Ryan Lochte won the first gold of what should be many more in the London Olympic games, but China came away as the golden nation of the first day with gold medals in swimming, weightlifting and shooting. Italy dominated women’s fencing as always while also picking up a surprising gold medal in archery.
Archery, Men’s Team
Italy won gold after finishing sixth in the ranking round, beating the United States 219-218 in a dramatic final, with Michele Frangilli, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli taking the gold medal. The United States settled for silver while South Korea beat Mexico for the bronze.
Cycling, Men’s Road Race
The 250 kilometers race ended in huge disappointment for the home favorite, Mark Cavendish, finishing at a very disappointing 29th. Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan won the gold medal, his second Olympic medal after winning Silver in 2000. Rigoberto Uran of Colombia finished at second to gain Silver while Alexander Kristoff of Norway finished third for Bronze.
Fencing – Women’s Foil
Italy won all three medals, with Elisa Di Francisca winning her first Olympic medal with the gold, beating Arianna Errigo 12-11 in the final. Errigo also won her first Olympic medal with the Silver. Valentina Vezzali won bronze after three consecutive gold medals in the individual contest and her 8th Olympic medal overall.
Judo – Men’s 60 KG and Women’s 48 KG
Arsen Galstyan of Russia won the men’s 60 kilograms final to win his first Olympic gold medal by beating and surprising Hiroaki Hiraoka of Japan. Felipe Kitadai of Brazil and Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan shared the Bronze medal. In the Women’s 48 kilograms it was Brazilian Sarah Menezes coming up with the gold medal, beating Alina Dumitru of Romania in the final. Éva Csernoviczki of Hungary and Charline Van Snick got Bronze.
Shooting
Men’s 10 meter air pistol – Jin Jong-oh of South Korea with gold, Luca Tesconi of Italy with silver, Andrija Zlatic of Serbia with Bronze. Women’s 10 meter air rifle – Yi Siling of China with gold, Sylwia Bogacka of Poland with Silver, Yu Dan of China with Bronze.
Swimming
Ryan Lochte began his quest for multiple gold with an impressive win in the 400 meters individual medley, winning gold rather easily, leaving behind Thiago Pereira (silver) of Brazil and Kosuke Hagino (bronze) of Japan, while Michael Phelps finished at fourth. Sun Yang of China set a new Olympic record (3:40.19), winning the 400 meters freestyle and his first Olympic medal. Park Tae-Hwan finished with silver, Peter Vanderkaay of the United States with Bronze.
16 Year Old Ye Shiwen won the gold medal in the women’s 400 meters IM, beating Elizabeth Beisel of the United States (silver) and country mate Li Xuanxu with Bronze. In the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, Australia came away with gold (Alicia Coutts, Cate Campbell, Brittany Elmslie, Melanie Schlanger); Netherlands finished with Silver, the United States with Bronze.
Weightlifting – Women’s 48 KG
Wang Mingjuan of China won the gold, Hiromi Miyake of Japan with silver, Ryan Chun-Hwa of North Korea with bronze.
Medal Table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  China (CHN) |
4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 2 |  Italy (ITA) |
2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 |  United States (USA) |
1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 |  Brazil (BRA) |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
 South Korea (KOR) |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 6 |  Australia (AUS) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Kazakhstan (KAZ) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Russia (RUS) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 |  Japan (JPN) |
0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 |  Colombia (COL) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Netherlands (NED) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Poland (POL) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Romania (ROU) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 14 |  Belgium (BEL) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Hungary (HUN) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Norway (NOR) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 North Korea (PRK) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Serbia (SRB) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Uzbekistan (UZB) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 12 | 12 | 14 | 38 | |