London 2012 Day 6: USA stretch their lead, Russia advancing
After Day 6 of one of the most exciting editions of the Olympic Games, the USA jump ahead of the pack and establish a convincing leadership in GSN’s Olympic ranking.
Swimming once again was a treasure trove of medals and assorted placements for the US, notably Rebecca Soni’s gold in the 200m Women’s Breaststroke, and Michael Phelps’ gold and Ryan Lochte’s silver in the Men’s 200m Medley. As a result the US are leading the Swimming ranking with 575 points (62% of all their points so far), way ahead of Australia (217 points).Rowing and Artistic Gymnastics (gold – Gabrielle Douglas’ -and fourth place in the Individual All-round contest) added up to the Americans’ impressive tally of 929 points, 168 more than second-placed China.
Are the US too far ahead already? Probably not. But China will have to surpass themselves in Athletics if they want to close the gap. A tall order, with the added complication that the USA are looking much stronger than their oriental rivals in the forthcoming team ball sports finals.
So far China has had great results (3 golds included) in Swimming and Diving (4 golds!), plus the expected golds and silvers in Table Tennis and first-rate performances in Artistic Gymnastics.
Behind them, Japan is surprisingly holding forth in 3rd place, though they can be expected to fade once the Athletics contests begin, and Russia is gradually rising, now in 4th place.
Other top ten news: Germany is still struggling in 8th place, with France one place ahead of them (another Euro derby...) after a brilliant Swimming campaign. South Korea is a dark horse in 5th place and Great Britain wallows in the backwaters, 9th overall with only a 22 points margin over Australia.
The good news is that GBR’s Men cyclists are shaping up: they took gold in the Team Sprint (Track Cycling) after Bradley Wiggins’ historic win in the Individual Time Trial (Road Cycling) in Day 5. The British Lion is not beaten yet, and the home crowd can now look forward to a classic Murray vs Federer final of the Tennis Men’s Singles event.
