Summer Olympics, Day 10: Monday In London, Where Team USA Added 3 Medals

The preliminary round in men’s 3m springboard diving was held on Monday, with Russia’s Ilya Zakharov scoring the highest total, a 507.65. China’s Chong He was second, and now leads the field into Tuesday’s finals following the morning’s semifinals. Failing to qualify was Germany’s Stephan Feck, who finished dead-last and managed a total of just 133.80, a full 167.65 points behind the next-best (worst?) diver.

So what the Feck happened? Quite simply, he performed one of the worst dives ever in Olympic competition ...

Algerian runner Taoufik Makhloufi was expelled on Monday from the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The expulsion didn’t last long, as Makhloufi was reinstated and will remain eligible for the men’s 1,500m final on Tuesday.

Makhloufi originally drew the suspicion of officials on Monday, when he stopped running during his opening heat in the men’s 800m and walked to the infield, where he cheered on the rest of the runners. The I.A.A.F. believed that he purposefully tanked his match and expelled him from the remainder of the Games for “violating the Olympic ideal.”

After Monday’s gold medal events have been completed, China still holds a slim lead in the total medal count. But that’s old news and that’s boring. What’s more exciting is taking a look at who has won the most medals per capita at the 2012 Olympic Games in London!

The aptly-titled website Medals Per Capita is a very interesting look at how the Summer Games are shaping up in terms of total population of the participating countries. This link comes to us courtesy of the always-phenomenal Craig Robinson of Flip Flop Fly Balling.

Thanks in large part to a dominating third quarter, the United States’ men’s basketball team pulled away from Argentina, winning 126-97.

Durant then caught fire from 3-point range, helping the United States crush Argentina’s upset bid. Durant made 5-of-6 3-pointers in the quarter. He finished the game as the United States’ leading scorer with 28 points, including 17 in the third quarter.

The United States will not medal in the 2012 Olympics in men’s beach volleyball. The American team of Jason Gibb and Sean Rosenthal fell in the quarterfinal round on Monday, ensuring that Team USA will not be on the medal podium.

Gibb and Rosenthal won their first set against Latvia’s team of Janis Smedins and Marvins Plavins, but fell in a combined 36 minutes in the other two to lose, 21-19, 18-21, 11-15. Four service faults from the U.S. and three aces from the Latvians helped contribute to the loss.

The Dominican Republic’s Felix Sanchez won gold in the men’s 400m hurdles Monday night at the Olympic Stadium in London. Sanchez, had the fastest time in qualifying (47.76), and went even quicker in the finals, crossing the line in 47.63 seconds. With the win, Sanchez, the 2004 gold medalist in the event, joins Angelo Taylor, Edwin Moses and Glenn Davis as the only two-time winners in the men’s 400m hurdles.

American Michael Tinsley won the silver medal, closing after the final hurdle to finish just 0.28 seconds behind Sanchez. The bronze was claimed by Javier Culson of Puerto Rico, the 2011 World Championships silver medalist.

After the early goings on at the 2012 Summer Olympics, China holds on to the total medal count lead in the Olympics, also leading the gold medal count. The United States follows right on China’s heels, followed up by Great Britain, Russia, and Japan rounding out the Top 5.

In the Men’s Rings competition, Brazil’s Arthur Zanetti took home the gold medal while China’s Chin Yibing and Italy’s Matteo Morandi took home silver and bronze, respectively.

Team USA is 4-0 thus far in group play and even with a loss, they can finish no worse than second in Group A. They currently sit with eight points, one more than Argentina and France -- who are tied for second place -- with seven. If USA prevails, they will win Group A and go on to face the fourth-place team from Group B. If they lose, the United States will finish second and Argentina takes the group.

After cruising through their first three games of group play, the United States defeated Lithuania 99-94 in their stiffest challenge yet.

The Group F runners up began the game well, pinning their opponents back into their own half before finally making a breakthrough on a set piece in the 32nd minute. That goal took some help from French goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, who came out for a hopeful free kick and, rather than punching clear, let the ball bounce off he outstretched hands. It fell kindly for Japan, and a combination of Yuki Ogimi and the France defence scrambled the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Stung by the weak goal, France began playing in earnest, pressing Japan high up the pitch and flinging in crosses which the shorter Japanese defence had trouble with. But the favourites were still dangerous in possession, and provided what looked like the killing blow shortly after half time when Mizuho Sakaguchi placed a wonderful cushioned header over Bouhaddi and into the top corner.

