Things We Learned on Twitter Tonight_ Obama Celebrates Team USA Golds

Lots of tweets tonight regarding the 2012 London Olympics; let's jump in the pool:

1) @CaseyMatthews50: "Congrats to Oregon Alum Galen Rupp for taking silver today in the 10k!"

2) @BarackObama: "President Obama celebrating the Olympic and Paraolympic athletes of Team USA in his weekly address."

3) @UCLAAthletics: "All-time UCLA medal count now up to 242 after Mark Hunter's silver in rowing," (the middle image is of the UCLA mascot).

4) @forrestfire: "Quit Russian around and Czech out the  Olympics. I'm covered in Greece from the Turkey I ate earlier, but I'm still Hungary. Poland."

5) @destineehooker: "Sweet dreams everyone. USA x Turkey tomorrow." (The top image is of American women's indoor volleyball player Destine Hooker. Turkey, ranked eighth in the world in the sport, plays the USA, ranked first, tomorrow in a highly anticipated game.)

6) @StayAdventurous: "In battle of beautiful women Czech Republic beat Brasil today." (Indeed, Czech women's beach volleyball players Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova upset the Brazilian duo of Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes. The image below is actually of a beach volleyball game in Turkey. The tweeter splled Brazil as Brasil. There is a photo of the Czech duo posing topless_with hands covering bare breasts on the net_but, we don't want to lose readers in Dubai!).

http://www.usavolleyball.com

http://www.tvf.org.tr

http://www.uclabruins.com

http://www.goducks.com

http://kolocova_slukova.cz

Kudos to Gabby Douglas, but Shame on NBC

Congratulations to Gabby Douglas, 16, who becomes the third consecutive American gymnast along with Carly Patterson (2004 Athens Olympics) and Nastia Liukin (2008 Beijing Olympics) to win all-around gold. Douglas, who was greatly influenced by Dominique Dawes, a member of the 1996 Olympics gymnastics team that won gold in Atlanta, becomes the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in women's gymnastics.

But, we feel outraged that NBC, the network broadcasting the games in the United States, had to zoom in constantly on Viktoria Komova, 17, the Russian gymnast who ended up finishing second as she underperformed on the floor exercise, her last event.

This was yet another dubious moment for the network which has been scorned by American Olympic viewers on social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook. NBC was also criticized for not airing a moment of silence to the victims of the July 7, 2005, London terrorist attacks at the opening ceremonies of the games.

There was yet another controversy in women's gymnastics at the games, and for a second time, it involved American gymnast Aly Raisman, as she lost a tie-breaker to Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina, 17, because the Russian gymnasts' lowest score, which occurred on the balance beam, was dropped.

Earlier, Raisman had edged out teammate Jordyn Wieber, the defending world champion, for the second American slot in the all-around competition. A provocative new rule states that only two gymnasts from each country may compete irregardless of scores.

http://www.chalkbowl.com/gabrielle

http://www.gabrielledouglas.com

Olympic Stories- Satomi Suzuki Helping Japan in the Pool

When one thinks of swimming, the countries which first come to mind are the United States, Australia and perhaps China. But, Japan has had a really strong showing in the pool at the 2012 London Olympics as well. Though Team Japan did not win a gold medal in swimming, the team has so far garnered nine medals, including two silvers and seven bronze medals.

One of those silver medals came from Satomi Suzuki, 21, who won the medal in the 200-meter breast-stroke. Suzuki also won a bronze medal in the 100-meter breast-stroke.

According to "Japan Daily News," Suzuki finished the 200-meter breast-stroke in 2 minutes, 20.72 seconds, which was more than a full second behind the winner Rebecca Soni of the United States, however she was able to tie a Japanese record with her time.

Yuliya Yefimova of Russia finished third in that race.

So far, Japan has scored 21 medals overall, including two gold medals from Kaori Matsumoto in women's judo and Kohie Uchimara in men's gymnastics.

http://www.joc.or.jp/english/

Olympic Stories- Camille Muffat Wins Gold for France

French swimmer Camille Muffat, 22, won gold today for France in the 400-meter free-style. Earlier in the 2012 London Olympics, she won silver in the 200-meters race.

