London Olympics 2012: Day 5

Day five's most pleasant surprises involved two men in two different sports.

Nathan Adrian shocked himself even more than he shocked the rest of us when he upset James Magnussen by one one hundredth of a second to win his first ever individual gold in the 100m free. I think his humility, all around good- naturedness, and obvious athletic talent have really made him one of the heroes of these games.

"My life may change now, I'll take it all it for what it's worth." These words alone make you want to respect and appreciate Adrian all the more. Before this Olympics is over, Adrian still has the medley relay, and I'm almost certain we'll be seeing him in Rio in 2016.

Men's 100m Freestyle

rank lane
1      5    Nathan Adrian U.S.A. 47.52
2      4    James Magnussen Australia 47.53
3      7    Brent Hayden Canada 47.80
4      1    Agnel Yannick France 47.84
5      6    Sebastiaan Verschuren Netherlands 47.88
6      2    Cesar Cielo Brazil 47.92
7      3    Hanser Garcia Cuba 48.04
8      8    Nikita Lobintsev Russia 48.44

Danell Leyva shocked the Gymnastics world bouncing back from near disaster on the pommel horse to win a bronze medal in the Men's All Around. Leyva called his bronze, "beautiful", but said that gold would have been "perfect". He applauded as Kohei Uchimura took to the podium, after all, Leyva lost the gold to a man who will arguably go down as the best men's gymnast ever. He won silver in the all around in Beijing and won the last three world championships, and now the gold. Marcel Nguyen took the silver giving Germany their first medal in men's gymnastics since 1936!

Said Leyva of his bronze, "This was definitely a redemption not only for me but for the whole Team USA," Leyva said. "I didn't do the pommel routine I wanted to do, that I knew that I could. But I used it to channel into positive energy. I kept fighting and finished strong, and I'm really, really happy with the way that I finished."

Lots of heartbreak for the Americans in the pool last night after their medal hopes were dashed in the Men's 200m Breaststroke and the Women's 200m Butterfly. That being said, two countries that normally do not win many swimming medals picked up a couple of silvers last night: Spain and Great Britain. Gyurta was the favorite in the men's event, and not only won gold, but set a new world record.

Men's 200m Breaststroke

rank lane
1     5     Daniel Gyurta Hungary 2:07.28 WR
2     4     Michael Jamieson Great Britain 2:07.43
3     1     Ryo Tateishi Japan 2:08.29
4     2     Kosuke Kitajima Japan 2:08.35
5     6     Scott Weltz U.S.A. 2:09.02
6     7     Clark Burckle U.S.A. 2:09.25
7     8     Brenton Rickard Australia 2:09.28
8     3     Andrew Willis Great Britain 2:09.44

Women's 200m Butterfly

rank lane
1     5      Liuyang Jiao China 2:04.06 OR
2     6      Mireia Belmonte Garcia Spain 2:05.25
3     3      Natsumi Hoshi Japan 2:05.28
4     4      Kathleen Hersey U.S.A. 2:05.78
5     1      Cammile Adams U.S.A. 2:06.78
6     8      Jemma Lowe Great Britain 2:06.80
7     2      Zsuzsanna Jakabos Hungary 2:07.33
8     7      Zige Liu China 2:07.77

What redeemed the night in swimming was the U.S. women setting an Olympic record while winning the gold in the 4x200m relay. The team was led by Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland, and Allison Schmitt.

Women's 4x200m Relay

rank lane
1     5     U.S.A. 7:42.92 OR
2     4     Australia 7:44.41
3     2     France 7:47.49
4     3     Canada 7:50.65
5     1     Great Britain 7:52.37
6     7     China 7:53.11
7     6     Italy 7:56.30
8     8     Japan 7:56.73