Summer Olympics, Day 16: Jacob Varner Wins Wrestling Gold

For nearly two weeks at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, it was a dogfight at the top of the medal count leaderboard between the United States and China.

Over the last weekend of events, the United States pulled away. They gained such a lead, in fact, that entering the final day of events on Sunday, they had already ensured they would leave as the winners in total medals and gold medals. Still, the U.S. managed to add two final gold medals to their tally on Sunday, in wrestling and in men’s basketball, to make it 46 gold medals in total.

Momentum seemed to be turning slightly towards the Spaniards, until LeBron James came back into the game off the bench with 3:20 remaining. He threw down an emphatic dunk, then hit a 3-pointer with just inside of two minutes left to put Team USA up 102-93 and all but wrap up the gold medal.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation’s London 2012 Olympics hub.

After two straight weeks of criticism and bashing, it appears as though NBC will be providing at least a small bit of fan service as their coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games in London comes to an end. NBC will offer a live stream of the star-studded Closing Ceremony for viewers, although an edited version will still air on the network on tape delay in all time zones.

NBC drew ire from American viewers right from the get-go with their Olympics coverage after they declined to offer either television coverage or live streaming coverage of the Opening Ceremony. It was, for all intents and purposes, the only aspect of the Olympic Games that NBC did not make available on the official NBC Olympics website, which otherwise provided live, comprehensive coverage of every event over the course of the Summer games.

On Saturday, we visited a horse in the men’s modern pentathlon who had no respect for history. Sunday brings with it the finals of the women’s modern pentathlon and another full set of individuals who have to swim, run, shoot, fence and ride an unfamiliar horse. Hey, how’s that “unfamiliar horse” thing working out for you?

(via @bubbaprog)

A pair of Egyptian wrestlers were forced to forfeit their matches Sunday after showing up to the arena late at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Abdou Omar Abdou Ahmed of the 66 kg division and Saleh Emera of the 96 kg division were a half hour late for the start of qualifying at 8:30 a.m., local time.

Throughout the week, wrestling began at 1 p.m. in London. The start of matches was bumped to an earlier time to accommodate the Closing Ceremony in the evening, however. The team and officials were reportedly seen in the morning pleading with a bus driver to take them to the arena from the Olympic Village. One of the wrestlers fell to his knees crying when told he was disqualified.

Prior to the start of the 2012 London Olympics, many prognosticators predicted the United States and Spain would battle for the gold medal in men’s basketball. Those predictions turned out to be correct as the teams will meet in the gold medal game on Sunday.

Sunday’s game is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. ET and will be broadcast live on NBC. The game will also be available via a live online stream at NBCOlympics.com

A disappointing London 2012 Olympics for the United States men’s water polo team came to an end on Sunday in the seventh place match, with Australia beating the USA 10-9 in their final match of the tournament. Australia had a comfortable lead for most of the game, and the United States only made it close at the very end, with three goals in the final 71 seconds.

Four players scored two goals for the United States, with captain Tony Azevedo leading the way on 2-2 shooting. The United States had a man advantage more often than Australia, who had 11 exclusions to the United States’ five, but the Americans couldn’t capitalize. Billy Miller and Richie Campbell led the Aussies with three goals apiece.

Today, it all ends: the Summer Olympics, that two-week stretch of sports you love mixed in with sports you didn’t know existed that only comes around once every four years, wraps up today on the 16th day of competition. And there’s still a lot to figure out.

The highlight of the day is probably the United States’ gold medal matchup with Spain in men’s basketball. This iteration of the Dream Team may have looked dominant at times, but that’s all prologue: if they don’t win today, it’ll all have been for naught. Elsewhere, many boxing golds will be given out, as will the finishes to men’s volleyball, water polo, and handball.