Olympic Medal Count 2012: Events in Which Team USA Is Guaranteed Gold

Team USA is exactly where they don’t want to be.

Second.

They haven’t gotten off to an ideal start in the 2012 Olympic medal count race. While the U.S. is tied with China for total medals won, the Chinese boast more gold. With plenty of action left, though, the Americans have more than enough time to leapfrog their rivals for the No. 1 spot.

Out of all the events Team USA is favored in, here are three that they’re guaranteed gold in.

3. Women’s Gymnastics Team All-Around

In the qualification round of the women’s gymnastics competition, the U.S. dominated. They boasted three out of the top-four individual performers in Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Jordyn Wieber while McKayla Maroney finished first on the vault. Combatively, no other nation finished with more than two gymnasts in the top 10.

America’s favorite teenage superstars aren’t losing, especially with Wieber being more determined than ever.

2. Decathlon

The best decathlete in the world wore red, white and blue in Beijing. That man, Brian Clay, was favored to win it all again in London, that is, until Ashton Eaton defeated him and set a world record in the U.S. Trials.

Eaton is only 24 years old, but he’s the best decathlete to ever live. He broke a record that Roman Šebrle had set over a decade ago. Eaton also set decathlon records in the 100-meter dash and long jump, making him the only man to hold multiple records in separate decathlon events.

1. Men and Women’s Basketball

Let’s be real. If either American basketball team were to fail to win the gold medal, the world would implode. OK, maybe not implode, but it’d be an upset of historic proportions.

Nine out of Team USA’s 12 men are NBA All-Stars. The only three that aren’t: Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler, Sixth Man of the Year James Harden and first-overall pick Anthony Davis. No other roster is on the same planet talent-wise.

The women’s team is even more overwhelming. For example, according to Bovada, they were favored to defeat Angola on Monday by 54 points.

Each squad is the definition of a guarantee.

Here are the top-five countries' totals thus far and the full table of medal results.

OLYMPIC MEDAL TRACKER
	China  Total: 17	9	5	3
	United States  Total: 17	5	7	5
	Japan  Total: 11	1	4	6
	Italy  Total: 8	2	4	2
	France  Total: 7	3	1	3

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

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