London Catch-Up, Day 5: Nathan Adrian wins gold by a fingertip
1. The margin between gold and silver for U.S. swimmer Nathan Adrian on Wednesday was a mere one hundredth of a second. Adrian surged in the final stages of the men's 100-meter freestyle and out-touched race favorite James Magnussen of Australia at the wall, winning by a mere fingertip at most. Adrian finished in 47.52 seconds, just ahead of Magnussen's 47.53.
[Photos: U.S. swimmer Nathan Adrian]
2. Seventeenth in the men's all-around competition after two rotations, U.S. gymnast Dannell Leyva rallied to make sure he won't leave London empty-handed. He scored well enough on the rings, the vault, the parallel bars and the high bar to secure third place behind Japan's Kohei Uchimura and Germany's Marcel Nguyen. That will ease at least some of the U.S. team's pain after failing to medal in the team competition.
3. Mariel Zagunis' bid for a third straight Olympic sabre gold medal ended in heartbreak on Wednesday evening. The U.S. flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony squandered an early lead and fell to South Korea's Kim Jiyeon 15-13 in the semifinals, then fell to Olga Kharlan of Ukraine in the bronze-metal match. The U.S. failed to medal in the event after sweeping the medals in Beijing four years ago.
[Related: Zagunis still a rarity in U.S. Olympic fencing]
4. When the Olympic men's soccer competition began last week, Spain and Uruguay were expected to be two of favorite Brazil's biggest obstacles to its first-ever gold medal. Instead, neither made the quarterfinals, the Spanish going out without scoring a goal in the group stage and the Uruguayans dropping their final two games of group play to Senegal and host Great Britain. Who are the Brazilians' top challengers now? Most likely Mexico, Great Britain or Japan, each of whom won their respective groups.
5. Brady Ellison entered the Olympics having won 35 of 37 matches to seize the top spot in the world archery rankings, but the 23-year-old American did not even reach the medal stand in London. He crashed out of the archery competition in the round of 16, falling 7-1 to 21-year-old Australian Taylor Worth. It was Worth's second victory over Ellison in the past three years, and this one came on the Australian's birthday.
It had been 24 years since Germany last won the most significant race in Olympic rowing, so it didn't miss the chance to celebrate. The German men's eight team tossed coxswain Martin Sauer high in the air and into Dorney Lake after out-dueling Canada, Great Britain and the United States to take gold. (AP)
"It's pretty close. I could not believe it when I saw it. I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off." — U.S. swimmer Missy Franklin on whether it was a bigger thrill to win her first gold medal or hear from Justin Bieber. (New York Times)
• Men's basketball: USA vs. Nigeria (5:15 p.m. ET), France vs. Lithuania (4 a.m. ET)
• Women's tennis quarterfinals: Kim Clijsters vs. Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams vs Caroline Wozniacki (6:30 a.m. ET)
• Rowing: Women's Eight, final (7:30 a.m. ET)
• Swimming: Women's 200-meter breast stroke final, men's 200-meter breast stroke final, women's 100-meter freestyle, men's 200-meter individual medley (2:30-4 p.m. ET)
More Olympics coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Badminton tournament marred by disingenuous competition
• Wieber finds redemption as U.S. women find gold
• Queen's granddaughter wins a silver medal