Since I've posted about the past two Olympics I knew I had to post about these games! Even more so because Ron and I were in the hosting city of London four months before and got to see some of the excitement of everyone there!
NBC did this wonderful thing of counting down the 50 most memorable moments, the good, the bad, and the ugly, of these games! So I decided to count down myself and give you some of my favorites of these 50 moments and maybe some more that went on their list that I added both the good and the bad!
24. Kati Ledecky was the youngest member of Team USA at the age of 15 and her number one goal was to just make the 800m final which she achieved. Then in the final she out-paced the field by four seconds, breaking the American record and nearly the world record. She was elated when she looked at the board after the race to see her name at the top of the screen, she had won gold!
23. She may not have the most recognized name among American Olympians, but skeet shooter, Kim Rhode blasted an Olympic-record of 99 of 100 targets to win the gold. She is the first American to win an individual medal at five straight Olympics.
22. South Korea’s Shin A-Lam thought she had advanced to the gold medal match in women’s epee with 0:01 left in overtime. But questionable time-keeping led to a very long 0:01 and she lost. Since fencing rules say a fencer who leaves the piste has accepted the judges' decision so she sat crying quietly on the piste for over an hour in protest. Sadly her loss was upheld and she went on to the bronze-medal match and sadly lost. But a little ray of sunshine as she captured a silver medal in the team competition.
21. Sarah Attar may have finished 30 seconds behind her nearest competitor in the 800 meter run, but she became the first female Saudi track athlete ever, breaking barriers for women from their country and she received a standing ovation as she crossed the finish.
20. Rebecca Soni, dressed in a hot pink suit, came in as the favorite in the 200m breaststroke. In the semifinals she broke the world record, the the next night she swam a half-second faster to win the gold. Then because she could as well as awesome she added another world record in the medley relay two nights later.
19. Robert Harting from Germany was so excited about his win in the men’s discus that not only did he tear his shirt off in front of his cheering section at Olympic Stadium but then to the crowd's delight he draped himself in the German flag and ran down the track, half-leaping over hurdles!
18. Almost as soon as the Games began a badminton scandal showed that not of the Olympic athletes play fair. To try to get easier draws during round robin play, two teams from South Korea and one each from Indonesia and China deliberately tried to lose matches and even sadder made little attempt to hide it. The four teams were expelled.
17. This is the first year that women’s boxing was an Olympic event and punching her way to the gold medal was 17 year old American Claressa Shields. Not only did she win the first ever women's boxing gold medal but she became the youngest box to win an Olympic gold since 1924!
16. This was heartbreaking to watch when American gymnast Jordyn Wieber failed to qualify for the finals of the women’s all around. She was the 2011 world champion and the favorite to win gold in the women's gymnastics all around. This caused the gymnastics world to protest even more the rule that only two athletes from each country can qualify for the all around.
15. The U.S. women’s soccer team got its revenge on Japan after losing the 2011 world cup in the gold medal match. This became the women's team third-straight Olympic gold medal and fourth medal overall.
14. Many people may not know but Nathan Adrian from the United State was voted the cutest male swimmer and what better to add to that title but a gold medal! He dove in for the 100m freestyle, fell behind late, then sprinted to the wall, out-touching his Aussie in the lead by 0.01 seconds to win the gold!
13. Kayla Harrison from the U.S. entered the London games ranked fourth in the world for 78kg lady judokas. Then she beat top competitors from Russian, Hungary, and Brazil to become the first American woman to reach an Olympic final. Then she made history and won the first judo gold in American history.
12. People were shocked when American gymnast, Aly Raisman, scored a spot in the all-around beating her world champion team mate. She may have finished fourth in the all around but she went on to win bronze on the beam in a tie-break and then won gold on the floor. She left these games the most decorated member of the "Fab Five."
11. Not only did the The U.S. women’s relay team of Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, and Carmelita Jeter won gold in the 4 x 100 relay race but ran 40.82 seconds to break a 27-year old record from 1980 held by a squad of East Germans.
10. This was truly amazing! During the first rotation of the women's team gymnastics competition McKayla Maroney from the United States attempted a vault that she nailed it better than anyone ever has, starting the night off right for the U.S women's team of 16.233 out of 16.5 to start the U.S. off right! The reaction of the judges was pretty much the same reaction I had and I highly suggest searching and seeing this amazing vault!
