From day one of the Rio Olympics, the United States has showed its dominance and hasn’t stopped. Our athletes have made history in so many events and will continue to do so as the games go on. The medal count is at 69 total medals, with 26 being gold, 21 silver and 22 bronze. And it doesn't appear that any country is going to catch up to us anytime soon. I’m sure that number will only increase as the games continue. In case you’ve been living under a rock and have missed major highlights of the games, here’s a quick summary to help you out:
Let’s start off with swimming, a sport we have dominated and are arguably the greatest in this year. The US swim team has taken home 33 total medals and 16 of those are gold. Big moments of the US swim team include:
1. Michael Phelps taking home his 23rd Olympic gold medal and becoming the most decorated Olympian in history. Watching him stand on that podium one last time and tear up while the national anthem played had me, along with the rest of America, feel all the feels. Though he announced that this will be his final Olympics, I'm sure this isn't the last we are going to hear from or see the legend.
2. Katie Ledecky--If you didn't know the name before, you do now. Taking home four gold and one silver, she has made a name for herself this Olympic games as she broke her own world record multiple times and shocked the world with her insanely fast times. Luckily for Team USA, it sounds like she will be heading to Tokyo in four years for another round of Olympic games.
3. Anthony Ervin might be one of the oldest swimmers competing at the games, but that didn't stop him as he took home two gold medals. He shocked everyone when he pulled ahead and defeated other favorites to win. It's been 16 years since he won the same event in the 2000 Sydney games.
4. Simone Manuel became the first African American swimmer to win a gold medal at the Olympic games, once again creating another historic moment at this years Olympic games for the US swim team.
And there were so many other amazing swimmers such as Nathan Adrian, Madeline Dirado, Ryan Murphy and others who helped make the US swim team go down in history at these Olympic games.
Along with swimming, we have also dominated Women's Gymnastics thanks to the amazingly talented team that includes Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez. While two of them are defending Olympic champs, the other three are new to the games but that didn't seem to stop the team one bit as they took home the gold for team all-around, beating the second place team by nearly 10 points. If that's not enough, other big moments of the US Women's Gymnastics team included:
1. Simone Biles proving that she might be a superhuman as she took home the gold in the individual all-around, gold in the team all-around and now a gold in vault. She isn't just an amazing athlete--she's so much fun to watch as she dominates all of her events. She has the potential to be the world's greatest gymnast. You go girl!
2. Aly Raisman took home the silver for the individual all-round, the event the she had a huge upset in during the London games in 2012 when the bronze medal was taken from her.
The US rowing team also had quite some success so far during the games as they take home a gold and a silver. The gold medal went to the eight women as they won the coxed eight. And the silver went to Gevvie Stone for women's single sculls.
Yet another gold was won for Team USA by the defending Olympic champion Kayla Harrison when she won her judo bout. A silver medal was also taken home by Travis Stevens in judo as well.
The first gold won by Team USA was taken home by Virginia Thrasher in the women's 10m air rifle. Since then, two more bronze medals have been picked up in shooting as well.
Track and Field didn't start too long ago and the US is already showing their strength as our athletes have won 6 total medals, 2 of which are gold. Highlights from Track and Field include:
1. The gold medal for women's shot put won by Michelle Carter in day one of track and field. She started off the success for Team USA as the track and field days continue.
2. Another gold medal was snatched up by Jeff Henderson for long jump as he won by 1 centimeter on day two of track and field. Hold that flag high, you deserve it!
3. Tori Bowie took home silver in the women's 100m. Bowie surpassed the two-time defending olympic champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, so she basically took home a gold when you look at who she beat.
4. Another silver was recently taken home by Justin Gatlin for the men's 100m. He was only .08 seconds slower than the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, who defended his name and took home the gold to Jamaica. Now, that's super impressive if you ask me.
I could go on forever talking about how amazing Team USA is at this years olympics, but that might take days or even weeks. Check out more Team USA highlights at NBC and keep up with the games by supporting the greatest athletes in the world from the greatest country in the world. Major props to all of the athletes competing and all of the athletes who have won. You're making your country proud.
