Summer Olympics, Day 11: Full Coverage And Medal Results From Tuesday In London

At the conclusion of Day 11 at the 2012 London Olympics, China and the United States still battle for overall supremacy, but the battle for third place is now in a tie between host-country Great Britain and Russia. The two countries each have 48 total medals, but Great Britain has an edge in gold medals, 22-10.

Russia picked up three gold medals on Tuesday (synchronized swimming women’s duet, men’s high jump, men’s 3-meter springboard) while Great Britain took gold in four events (equestrian team dressage, men’s triathlon, women’s omnium, men’s keirin).

Team USA Women’s Basketball roared its way to victory and a spot in the semifinals on Tuesday after defeating Canada, 91-48. But the team had to wait until later in the day to find out if they would face Australia or China in the next round. As things turned out, Australia picked up a 15-point victory over China, 75-60.

China entered halftime with a one-point lead, 36-35, by holding Australia to just 13 points in the second quarter. But Australia charged back for a 55-52 lead at the close of the third quarter. At that point, China went cold and managed to score just eight points in the final quarter. Australia’s Liz Cambage led all scorers with 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

On Tuesday, the two semifinal matches took place in the women’s water polo event at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Both were close contests, but the gold-medal final has now been set. Spain defeated Hungary 10-9 on Tuesday afternoon and will face off against the United States on Thursday for the top prize.

Anni Espar Llaquet spurred her team on to victory. The Spanish player scored four goals in the game and helped Spain take a 10-7 lead into the final four minutes. Hungary made a last-ditch effort by scoring two late goals, but were unable to tie.

Lolo Jones posted the second-slowest qualifying time in the women’s 100-meter hurdles semifinals Tuesday to advance to the finals at 4:00 p.m. ET later in the afternoon. Joining her will be two more Americans: Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells.

Jones finished third in her heat with a time of 12.71 seconds, forcing her to qualify on time. Harper, the defending gold medalist in the event, and Wells took easier routes to qualification by winning their heats outright. Harper won her heat with a personal best of 12.46 seconds. Wells posted a seasonal best of 12.51 seconds.

Aly Raisman snagged two medals for the U.S. on Tuesday, including another individual gold. But midway through Day 11 of the 2012 Olympics, China has a large lead on Team USA in the medal count.

China (71 total medals) is up by five medals on the U.S. in the total medal count, having added seven medals on the day. The Chinese got gold from Feng Zhe on men’s parallel bars and from Deng Linlin on women’s balance beam in gymnastics, and added to their haul from table tennis by winning the women’s team competition.

In five preliminary games, the United States women didn’t win any games by fewer than 25 points, while Canada played five single-digit affairs. One appears to be holding true in the knockout stages of the tournament, as the United States is doubling up Canada, 42-21, at the break.

America’s defense has been dominant, as the Canadian Princeton Offense isn’t having its desired effect: America’s northern neighbors are shooting 22 percent from the field while living up to their status as the tournament leaders in turnovers with 12 in the first half. Canadian possessions have typically ended in 24-second violations, forced shots towards the end of the shot clock or, as in the few cases, a backdoor cut has earned Canada a run at the hoop that was contested, sometimes by blocked looks.