9. With this being Michael Phelps final Olympics Missy Franklin, age 17, from the United States put the world on notice that America’s next swimming superstar has arrived! She won gold and set a new world records in the 200m backstroke and women's 4x100m medley relay. In the end of her first games she finished with a total of four gold medals!
8. Allyson Felix took silver in the women’s 200m sprint in Athens and Beijing, but was determined to go home from these games with gold and that is what she did! In the first 100 meters of the race she was neck and neck with teammate Carmelita Jeter and Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, but in the end she powered through and pulled away on the home stretch, winning the gold at 21.88 seconds. But she wasn't done and went on to add gold in the 4x100m and 4x400m which in the end made her the most decorated American track athlete of these games.
7. McKayla Maroney was the favorite to win gold in the individual vault competition and after her first attempt of her signature vault she was the lead on that path to the gold. But sadly with her second attempt she landed on her rear end. In the end she took took silver, but her twisted grimace on the podium that soon became a muse for internet memes said it all: McKayla Maroney is not impressed. But she took it all in stride laughing at herself and saying how happy she was for the gold medalist of the individual vault competition.
6. Okay I completely love these two! Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings were not only undefeated in the last two summer games but have also won gold in women's beach volleyball in both of those Olympic games. They both took time off after winning in Beijing which in that time Misty ruptured her Achilles tendon practicing for “Dancing With The Stars” and Kerri gave birth to two children. But they decided go for a third Olympic gold and even though they lost one match they went on in the end to stand at the top of the podium again with Olympic gold around their necks and be the first women to win three straight gold medals in beach volleyball! As wonderful as it was to watch it was also bittersweet because this was their last match together: Kerri plans to keep playing but Misty is retiring and even though I can see more gold in Olympic women's beach volleyball in the future, I don't think any team will be as amazing as these two!
5. I'm sorry but I couldn't make this my number one favorite 2012 Olympic moment but it's definitely in the top of some of the greatest moments ever! In Michael Phelps' Olympic games may have started out slow when he failed to medal in his first race. But he shook it off and won silver in his second race and that was all he wrote as he took home more medals than any other athlete for a third straight Games! But swimming the anchor leg of the 4x200m free as he touched the wall he became the most decorated Olympian ever winning his 19th medal, passing Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina's 18 Olympic medals, and not only did his eyes welled up on the podium that night but so did the rest of American's! He finished his career with a total 22 medals including 18 golds!
4. You know I had to have some sort of basketball moment on this countdown and since I'm not too happy with certain members of the men's team and their comments I got more into watching the women's team! These fabulous ladies went on to win their fifth straight Olympic gold and did an amazing job!
3. Gabby Douglas the 4 foot 11 inch American gymnast was one of the two American's that qualified for the women's gymnast all around final and soon this little know sweetheart became a household name when she went on to not only win the women's all around gold but became the first African American women to do it!
2. I know you all thought this was going to be my number one moment but nope even though it is amazing! The last time a gold medal was one by the U.S women's gymnastic team was in 1996 in Atlanta when Kerri Strug secured the team gold medal with that famous and amazing one foot vault, but the team gold medal dry spell is over when the "Fierce Five" 2012 women's gymnastic team of Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, and Jordyn Wieber had a near perfect night and in the end stood on the top of the podium with gold proudly around their necks! Watching these girls gave me the same thrill and goosebumps as the 1996 team did!
1. At the top of my list was an athlete that may not have left London with a medal but what he did was even more important for future Olympians! Oscar Pistorius is a double amputee that applied and won a battle for Paralympians in 2008 when his appeal fighting for the right to compete in the Olympics was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It was concluded that his "blades" didn’t offer him an advantage over able-bodied athletes. He walked into the Olympic Stadium four years later as a member of the South African team and on August 4 he ran his first race, the 400m, finishing second to qualify for the semis. He didn’t make the finals, but he said after his last race "The whole experience is mind-blowing. It’s a dream come true. It’s really a humbling experience to be here.” I won't lie I cried when I saw him race and even more when I heard him say "You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able for the abilities that you have." Thank you Oscar for being brave enough to do something us people with disabilities didn't have the courage to do!
And there you go everyone! My countdown of my favorite moments of these summer games! See you all in Rio in 2016!
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