Olympics Medal Tally 2012: Athletes Who Give USA Advantage over China in Track

In the quest for the most Olympic medals, USA and China have pulled ahead of every other country and every medal will be important if the U.S. wants to claim the most medals in the 2012 Games. One area where the U.S. should have a clear advantage is track. 

The U.S. already holds a 4-3 medal lead over China in track and field events, but the U.S. has more athletes that will surely be competing for medals as the track events progress. These are some of America's best opportunities to gain an advantage over China in the medal count.

Ryan Bailey

Bailey has emerged as a bit of a dark horse in the men's 100-meter dash.

Jamaicans Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake are favorites in the race and have a ton of experience among them, but Bailey opened eyes with the fastest time in the qualifying rounds posting a 9.88-second run. 

Bailey benefited from a strong tailwind in his preliminary run, but he was still one of the few runners to crack the 10-second barrier in the preliminaries. He should team up with fellow American Tyson Gay as one of the few sprinters that present a real threat to the Jamaican trio of Powell, Bolt and Blake.

Allyson Felix

The U.S. was only able to grab one medal in the women's 100-meter, but the women's 200-meter should provide the U.S. an opportunity to grab another medal from a women's sprinting event.

Felix came up short in the 100-meter, but the 200-meter has always been a better event for her and she should be right in the mix to take the gold in the event and is a mortal lock to wind up with a medal. 

Felix ran a personal best in the 100-meter at 10.89 seconds, so she has more than enough momentum to turn in a best time in the 200 and give the U.S. an advantage over China—China has no sprinters in contention.

Sanya Richards-Ross

Richards-Ross is one of the most impressive athletes in the entire U.S. Olympic track roster. Richards Ross already owns three medals from her appearances in the 2008 and 2004 Games but 2012 should be her year to really shine.

Richards-Ross ran an impressive 50.07-second time in the qualifying rounds for the second-best time among runners on Day 8. Richards Ross should also be a key component to the U.S. women's 4x400-meter relay team. 

The team took gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing and will be favored to repeat the feat in these 2012 Games.