In today's action, Muffat edged out Allison Schmitt of the United States who won silver and the home pool favorite Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain who finished in third and received a bronze medal. Frederica Pellegrini of Italy was also expected to medal in the race, but she failed to come through.

France is having a particularly strong Olympics so far with 8 gold, 5 silvers and 6 bronze medals.

Other French gold medalists include Tony Estanguet (men's canoeing), Teddy Riner (men's judo) and Lucie Decosse (women's judo).

Kudos to Team USA aka The Fab Five for Winning Gold in Women's Gym

Congratulations to both Team USA, also known as the Fab Five or the Fierce Five for winning the team gold medal in women's gymnastics and to Team Canada as our neighbors to the north finished in fifth, the highest ever placement for a Canadian team in the sport.

The team victory is perhaps especially sweet for Jordyn Wieber (pictured above) since she could not qualify for the all-around competition because of a highly controversial, perhaps even dubious rule, which only allow two competitors per country based on qualifying scores, irregardless of how high those scores might be.

For Team America, McKayla Maroney paved the way with a 16.223 score and Aly Raisman, who won the highly coveted second slot instead of Wieber, assured team victory with a fluid floor routine. Gabby Douglas, who had the highest score for Team America in the first round, competed on all four events with high scores on each of them. Kyla Ross (pictured below) held steady as well.

For Team Canada, the fifth place finish will make headlines in national newspapers tomorrow even if the team did not get a medal for their historic accomplishment.

Various Canadian media sources said the team members were overjoyed. Kristina Vaculik (pictured middle) tweeted that 'Canada rocked the house,' while teammate Domique Pegg tweeted that she was proud of the team's accomplishment.

Russia finished a distant second in large part because top gymnasts Anastasia Grishina and Ksenila Afanseva had very disappointing floor routines and Aliya Mustafina stumbled on the balance beam.

Romania won bronze, and the team's chances of winning gold were diminished because of an injury to standout gymnast Larisa Ioardoche. But, Catalina Ponour, 24, one of the oldest gymnasts competing at the Olympics and the lone remaining member of the 2008 Athens Olympics gold medal-winning team had an impressive balance beam routine.

Astonishingly, China, a team that won gold at home at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finished fourth.

http://www.usagym.org 

http://www.jordanwieber.com

http://www.gymcan.org

Olympic Stories- Anna Li Making Best of Olympics After Bad Injury

Anna Li, 23, had overcome concerns that she was too old, too tall at 5'4 and too injury-prone as she had two surgically repaired broken feet, yet she qualified for the women's Olympics gymnastics team as an alternate for the squad that would head to London.

Li was a stand-out at traditional powerhouse UCLA where she helped guide the Bruins to the school's sixth NCAA title in 2010. UCLA narrowly lost to the University of Alabama this year at the NCAA championships this spring.

On July 28, Li blogged about her Olympics experience in an entry that was posted on uclabruins.com; alas, Li suffered a devastating injury when she feel from the uneven bars during the team's second workout. Li will be wearing a neck brace in the coming weeks and she thanked everyone for their get-well wishes.

But, the former UCLA gymnast was upbeat about her time in the United Kingdom, and she talked about how it took her a moment to realize that when the team's plane landed at 7 a.m. local time in England, that it was 1 a.m. in her home state of Illinois, where Li, the daughter of two Chinese Olympic gymnasts, went to Waubonise High School in the Chicago-suburb of Aurora.

In the years since graduating from UCLA, Li has performed as a stunt woman.

Li said the initial workout occurred at 8:00 a.m. and lasted for close to four hours, and that she took a nap at the team's hotel from noon until 2:50 p.m. for that second workout, where the injury resulted.

The gymnast is one of several UCLA alumni or active Bruins  in the 2012 London Olympics. Yesterday, former Bruin Courtney Mathewson, who helped UCLA to four consecutive NCAA titles, scored three vital goals in Team USA's narrow 14-13 win over Hungary in women's water polo.

As for women's gymnastics, Team USA had a shocking development on Sunday as defending world all-around champion Jordyn Wieber, 16, did not qualify for the all-around at the Olympics due to a highly controversial rule that only allows for two gymnasts from each country irregardless of the gymnast's score.

Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman are the two gymnasts who qualified for all-arounds. Wieber will still compete for the team in the team finals which are happening tonight, surprisingly early for gymnastics which has traditionally been held in the middle of the Olympic games.

