2012 Olympic medal count shows USA dominates London, women on top
By Raaj Datta
The London 2012 Olympics is over and the USA is the clear winner with 104 medal count – 46 of them gold.
China won 87 medals, 38 of them gold, down from the 100 total they achieved in 2008.
Britain took the third place with 65 medals, 29 of them gold. Russia, overall won 82 medals, with 24 of them gold.
The best gold haul performance for the Unites States was at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, which was boycotted by the Soviet Union. The U.S. won 174 medals, with 83 of them gold. The best total medal tally, however, came in the 1904 Olympics with 239 medals, with 78 of them gold.
Michael Phelps dominated the entire Olympics, with people hailing him as the greatest of all times. Phelps won a total of 22 medals in his career, of which 18 of the medals are gold.
The 2012 London Olympics is one of the best for the United States, because this time there were a lot of awesome to seemingly impossible performances from the athletes.
It was difficult to predict that the U.S. would surpass China’s medal score, but once the track and field events got on the way, things spun quite differently. Of the total 104 medals on offer in the track and field events, the U.S. whipped off 29 while China could manage only 5 medals. This is where the gap started to show up.
There was complete women domination at the track events for the USA. Allyson Felix won 3 gold medals and Carmelia Jeter added 3 more medals. De’Hashia Tonnek Trotter and Sanya Richards-Ross also added two medals each to the total. The U.S. women’s 4×100-meter relay team also took home the gold.
Women domination at the London Olympics
This was the first time for Team USA that women-power unfurled its domination. Of all the medals in the U.S. kitty, women accounted for 29 gold medals as against 17 by the men. The U.S. women won a total of 58 medals as against the overall total of 104 medals. This was far beyond the speculation prior to the London Olympics.
Statistically, if the women from the U.S. team represented a country, their medal haul would place them in the fifth position.
There have been brilliant performances in gymnastics, with few surprises springing up.
The departure of Michael Phelps from the Olympics won’t be missed after all. That’s right. Missy Franklin, the 17-year-old swimmer, equalled the gold triumph of Phelps with 4 gold medals to fill the void.
Women’s team events were equally interesting. The U.S. women’s soccer team defeated Japan for the gold while the basketball team claimed its fifth straight Olympic gold.
The London Olympics was not, however, all about the United States. The London Olympics was the first for many women’s events. This is first time that women fought boxing matches. This was also the first time that saw women’s participation from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei.
The next Summer Olympics will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Till then, we can just wait while it’s preparation time for the athletes.
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