London 2012 Predictions: American Stars Sure to Fall Short of Gold

The U.S. Olympic team gears up for action to begin this week, and there are gold-medal hopefuls all around. There are quite a few stars that will not be winning those golds, but will still continue to be loved by the general public for their efforts in London.

They will range all over the spectrum and compete in some of the most closely fought competitions out there. However, in the end, the following people will just not be able to win the gold in their respective sports.

Taekwondo Star Diana Lopez

Diana Lopez has been part of arguably the best taekwondo family in American history. She is just one of three World Champions in that family. However, she's not as quick as she used to be, and is looking to fall right around where she did in 2008 by winning a bronze medal.

There is no reason for her to be sad about that though. After gracefully representing the U.S. in multiple Olympics, she will have no shame if she ends up leaving London without a medal.

Gymnast Aly Raisman

Just to reiterate, this isn't about who will fall short of medals in general but who will fall short of the gold medal. Aly Raisman is an absolutely brilliant gymnast and will likely leave with multiple medals around her neck.

Her best events are the beam and floor exercises, but she has never won anything higher than a silver in individual competitions. Unless the women's gymnastics teams wins the gold in the all-around team competition, she will be leaving London without one around her neck. 

Swimmer Tyler Clary

When the thing you are known best for is calling out Michael Phelps and not your athletic ability, it says that you probably aren't going to win gold. Tyler Clary did finish well in the Olympic trials in both the butterfly and the backstroke.

However, Clary isn't going to beat his own teammates in the Games and will likely finish third in both the events for which he qualified. He should lose the 200-meter butterfly to the aforementioned Phelps and lose the 200-meter backstroke to Ryan Lochte.

Boxer Marlen Esparza

Marlen Esparza is the best women's amateur boxer in America right now. However, she is the third or fourth-best boxer in the world for her weight class. There is no shame in that, as she will have to go against five-time world champion Mary Kom of India.

Another woman she will have to make it through is the home country's Nicola Adams. Esparza will rise to prominence as one of the top boxers in the world. She just won't be leaving Great Britain with a gold medal around her neck.

Beach Volleyball Team Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh

They are legends in the world of beach volleyball and American Olympic heroes. However, they are also 33 and 34 years old. That's something that doesn't help when their bodies have spent the past few years jumping and landing on rough sand. 

They are still the legendary May-Treanor and Walsh duo, though. They should be able to take on the best in the world and come home with a medal. It just won't have the same luster as the rest of their collection.

Scott Carasik is a Featured Columnist and Trends and Traffic Writer for Bleacher Report. As a Featured Columnist, he covers the Atlanta Falcons, NFL and NFL Draft. He is also the Falcons analyst at Drafttek and also runs the NFL Draft Website ScarDraft.com and the host of Kvetching Draftniks Radio.

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