Olympic Results 2012: US Athletes Who Will Continue to Disappoint

No matter how brightly some stars shined during the Olympic trials, it's impossible to predict how they're going to fare when the pressure of the real thing actually hits.

That doesn't stop us from trying to make predictions, but in the case of this summer, many of them have already gone way out the window. Some of the best swimmers for the U.S. have inexplicably floundered, while some of the best gymnasts have simply collapsed, as much to their own surprise as to ours.

Here's a look at some of the Olympians who are likely to continue to struggle after stumbling early in the Games. You can see full Olympic results here. 

Ryan Lochte

Perhaps Lochte and Michael Phelps are on opposite trajectories. While Phelps failed to medal in his first event of this summer's Games, Lochte blew away the competition and earned the gold in the 400-meter individual medley with a time of four minutes, 5.18 seconds.

Since then, though, it has not been smooth sailing. The day after winning the 400 IM, he earned the silver in the 4x100-meter freestyle final, and on Monday, in the 200-meter freestyle, he didn't even medal, finishing fourth with a time of 1:45.04.

So what's going on with him? Did he peak too early? Is he getting tired? Or did we all get so excited over his dominance in one event that we immediately assumed he'd become the next Phelps?

One thing is for sure: Lochte kicked off the Olympics with a stellar performance in his toughest event, but since then, the events haven't gotten much harder, yet he's been worse.

Maybe he's just tired, or maybe when Phelps isn't around, he isn't as motivated. Lochte will have another shot at redemption this week when he faces his nemesis in the 200-meter IM, but Phelps beat him in that event at this year's trials.

Lochte's best swimming may very well be behind him.

Jordyn Wieber

This was an outcome nobody saw coming. As the Olympic trials approached, Wieber was supposed to be the star of this summer's women's gymnastics team. She was, after all, the 2012 U.S. all-around champion and the 2011 World Championships all-around gold medalist.

But the trouble started at the trials, when Gabby Douglas upstaged her to finish first all-around. Wieber seemed to brush off the disappointment—until the Olympics started and she somehow failed to qualify for the all-around competition, losing to teammates Douglas and Aly Raisman.

According to ESPN.com, Wieber has only lost two all-around competitions since 2008. So how did this happen? How did she crumble on the biggest stage of all when she was supposed to be America's gymnastics savior?

Maybe it was the pressure, or maybe her competition has just gotten that much better while Wieber has plateaued. Either way, it's Douglas and Raisman—not Wieber—who have been the big stories for the women's gymnastics team, and now, it's up to them to give the U.S. their best shot at taking home gold.

Men's Gymnastics

Heading into this year's Games, the U.S. men's team seemed to be stocked with talent.

The headliner, Danell Leyva, won the gold on the parallel bars at the 2011 World Championships and was the all-around victor at the 2012 AT&T American Cup. Teammate John Orozco finished second all-around at the trials and first all-around at the 2012 Visa Championships.

And yet, when it came down to it, those two and their teammates couldn't find a way to medal in the men's team final on Monday night, let alone beat China and Japan.

China took the gold, Japan earned the silver and Great Britain took the bronze, while the U.S. shockingly finished fifth.

Both Orozco and Leyva made uncharacteristic mistakes in their events, while 19-year-old Sam Mikulak admitted to the Los Angeles Times that nerves contributed to a poor performance.

The men's team still has a shot at some redemption in the upcoming individual events, but their tasks now look far more difficult than ever.

China seems to have shaken out the early kinks that contributed to a sixth-place finish in the team qualification and is getting stronger with each day.

The U.S. team, by comparison, has looked mediocre the whole way through. The American stars may have excelled in championships on their home turf, but they just haven’t looked good enough to upstage the talent China and Japan are offering.