London Olympic Moments of Glory

SI Staff | Aug 13, 2012

London Olympic Moments of Glory /

London Olympic Moments of Glory

Michael Phelps went down in history as the most decorated Olympian of all time, ending his career with 22 medals, 18 of which are gold. He added four gold and two silver to his collection while in London.

After losing to China at the Beijing Games, the United States assembled one of the best women's gymnastics team in history. Nicknamed the Fab Five, the women's team took all-around gold for the first time since 1996.

Usain Bolt became the first man to repeat as 100- and 200-meter champion and added another 4x100 gold to his haul as well.

Gabby Douglas won the women's all-around title, becoming the third straight American to win gymnastics' biggest prize and the first to win that title and a team gold at the same Olympics.

The U.S. women's soccer team had two seminal moments in London. First, Alex Morgan connected on a header in extra time to complete a controversial comeback win over Canada in the semifinals. Then the team avenged its 2011 World Cup loss to Japan by defeating it 2-1 in the gold-medal match, with Carli Lloyd scoring both goals as the U.S. won the Olympic title for the third consecutive time and fourth in the last five Olympics.

Led by LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant, the U.S. men's basketball team won the Olympic gold medal by once again beating Spain in the championship game.

The retiring Misty May-Treanor went out in style in her final Olympics, winning a third consecutive beach volleyball gold with teammate Kerri Walsh Jennings.

U.S.-vs.-France-basketball.jpg — John. W. McDonough/SI

The U.S. women's basketball team won its fifth consecutive gold medal with an 86-50 trouncing of France in the title game. The U.S. has now won 41 consecutive games in the Olympics, and only one team has come within single digits of the U.S. since the streak started in 1996.

6.missy-franklin.jpg — John W. McDonough/SI

Led by Missy Franklin (pictured), Katie Ledecky, Dana Vollmer, Rebecca Soni and Allison Schmitt, the U.S. women were dominant in London, winning 14 medals -- eight of them gold. Recent gold counts have been two in Beijing, three in Athens and seven in both Sydney and Atlanta.

Oscar Pistorius made history when he became the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics. Pistorius took second in his men's 400-meter preliminary race, but was eliminated in the semifinals. He ran the anchor leg on South Africa's 4x400 relay team.

The world saw Wimbledon 2.0 at the London Olympics when Andy Murray faced Roger Federer, who had just won the exact same matchup a month ago in Wimbledon. But Murray got his revenge, defeating Federer to claim the gold medal.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (far left) defended her title as the world's fastest woman, edging Carmelita Jeter of the U.S. in the 100-meter final. Fraser-Pryce is only the third woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic 100-meter titles, joining Gail Devers and Wyomia Tyus.

Allyson Felix finally won that elusive individual gold medal, pulling away from silver medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and bronze medalist Carmelita Jeter to win the 200-meters with a time of 21.88. She added gold medals on the women's 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

Jordan Burroughs of the U.S. defeated Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi of Iran in the freestyle 74kg division to earn the country's first wrestling gold medal at the London Games. It marked the 38th consecutive international freestyle win for the 24-year-old Burroughs.

Serena Williams joined Steffi Graf as the only women to win a career Golden Slam as Williams defeated Maria Sharapova in the gold medal match. Serena later joined sister Venus to win the doubles gold medal again.

Ashton Eaton joined U.S. greats such as Rafer Johnson and Bruce Jenner on the list of Olympic decathlon champions.

Training teammates in Oregon before the Olympics, Mo Farah of Great Britain (left) and Galen Rupp of the U.S. rejoice after finishing first and second in the 10,000-meter run. Rupp's silver was the first medal by the U.S. in the event since 1964.

David Boudia gave the U.S. its first gold medal by an American man since the late Mark Lenzi won the 3-meter springboard at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Boudia scored 568.65 points in the six-dive final to narrowly beat Qiu Bo of China (566.85).

Kayla Harrison earned the U.S.'s first-ever gold medal in judo.

Britain's Jessica Ennis thrilled home fans by winning the heptathlon on what will forever be known as Super Saturday in Britain. Ennis was one of three British athletes to win gold medals within a 44-minute span at Olympic Stadium, joining Mo Farah (10,000-meter run) and Greg Rutherford (long jump).

21.claressa-shields.jpg — Frank Cuffe/SI

Seventeen-year-old Claressa Shields of Flint, Mich., dominated Nadezda Torlopova, 33, of Russia to win the 75-kg title and the U.S.'s only boxing gold medal of the Games.

Japan's Kohei Uchimura the three-time world all-around champion who is considered by many the greatest male gymnast ever, won his first Olympic all-around gold.

Aly Raisman won the gold medal on the floor exercise, increasing her medal haul at the London Games to three. Her other medals were gold in team all-around and bronze on the balance beam after she sucessfully appealed her final score.

Paced by Maggie Steffens, who scored five goals in the final and led all scorers in London with 21, the U.S. women won their first ever gold in water polo with an 8-5 victory over Spain.

7.individual-All-Around.jpg — Al Tielemans/SI

With one rotation remaining, American gymnast Dannell Leyva was sixth in pursuit of the Olympic all-around individual title. He rallied to earn the bronze medal in the men's event.

Sanya Richards-Ross of the U.S. (center) raced to victory in the women's 400 meters in 49.55 seconds, holding off runnerup Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain (second from left). Richards-Ross was the favorite in the 2008 Olympics and led for much of the race before fading to third.

Mexico won the Olympic gold medal in men's soccer for the first time, upsetting Brazil 2-1. It is the biggest win in the country's rich history, even more important than its second-round World Cup victory over Bulgaria on home soil in 1986.

Published Aug 13, 2012

SI STAFF