Olympics Update – Day Seven

The U.S. won eight medals yesterday and in the process, history was made. How many of them were gold? How is the movie The Hunger Games playing in to the London Olympics and how is Ann Romney's horse doing? 

Team USA won eight medals yesterday and six of them were gold!

The swimming pool was liquid gold for the Team USA swimmers. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte won gold and silver respectively in the 200 meter individual medley. This is the third straight Olympics that Michael has won the race. He also won his 16th gold medal. Tyler Clary and Ryan Lochte went head to head in the 200 meter backstroke and Tyler won the gold medal and set an Olympic record! Ryan went home with the bronze and it looks like one of the two is on track to be the heir apparent to Michael Phelps if this is indeed his final Olympics. Rebecca Soni took the gold medal in the 200 meter breaststroke and she set a world record by breaking the record she set Thursday night in the same event.

Gabby Douglas has another gold medal in her collection after taking first in the all around gymnastics final. She is the third straight American to win the all around, following in the footsteps of Nastia Lukin who did it in 2008 and Carly Patterson who won in 2004. Bob Costas pointed this out last night and when he said it, he was right on. We don't think about it anymore because the barriers have been down for so long, but Gabby winning gold last night in the all around final makes her the first African American to accomplish the feat.

The movie The Hunger Games is having a big effect on the Olympic games. Archery is one of the biggest sports this year. It's the most popular on the cable network. It's averaging one and a half million viewers and is beating basketball in the ratings race. Team USA archer Khatuna Lorig was the one that trained Jennifer Lawrence for the film. Unfortunately, Khatuna didn't medal, but she says that she is ready for Rio in 2016.

Wife of Republican Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, Ann Romney has a horse that's participating in the dressage events. The horse, named Rafalca is being ridden by 53 year old Jan Ebling and their score from yesterday's first competition put her in 13th place out of 24 horses. Another 24 horses will compete today and only the top eleven will move on, so Jan and Rafalca will not be competing anymore.

The U.S. is now on top of the medal count with 37 total medals. China, Japan, Germany and Russia round out the top five.