For the first time since 2008, the United States failed to win gold in a single day

On Monday, no American athletes won gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics. It was the first time it had happened in a single day at the Games since 2008.

Team USA had heard the “Star-Spangled Banner” for 29 straight days of Olympic competition dating back to Aug. 20, 2008. That year, Americans failed to garner gold in Beijing by missing out in events like the men’s 200m dash, women’s duet synchronized swimming. On Day 10 of the 2016 Games they earned a pair of silver medals -- in the women’s balance beam and 400m -- but upset losses in each event eventually kept the competition’s most dominant team from the top of the podium.

While this was the first time the team went without gold in nearly eight years, there have been some close calls in the interim. Virginia Thrasher’s air rifle win was the only thing to keep the streak alive on Day 1 of the 2016 Games. Jenn Suhr’s pole vaulting gold in London was the country’s only win on Day 10 of the 2012 Olympics.

Fortunately, the drought didn’t last long. Christian Taylor ended our long national nightmare with a triple jump win on Tuesday morning. That gold medal -- Taylor’s second in a row -- was the United States’ 27th of the Games. Team USA leads all countries with 77 medals in all.