Olympic Gymnastics Schedule 2012: Essential Guide to Day 3 Action

Team USA is living a dream.

The 2012 Summer Olympics’ Day 3 schedule is headlined by the men’s gymnastics team final. There, an upset will be brewing after a shocking development in the qualifying round.

Gymnastics competition begins on Monday, July 30th at 11:30 a.m. ET (via ESPN).

On Saturday, the U.S. blew away the competition, recording a score of 275.342. The closest country to the Americans was Russia, who finished almost three points behind them.

Now, while Team USA’s women were expected to dominate all opposition, the men weren’t. Based on pre-London expectations, winning any medal would’ve been an acceptable result for the men’s squad. After this weekend’s results, though, the bar has been raised.

China and Japan were heavily favored going into the competition. Instead of awing the crowd, though, they finished fifth and sixth in the standings. They’ll get a chance to bounce back in the final, but it’s safe to say that the Americans have swung the momentum in their favor.

Juliet Macur of the New York Times reported that Team USA superstar Danell Leyva talked about the necessity for his squad to maintain their competitive edge. He said after their phenomenal performance on Saturday:

“Stay grounded, stay humble. It’s the Olympics. You can’t be too confident. If you are, you’re going to slip up and do something that you don’t want to do.”

While the U.S. looks like they’re in the driver’s seat, they haven’t won anything yet. Scores from qualifiers don’t carry over in to the finals. Eight teams’ slates will be wiped clean.

The Americans will compete against Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, China, Ukraine and France for gymnastics supremacy. The squad with the best combined score on the floor, horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, rings and vault will take home the gold.

This is everything these gymnasts have trained for their entire lives. They’ve visualized this moment for since they began their rise as Olympic-caliber athletes. On Monday, eight nations’ teams will live out their dreams, but only one’s will end how they envisioned it.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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