The Friday Five: Olympics Edition
Here are the top five moments from week 1 of the 2012 Summer Olympic games.
Number 5: U.S Men's Basketball Breaks Olympic Records
The U.S Men's Basketball team beat Algeria on Thursday night with a final score of 156-73. They broke the record for the most points scored with 156, and total three pointers made with 29. They also broke the record for biggest margin of victory with 83. Carmelo Anthony set the U.S record for points scored in an Olympic game with 37.
Number 4: U.S Women's Gymnastics Wins Gold
For the first time since 1996 the U.S Women's Gymnastics team won the gold medal. This came after a spectacular first rotation of vaulting which gave the U.S the lead, a lead which they never relinquished. Russia's two major mistakes in the floor exercise, sealed the U.S.' victory. Russia won the silver and Romania won the bronze.
Number 3: Olympic Controversies
The first week of the Olympics have been filled with controversy. First it was Hope Solo's harshly worded tweets towards Olympics commentator Brandi Chastain, then there were allegations of the use of performance enhancing drugs toward Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen. But none were more controversial than the revelation that 4 badminton teams, two from South Korea, one from China, and one from Indonesia, had been purposely throwing games. All 4 teams, 8 athletes total, were disqualified.
Number 2: Gabby Wins Gold
U.S. gymnast, Gabby Douglas, won the gold medal in the Women's All-Around Final. She finished with a score of 62.232, about three-tenths of a score higher than Silver medalist Viktoria Komova of Russia.
Number 1: Michael Phelps Becomes Most Decorated Olympian
Michael Phelps won his 19th Olympic medal on Wednesday, surpassing Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for most decorated Olympian. His 19th medal was gold, which was won after the U.S relay team won the 4x200 meter free-style relayon Wednesday. He won his 18th medal earlier in the night, a silver, after coming in second in the 200-meter butterfly. His second to last race is the 100 meter Fly today at 2:35 pm EST. The last race of his career will be the 4x100 medley relay on Saturday.
-Sarah Davis