According to a survey from bleacherreport.com, some 70-percent of those surveyed felt that the Olympic gymnastics rule should be scrapped. 

http://www.annali.us/

http://www.uclabruins.com

http://www.bleacherreport.com

Olympic Stories- Turkish Female Weightlifter (almost) Medals

Though Chinese women's weightlifter Wang Minigjuan, who turns 27 in October, (pictured below) won the gold medal in the 48-kilogram lightweight division on Saturday at the 2012 London Olympics, Nurdan Karagoz, 25, got considerable media coverage in her native Turkey as she finished fifth.

Karagoz scored a 187, which was the result total of her three combined lifts. Earlier, Karagoz won silver at the European Championships held in Antalya, Turkey, she won that some color medal at the previous European Championships in Russia. Additionally, Karagoz won a bronze medal at the 2011 World Championships in France.

Weightlifting has been a popular sport in Turkey since the legendary men's weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu, aka the Pocket Hercules, won a gold medal in the sport at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. 

Despite being a four-time world champion (2002, 2003, 2005 and 2009), Wang Mingjuan had never competed in the Olympics due to injuries. In London, the Chinese lifter pulled 91 kilograms in the snatch and 114 kilograms in the clean and jerk.

Except for Karagoz, each of the top six finishers was from an Asian-Pacific nation. Hiromi Miayke of Japan won silver andd Ryang Chun Hwa of North Korea captured the bronze.

 

Parade of Nations (Four of Four)_ Ghana-Zimbabwe

Here is our final list of flag-bearers from the Parade of Nations which occurred during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics:

Ghana: Maxwell Amponsah (men's boxing)

Mexico: Maria Espinoza (pictured below, women's taekwondo)

Morocco: Wliam Dislam (women's taekwondo)

Nicaragua: Michelle Richardson (An swimmer born in Nicaragua, she won silver while competing for the United States at age 15 during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics).

Norway: Miras Versas Larsen (women's canoeing)

South Korea: Yoon Kyung-shin (pictured middle, handball, South Korea is having a great Olympics so far with two golds, two silvers and two bronze medals).

Zambia: Prince Mumba (men's track and field)

Zimbabwe: Kirsty Coventry (pictured top, women's swimming)

Parade of Nations (three of four)_ China-Spain

We continue to list 2012 London Olympics athletes who were flag-bearers for their respective countries on Friday with a look at those participating in sports ranging from men's basketball to women's judo.

Here is the latest list:

China: Yi Jianlian (pictured below, men's basketball)

Finland: Hanna-Maria Seppala (pictured, center, swimming)

Jordan: Nadin Dawani (women's judo)

Kenya: Jason Dunford (pictured above, men's swimming)

Libya: Sofyan el Gidi (men's swimming)

Malaysia: Pandelela Rinong (women's diving)

Russia: Maria Sharapova (tennis)

Spain: Paul Gasol (men's basketball)

Parade of Nations (Two of Four)- Albania to Italy

We continue our Parade of Nations of flag-bearers for their respective countries, with the likes of an Albanian women's weight-lifter to a Cuban wrestler:

Albania: Romela Begaj (women's weightlifting)

Azerbaijan: Elnur Mammadi (men's judo)

Chile: Denisse van Lamoea (women's archery)

Cuba: Mijain Lopez (pictured below, wrestling)

Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis (pictured above, tennis)

Hungary: Peter Biros (water polo)

Iran: Ali Mazaheri (boxing)

Italy: Valentina Vezzali (pictured center, fencing)

http://www.olympic.org

http://www.valentinavezzali.com

Parade of Nations (One of Four)- Turkey to New Zealand

Today, we start our first of four blog entries on the Parade of Nations, which occurred on Friday during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics; there are also four entries on the subject on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

We start with Turkey, the homeland of my late father, then Great Britain (United Kingdom), which is the host country, and the rest of the nations will be in alphabetical order.

