Olympic action: July 30
Americans cruise on tennis courts
It’s been a good day for the USA on the tennis courts of Wimbledon. Americans Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, John Isner and Varvara Lepchenko all won singles matches this morning to advance into the next round of play. The wins are especially nice to see for Roddick, who’s career seems to be in its twilight, and Venus, who has been greatly weakened by an autoimmune disease and is just now starting to return to the tennis circuit. Roddick has a tough draw for his second round match, as he will be facing No. 2 ranked Novak Djokovic on Tuesday.
David Boudia and Nick McCrory won bronze with their synchronized diving performance Monday. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
U.S. divers end Olympic medal drought
For the first time since 1996, an American male diver will come home with a medal. Make that two American male divers. David Boudia and Nick McCrory won bronze with their performance Monday in synchronized 10-meter diving with a score of 463.47 to oust the fourth-place British diving duo of Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield. Boudia and McCrory closed with a bang, completing a back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists to secure the bronze finish. The medal was the second for the U.S. diving team in as many days, as female duo Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston won silver in 3-meter synchro Sunday. That medal was the first for American female divers since the 2000 Sydney Games.
John Orozco and Team USA failed to execute well and finished fifth in team gymnastics. (Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports)
China secures yet another gold medal, Americans kept off podium in men’s gymnastics
After finishing in first place in the qualification round of team gymnastics, the American men looked like a favorite for gold in the final Monday. It was not meant to be for Team USA, however, as an afternoon of slip-ups and imperfections kept the Americans off the podium while China seized its ninth gold medal of the Olympics. China finished sixth overall in the qualification round but executed well Monday to finish first with a score of 275.997. The real competition came to second, third and fourth place. Originally, Great Britain was announced as the silver medal winners with the Ukraine in third, but Japan challenged the scores and ended up with a silver medal with their score of 271.952, 0.241 points ahead of bronze medal winners Great Britain and 0.426 ahead of the Ukraine. Team USA finished a distant fifth with a 269.952. It was an especially rough day for 19-year-old American John Orozco, who had a terrible showing on pommel and botched his vault landing.
Missy Franklin shows off her gold medal from the 100m backstroke. (Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports)
U.S. cashes in again in the pool
The Americans won four medals Monday in three different swimming events. Teenager Missy Franklin took home gold in the 100m backstroke, Rebecca Soni won silver in the 100m breaststroke and Matthew Grevers and Nick Thoman won gold and silver respectively in the 100m backstroke. Grevers set an Olympic record with his 52.16 finish. The disappointment of the day for the Americans came from Ryan Lochte, who finished fourth in the 200m freestyle final while Yannick Agnel, the same swimmer who upstaged Lochte in the final leg of the 4×100 freestyle relay to push the U.S. down to silver, won gold. Michael Phelps did not swim in any finals Monday, but he did place first in his semifinal heat for the 200m butterfly, meaning he will swim in the finals of that event on Tuesday. Phelps has not lost any 200m butterfly event since 2001.
