watched from the front row of Williams’ box as the fourth-seeded American beat former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-1 on Centre Court.
VOLLEYBALL
The American women held off South Korea 3-1 in an opening match at Earls Court. The U.S, which took the silver in Beijing and is ranked No. 1 in the world, won 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21.
ARCHERY
Italy won the gold in the men’s team event, beating the U.S. by one point on the final shot. It was America’s first medal of the London Games.
TV RATINGS
Friday’s opening ceremony was seen in the U.S. by 40.7 million people, making it the most-watched opening ceremony for a summer or winter Olympics.
The Nielsen company said the average viewership topped the record of 39.8 million people who watched the opening of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The London festivities bucked a tradition that American viewers are generally more interested in these ceremonies when they are on U.S. soil.
The 2008 ceremony in Beijing reached slightly fewer than 36 million people.