Another day and another ‘tanking’ controversy at the Olympics. Algerian runner Taoufik Makhloufi has been thrown out of the Olympics for not trying during his 800m heat. Makhloufi was not a favorite in the 800m, but was thought to have a shot at a medal in the 1,500m in which he had already advanced to the finals with the fastest qualifying time.

After making the finals in the 1,500m Makhloufi decided to focus on that event and not run in the 800m, but Algerian officials did not withdraw him from the race by Sunday’s deadline. As a result Makhloufi was forced to run the 800m. Not wanting to tire himself out Makhloufi jogged for ¾ of a lap before stopping, he then walked to the infield and clapped for the rest of the field as they lapped him.

Some of the world’s finest athletes will take to the track on Monday in London at the 2012 Olympics, and you can see all of their medal events for free online via NBC.

None of the finals will be shown on American TV until NBC’s primetime coverage, which begins at 7 p.m. ET. But there’s a live Olympics track and field stream available via NBC Live Extra that will show you these five medal finals live:

Great Britain added to its track cycling dominance with another gold medal on Monday, with Jason Kenny winning men’s individual sprint at the Olympic Velodrome. For Kenny, one of the world’s finest cyclists, it’s his second Olympic medal in the event after winning silver in Beijing.

Kenny’s win was the host country’s fifth gold medal in the track cycling competition (the sixth medal overall in the velodrome). France’s Gregory Bauge settled for silver after losing to Kenny, 2-0 (in the knockout stages of sprint track cycling, the competition format is a best-of-three heats). Earlier in the event, Australian Shane Perkins won bronze, his first Olympic medal, by defeating Trinidad and Tobago’s Njisane Nicholas Phillip in the first two runs.

Lolo Jones has been one of the 2012 Olympics’ most talked-about stories. But she’s also a competitor, and kicked off her quest for Olympic redemption on Monday by running the fastest time by an American in qualifying for the women’s 100 meters semifinals.

Jones won her first round heat in 12.68 seconds, outpacing Canada’s Phylicia George by .15 seconds and easily moving on to Tuesday’s semifinal. Americans Kellie Wells (12.68 seconds) and Dawn Harper (12.75) were also among the semifinal qualifiers, but Jones’ time was her best in 2012 and second-best among all qualifiers, a good sign for her chances of medaling in an event she led until the last hurdle in Beijing in 2008.

Great Britain won its first equestrian team jumping gold medal in 60 years on Monday after winning a jump-off against the Netherlands.

Unfortunately a jump-off share no similarities with a jump ball in basketball, nor do the horses try to see who can jump the highest and grab an apple. After two rounds the Brits and Dutch were tied, and all four members of each team had to ride once more to determine a champion. The Netherlands fell apart in the jump-off with two horses knocking fences down and collecting penalties; their final rider did not even ride in the jump-off as Britain had already clinched gold. It was the first medal for Great Britain in team jumping since they took silver in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Day 10 at the 2012 Summer Olympics is a packed day of United States team action, with Team USA men’s basketball, women’s soccer and men’s volleyball (both indoor and beach) all in action on Monday. On the track at Olympic Stadium, medals will be decided in women’s shot put, pole vault and 3000m steeplechase, as well as the men’s 400m, but the must-see event should be the men’s 400m hurdles, where the Americans hope to win all three medals for the second-straight Olympics.

What To Watch at the 2012 Summer Olympics on Monday, August 6:

The US men’s water polo team suffered a disappointing loss to Hungary in the final game of group play, but will still advance to the quarterfinals despite dropping its last two matches. Hungary played its best match of the Olympics thus far, beating the USA, 11-6.

With a win, the American team would have secured second place in Group B, but now it will almost assuredly finish fourth – assuming Montenegro beats Great Britain on Monday. Seeing as the closest game the British have played was a 13-7 loss to USA, it’s fair to speculate that Montenegro will take care of business.