Turkey-Nesilhan Darnel (pictured top, women's volleyball)

Great Britain- Chris Hoy (cyclist)

Argentina- Luciana Aymar (pictured below, women's field hockey)

Belgium- Tia Hellebaut (women's track and field)

France- Laura Flessel-Colovic (women's fencing)

Germany- Natascha Keller (women's field hockey)

Netherlands/Holland- Dorian von Rjsselberghe (women's windsurfing)

New Zealand- Nick Willis (pictured middle, men's track and field)

http://www.olympic.org

http://www.tvf.org.tr/

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

http://www.welcomeargentina.com

http://www.newzealand.com

http://www.goturkey.com

Ryan Lochte, the new King of Water

Ryan Lochte just secured the first 2012 Olympics gold medal for the US when he won the 400m individual medley on July 28, 2012. Everyone was expecting a close rival between American swimmers Phelps and Lochte during the 2012 London Olympics but everyone was surprised when Ryan Lochte delivered an outstanding performance while Michael Phelps barely managed to finish at 4th.

Ryan Lochte showing his icy braces and Olympic gold medal

Watch the video as Ryan Lochte turned his much-anticipated duel with Michael Phelps into a blowout, pulling away to win the Olympic 400-meter individual medley by more than 3 seconds Saturday night.

Ryan Lochte 2012 London Olympics Photos

Source: Sky Sports, The Guardian

Michael Phelps to set all time Olympics world record

Despite his involvement in a drug bust in 2009, Michael Phelps is still on his way to becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time in any sport. With his 16 Olympic gold medals, including 14 golds and his unprecedented eight during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps only need to win three more medals to surpass Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina's 18 medals won from 1956 to 1964.

Michael Phelps Olympics 2012 Photos

Michael Phelps is qualified to compete in eight swimming matches but will only be competing in seven so he's not planning to match his eight Beijing 2008 Olympic gold medals.

Michael Phelps with rival Ryan Lochte poised to shine in London 2012

We'll update with more of Michael Phelps' London 2012 photos as the game progress with the hopes that Phelps will make a new world record eventually.

Source: Bleacher Report, Olympics Australia, Telegraph, Greenwich Sports

Tom Daley, Team GB's Olympic pride

One of the current Great Britain's Olympic pride, Tom Daley started diving at the age of seven but his Olympic career started at a very young age of 14 when he represented Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At that time, Tom was Britain's youngest competitor, the youngest competitor of any nationality outside the sport of swimming, and the youngest to participate in a final.

He was just 14 then but now he has grown into a full man.

Most of the world see young Daley as the fast emerging English diver but some sees him as the cute, goofy, nice guy and a photogenic poster-boy for London 2012 Olympics. Type his name on the Google search bar and you'll find "Tom Daley bulge" on the top keyword suggestions with the photo below among the top search engine results.

Tom Daley will be competing alongside his partner Pete Waterfield in the men's 10m platform synchro on Monday, July 30, 2012. Catch up with him on his website TOM DALEY TV.

Born to dive: Tom Daley has high expectations at London 2012

Thomas Robert "Tom" Daley was born on 21 May 1994. He's never tried a cigarette and thinks alcohol is "disgusting." Despite him saying he is "not up for a relationship" the 18-year-old Olympic medal hopeful is apparently enjoying a fledgling romance with American diver Kassidy Cook, 17.

We'll post more Tom Daley 2012 Olympics photos as the games progress.

More Tom Daley photos from the internet

Source: London 2012, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Tumblr

Teaser- Here Come the Olympics

The Olympics get underway in just a few days with opening ceremonies getting under way on Friday night from London. The home team the United Kingdom will actually have the largest delegation with 542, which is just slightly more than the United States, which has the second highest delegation, with 530 athletes.Russia will have the third highest number of athletes with 436 Olympic participants.

Ana Sofia Gomez, 16, (pictured above) will be the first gymnast to represent Guatemala at the summer games. Gomez has finished in the top five at various international competitions.

Yasser Hefny, 23, (pictured middle) an Egyptian pentathlete, was among the Muslim athletes interviewed by the Associated Press regarding Ramadan, a Muslim holiday which requires the faithful to fast until sundown, and preparation for the Olympics. Many Muslim athletes, many of whom are actually competing for western countries, will make compromise by fasting after the completion of the games. 

These summer games will also mark the debut of women's boxing, which will include Lucy O'Connor, 31, the top-ranked British boxer who is also a naval officer, who will represent the home country. This means that the only three sports with only one gender, are Greece-roman wrestling (men's), synchronized swimming (women's) and rhythmic gymnastics (women's).