London 2012 Medal Count: Upcoming Events Where USA Will Boost Gold Total
Team USA has turned in a solid five gold medals and 17 total medals by the end of Day 3 at the 2012 Olympics, and they certainly aren't done collecting hardware, which is good news for them because they trail China in the gold medal department by four.
By the end of this week, they will definitely be in double digits for gold medals. Shoot, they may have double digits just in swimming events by then.
At any rate, here are three events in the coming week where they will win gold.
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Rowing: Women's Eights, Finals on Thursday, August 2
The Americans are the defending Olympic gold medalist in this event, and this squad might be more dominant than the last. This is a nice development for the Americans as the gold in Beijing was their first in this event in any non-boycotted Olympics.
Five of the eight rowers from that gold-medal team are back to defend the gold, and this continuity is certainly a good thing. The U.S. has won the past five women's eight world championships.
This experienced and dominant squad will not let the gold out of their grasp.
Swimming: Missy Franklin: 200-meter Backstroke, Finals on Friday, August 3
On Monday, Missy "The Missile" Franklin won the gold in the 100-meter backstroke. This is excellent news for her, and a sign that the rest of the swimmers may as well just concede the gold in the 200 backstroke.
Franklin swam that gold-medal run about 10 minutes after a freestyle qualifying swim. Also, this is her best event. She has the fastest time in the world by almost half-a-second, and she will likely better that in the Olympics.
She will not be beaten.
Swimming: Women's 4x100-meter Medley, Finals on Saturday, August 4
Let's stay in the pool for another gold medal lock, and this is the biggest lock of all. With the likes of Franklin, Natalie Coughlin and recent gold medalist and world-record setter Dana Vollmer ready to power this relay team, they are heads and shoulders above the competition.
This one isn't going to be close. In fact, the Americans' qualifying time is over three full seconds better than their next closest competitor, China.
The only compelling aspect of this race for gold will be how much can the Americans win by.
London Olympics Medal Count (As of Monday, July 30 at 10 p.m. ET)
 |  |  | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 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 |
 | South Korea Total: 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
 | Russia Total: 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
 | North Korea Total: 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
 | Australia Total: 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
 | Romania Total: 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
 | Hungary Total: 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
 | Brazil Total: 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
 | Ukraine Total: 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
 | Great Britain Total: 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 | Kazakhstan Total: 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
 | Netherlands Total: 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
 | Colombia Total: 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
 | Lithuania Total: 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | Georgia Total: 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | South Africa Total: 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | Cuba Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Poland Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Thailand Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Chinese Taipei Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Germany Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Mexico Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Mongolia Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Moldova Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Canada Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Azerbaijan Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Belgium Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Norway Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Serbia Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Slovakia Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Uzbekistan Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Indonesia Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | India Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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