Summer Olympics 2012: Medal Predictions and Results for Day 1

Pool/Getty Images

The Olympics are about pageantry, national pride, lifelong dreams and competitive ideals. And they're about medals. 

That's where this slideshow comes in: medals—who's expected to win them and who does win them on Day 1 of medal competition at the London Games, July 28.

Bleacher Report's predictions for the day's medal winners are based on research of the picks from Sports Illustrated and USA Today, event previews at SI.com and Yahoo, information from sport-specific websites and the expertise of Bleacher Report's Olympic writers.

Throughout the day, this slideshow will update with the actual winners of each event.

Cycling: Men's Road Race

Mark Cavendish
Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

UPDATE: Alexandr Vinokurov of Kazakhstan took gold in the Olympic men’s road cycling race in London Saturday, besting not only Colombian Rigoberto Uran (silver) and Norway's Alexander Kristoff (bronze), but also gold medal favorite Mark Cavendish or Great Britain, who finished 29th.

American Taylor Phinney came in fourth by the slimmest of margins, just missing out on an Olympic medal.

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Mark Cavendish, Great Britain

Silver: Tom Boonen, Belgium

Bronze: Peter Sagan, Slovakia

Shooting: Women's 10m Air Rifle

Katerina Emmons
Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

UPDATE: China's Yi Siling won the first gold medal of the London Olympics Saturday morning, topping Poland's Sylwia Bogacka (silver) and fellow countrywoman Yu Dan (bronze) in the 10m air rifle competition.

Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic—the winner originally predicted below—finished fourth, while Americans Jamie Gray and Sarah Scherer finished fifth and seventh.

 

Original Prediction

Gold: Katerina Emmons, Czech Republic

Silver: Yi Siling, China

Bronze: Sonja Pfeilschifter, Germany

Shooting: Men's 10m Air Pistol

Jin Jong-Oh
Phil Walter/Getty Images

Event time: 10:30 a.m. ET

Venue: Royal Artillery Barracks

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Jin Jong-Oh, South Korea

Silver: Luca Tesconi, Italy

Bronze: Andrija Zlatic, Serbia

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Jin Jong-Oh, South Korea

Silver: Andrija Zlatic, Serbia

Bronze: Tomoyuki Matsuda, Japan

 

Of note: Jin won gold in the 50-meter pistol event in Beijing.

Weightlifting: Women's 48kg (106 lbs.)

Tian Yuan. Xinhua/Laurent Zabulon

Event time: 10:30 a.m. ET

Venue: Earls Court

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Wang Mingjuan, China

Silver: Hiromi Miyake, Japan

Bronze: Ryang Chun Hwa, North Korea

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Tian Yuan, China

Silver: Panida Khamsri, Thailand

Bronze: Nurcan Taylan, Turkey

 

Of note: Tian holds the world records in clean-and-jerk and overall (via SI).

Judo: Women's 48kg (106 lbs.)

Tomoko Fukumi. Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images AsiaPac

Event time: 11 a.m. ET

Venue: ExCeL-North Arena 2

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Sarah Menezes, Brazil

Silver: Alina Dumitru, Romania

Bronze: Charline van Snick, Belgium

Bronze: Eva Cservnoviczki, Hungary

 

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Tomoko Fukumi, Japan

Silver: Sarah Menezes, Brazil

Bronze: Charline van Snick, Belgium

Bronze: Alina Dumitru, Romania

 

Of note: In judo, two bronze medals are awarded.

Judo: Men's 60kg (132 Lbs.)

Rishod Sobirov
Feng Li/Getty Images

Event time: 11:10 a.m. ET

Venue: ExCeL-North Arena 2

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Arsen Galtsyan, Russia

Silver: Hiroaki Hiraoka, Japan

Bronze: Felipe Kitadai, Brazil

Bronze:  Rishod Sobirov, Uzbekistan

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Rishod Sobirov, Uzbekistan

Silver: Hiroaki Hiraoka, Japan

Bronze: Georgii Zantaraia, Ukraine

Bronze:  Amiran Papinashvili, Georgia

 

Of note: Sobirov won bronze in Beijing.

Archery: Men's Team

South Korea Archery Team
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Event time: 1 p.m. ET

Venue: Lord's Cricket Ground

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Italy

Silver: USA

Bronze: South Korea

 

Original Predictions

Gold: South Korea

Silver: France

Bronze: USA

 

Of note: South Korea has won the last two gold medals in this event.

Swimming: Men's 400m Individual Medley

Ryan Lochte
Adam Pretty/Getty Images

Event time: 2:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Aquatics Centre

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Ryan Lochte, USA

Silver: Thiago Pereira, Brazil

Bronze: Kosuke Hagino, Japan

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Ryan Lochte, USA

Silver: Michael Phelps, USA

Bronze: Kosuke Hagino, Japan

 

Of note: Lochte beat Phelps in this event at the U.S. trials.

 

UPDATE: Phelps posted the slowest time of the eight qualifiers Saturday morning despite winning his heat.

Fencing: Women's Individual Foil

Valentina Vezzali
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

Event time:  2:40 p.m. ET

Venue: ExCeL-South Arena 1

 

Predicted Medalists

Gold: Elisa Di Francisca, Italy

Silver: Arianna Errigo, Italy

Bronze: Valentina Vezzali, Italy

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Valentina Vezzali, Italy

Silver: Nam Hyun-hee, South Korea

Bronze: Elisa Di Francisca, Italy

 

Of note: Vezzali has won three straight individual Olympic gold medals.

Swimming: Men's 400m Freestyle

Park Tae-Hwan
Adam Pretty/Getty Images

Event time: 2:49 p.m. ET

Venue: Aquatics Centre

Actual Medalists

Gold: Sun Yang, China

Silver: Park Tae-Hwan, South Korea

Bronze: Peter Vanderkaay, U.S.

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Park Tae-Hwan, Korea

Silver: Sun Yang, China

Bronze: Paul Biedermann, Germany

 

Of note: Park won in Beijing.

Swimming: Women's 400m Individual Medley

Elizabeth Beisel
Al Bello/Getty Images

Event time: 3:09 p.m. ET

Venue: Aquatics Centre

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Yi Shiwen, China

Silver: Elizabeth Beisel, USA

Bronze: Li Xuanxu, China

 

Original Predictions

Gold: Elizabeth Beisel, USA

Silver: Hannah Miley, Great Britain

Bronze: Stephanie Rice, Australia

 

Of note: Rice is the defending champion in this event.

Women's 4x100m Freestyle

Jessica Hardy
Eric Francis/Getty Images

Event time: 3: 40 p.m. ET

Venue: Aquatics Centre

 

Actual Medalists

Gold: Australia

Silver: Netherlands

Bronze: United States

 

Original Predictions

Gold: United States

Silver: Netherlands

Bronze: Australia

 

Of note: Netherlands won this event in 2008.