Maybe the finest performance of the Athletics competitions in London, as the United States women’s team (Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter) won the first American gold medal in this event since 1996, setting a new world record and leaving the Jamaican fearsome foursome more than half a second behind.
Athletics
Men’s pole vault – Renaud Lavillenie of France, a two time European champion and two time bronze medalist from the world’s took the gold medal with a new Olympic record of 5.97. Silver went to Bjorn Otto of Germany, with Bronze also going to Germany and young Raphael Holzdeppe (22), both with 5.91.
Women’s hammer throw – Tatyana Lysenko (former doper) of Russia took the gold medal with a new Olympic record, 78.18, defending her world title. Silver went to Anita Wlodarczyk with silver. Bronze, after quite a controversy, went to Betty Heidler of Germany, making a bit of justice.
Women’s 5000 meters – Meseret Defar of Ethiopia, the gold medalist from Athens and bronze medalist in Beijing returned the gold to her, coming ahead of Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya) by 0.88 seoncds. Another Ethiopian, Tirunesh Dibaba, the 10,000 winner and the 5000 champion from Beijing, took bronze.
Women’s 4×100 meters relay – The foursome from the United States – Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter set a new world record with a fantastic 40.82, coming ahead of Jamaica with 41.41, a new Jamaican record. Bronze went to Ukraine with 42.04, another national record in a very high quality final.
Women’s 1500 meters – A shocking result, as two Turksih runners took gold and silver, coming out of nowhere and immediatly sparking debates of performance enhancing drugs. Asli Cakir Alptekin, the European champion, won the race, followed by Gamze Bulut who took silver in the European games. Bronze went to Maryam Yusuf Jamal.
Men’s 4×400 meters relay – Gold went to the Bahamas, as Ramon Miller overtook Angelo Taylor of the United States over the final 100 meters, giving the United States a silver. Bronze went to Trinidad and Tobago.
Cycling
Men’s BMX – Maris Strombergs of Latvia took the gold medal for the second time in a row. Sam Willoughby of Australia took the silver. Carlos Oquendo of Colombia took the bronze.
Women’s BMX – Mariana Pajon of Colombia took the gold medal, followed by Sarah Walker of New Zealand with silver and Laura Smulders of the Netherlands with bronze.
Field Hockey
Women’s – The Netherlands took the gold medal, beating Argentina 2-0 in the final. Great Britain took bronze, beating New Zealand 2-1 in the medal match.
Sailing
Men’s 470 class – Australia took gold, Great Britain took silver and Argentina took bronze.
Women’s 470 class – New Zealand took gold, Great Britain took silver and the Netherlands took bronze.
Swimming
Men’s marathon – Oussama Mellouli took the gold medal in the 10 kilometers swim, his second Olympic gold after winning the 1500 meters race in Beijing. Thomas Lurz of Germany took the silver medal, improving on his bronze from Beijing, while Richard Weinberger of Canada took the bronze medal.
Synchronized Swimming
Women’s team – Russia took gold, China took silver, Spain took Bronze.
Taekwondo
Women’s 67 kilograms –
Men’s 80 kilograms –
Wrestling
Men’s freestyle 55 kilograms – Djamal Otarsultanov of Russia took the gold medal, beating Vladimer Khinchegashvili of Georgia who goes home with the silver. Yang Kyong-Il of North Korea took bronze, alongside Shinichi Yumoto of Japan.
Men’s freestyle 74 kilograms – Jordan Burroughs of the United States took the gold, beating Sadegh Goudarzi of Iran in the final, taking silver. Bronze went to Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan and Denis Tsargush of Russia.
Medal Table
The United States keep building a big gap from China after another good day on the track and elsewhere while China ran out of competitions to excell in. Great Britain remain third, ahead of Russia in fourth by 10 gold medals.
| Rank | NOC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States (USA) |
41 | 26 | 26 | 93 |
| 2 |  China (CHN) |
37 | 25 | 20 | 82 |
| 3 |  Great Britain (GBR)* |
25 | 15 | 17 | 57 |
| 4 |  Russia (RUS) |
15 | 21 | 25 | 61 |
| 5 |  South Korea (KOR) |
12 | 7 | 6 | 25 |
| 6 |  Germany (GER) |
10 | 17 | 11 | 38 |
| 7 |  France (FRA) |
8 | 9 | 12 | 29 |
| 8 |  Hungary (HUN) |
8 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
| 9 |  Australia (AUS) |
7 | 14 | 10 | 31 |
| 10 |  Italy (ITA) |
7 | 6 | 7 | 20 |
| 11 |  Netherlands (NED) |
6 | 5 | 8 | 19 |
| 12 |  Kazakhstan (KAZ) |
6 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 13 |  Japan (JPN) |
5 | 14 | 16 | 35 |
| 14 |  Iran (IRI) |
4 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| 15 |  New Zealand (NZL) |
4 | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| 16 |  North Korea (PRK) |
4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 17 |  Jamaica (JAM) |
3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 18 |  Belarus (BLR) |
3 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| 19 |  Cuba (CUB) |
3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 20 |  Ukraine (UKR) |
3 | 1 | 7 | 11 |
| 21 |  South Africa (RSA) |
3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 22 |  Ethiopia (ETH) |
3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 23 |  Spain (ESP) |
2 | 7 | 3 | 12 |
| 24 |  Romania (ROU) |
2 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 25 |  Denmark (DEN) |
2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| 26 |  Czech Republic (CZE) |
2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
 Kenya (KEN) |
2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | |
| 28 |  Brazil (BRA) |
2 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
| 29 |  Poland (POL) |
2 | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| 30 |  Croatia (CRO) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
 Turkey (TUR) |
2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 32 |  Switzerland (SUI) |
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 |  Canada (CAN) |
1 | 5 | 11 | 17 |
| 34 |  Colombia (COL) |
1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 35 |  Sweden (SWE) |
1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 36 |  Georgia (GEO) |
1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 37 |  Slovenia (SLO) |
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 38 |  Norway (NOR) |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
 Tunisia (TUN) |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 40 |  Dominican Republic (DOM) |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 41 |  Ireland (IRL) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 Latvia (LAT) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
 Lithuania (LTU) |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 44 |  Algeria (ALG) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Bahamas (BAH) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Grenada (GRN) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Venezuela (VEN) |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 48 |  Mexico (MEX) |
0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 49 |  Azerbaijan (AZE) |
0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 50 |  Egypt (EGY) |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 51 |  India (IND) |
0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
 Slovakia (SVK) |
0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| 53 |  Argentina (ARG) |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
 Armenia (ARM) |
0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
 Belgium (BEL) |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
 Mongolia (MGL) |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 57 |  Estonia (EST) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Bulgaria (BUL) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Indonesia (INA) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Malaysia (MAS) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Serbia (SRB) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Thailand (THA) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Chinese Taipei (TPE) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 64 |  Botswana (BOT) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Cyprus (CYP) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Finland (FIN) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Guatemala (GUA) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Portugal (POR) |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 69 |  Greece (GRE) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
 Moldova (MDA) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
 Qatar (QAT) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
 Singapore (SIN) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
 Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
 Uzbekistan (UZB) |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 75 |  Afghanistan (AFG) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Bahrain (BRN) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Hong Kong (HKG) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Saudi Arabia (KSA) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Kuwait (KUW) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Morocco (MAR) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Puerto Rico (PUR) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Tajikistan (TJK) |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total (81 NOCs) | 252 | 254 | 287 | 793 | |