All-around individual gold medalist and American darling Gabby Douglas was not able to win her third gold medal on Monday in the women’s uneven bar. Instead, Russian Aliya Mustafina won gold, with China’s Kexin He taking silver and hometown favorite, Britain’s Beth Tweddle, getting the bronze.

Douglas was considered a possibility for a medal, but in no way was the favorite, as both the Russian and Chinese gymnasts, as well as Tweddle, are particularly strong on bars. All five of those competitors put up strong routines, but Mustafina won with a score of 16.133, with a 9.133 on execution of a routine with a 7.0 difficulty and absolutely killed it on her landing.

A pair of sailing medals and one in shooting have been given out in early competition Monday, resulting in a bronze for the United States and the first medal not just in London, but in Olympic history for the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus.

The sailing events took place in the Laser competition, named after the style of one-person dinghy, and unfortunately not the ability of the boats to shoot beams of light at other boats. On the men’s side, gold and silver were pretty much already locked up, as Australia’s Tom Slingsby had a commanding lead on points through the first 10 races and was able to place ninth in the medal race and still win gold, while Cyprus’ Pavlos Kontides couldn’t catch up to Slingsby but was in no danger of finishing lower than second. He earned silver, making him the first Cypriot to earn a medal at the Olympics.

So Usain Bolt, perhaps the most delightfully -- and justifiably -- cocky athlete at the Summer Olympics, decimated his competition ... but did he have the most dominant performance of the weekend? Or the most talked about victory celebration? Yeah, it was that kind of weekend. Let’s get into the Monday Morning Jones.

Is Michael Phelps the greatest Olympian of all-time? I don’t know. Neither do you or anyone who claims to. It’s hard enough to figure out who’s the greatest football player of all-time, given all the different specialized positions, but somehow we’re supposed to compare Phelps to Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, Alexander Karelin, Téofilo Stevenson or Jackie Joyner-Kersee? Yes, Phelps has more medals than anyone in history. He also participates in a sport where competing in so many events -- and starting one’s Olympic career at 15 -- is possible, which few non-swimmers can say.

But here’s the best part -- it doesn’t matter if Phelps is the greatest. All that matters is, for three Olympiads, he dominated. He demonstrated a strength, versatility and resilience few will ever forget. And after Phelps’ victory lap in London started off looking like it could taint his legacy, he recovered and fortified his resumé with four more gold medals. Without question, he’s the greatest swimmer who ever lived. Adding hyperbole to his already unbelievable feats misses the point. We’ll never forget him. There’s no need to overthink that, because nothing else really matters.

China’s Chen Yibing was the overwhelming favorite to take gold in the men’s rings, but instead, Arthur Zanetti earned the first gymnastics medal in Brazil’s history by besting Chen by just a tenth of a point.

Zanetti wasn’t the last person in the world one would expect to medal: although he didn’t compete in the all-around portion of the gymnastics competition, his routine on rings in qualifications was fourth of any competitor. He’d also won silver at the 2011 World Championships and 2011 Pan-American games. But Chen was a four-time defending world champion and had won the gold on the rings in 2008. You can’t get a much bigger favorite to win an event in anything.

The 2012 London Olympics continue Monday with men’s basketball, gymnastics, and track & field headlining the day’s action.

Group play in the men’s basketball tournament concludes Monday with the United States returning to the court to face Argentina. Team USA will win Group A with a win, but would finish tied for first with Argentina and lose the tiebreaker with a loss.

Monday’s Track and Field events don’t quite have the same cachet as the men’s 100m that Usain Bolt won Sunday night, but there’s still lots to look for as five gold medals will be awarded in London’s Olympic Stadium.

The United States has a great chance of medaling in the men’s 400m hurdles, where three of the eight qualified runners -- Kerron Clement, Angelo Taylor and Michael Tinsley -- are from America. In addition, Jenn Suhr and Becky Holliday will go for gold for the USA in the women’s pole vault. However, there aren’t any Americans in Monday’s premier event, the men’s 400m, where Grenada’s Kirani James is the favorite to bring home his country’s first medal.