London 2012 Medal Count: Athletes Who Will Fail to Boost Their Country's Total

The 2012 Summer Olympics are past the halfway point, and the overall medal standings are rapidly taking shape. 

Various athletes have turned in world-class performances to add to their country's total tally, while others have failed to help their national team climb the Olympic leaderboard. That trend will not change as London's events continue.

Let's take a look at three athletes who will fail to boost their country's total medal count.

For the complete 2012 Olympic medal count, check out Bleacher Report's tracker!

Olympic Medal Tracker
	China Total: 73	34	21	18
	United States Total: 70	30	19	21
	Great Britain Total: 48	22	13	13
	Russia Total: 48	10	18	20
	Japan Total: 29	2	13	14

Aries Merritt

Merritt is Team USA's best 110-meter hurdler, but he will fail to medal in London. Teammate Jason Richardson will provide extremely stiff competition at the top, and one surprise candidate seems to emerge in each final event. You can't forget about Dayron Robles, either. 

It's not like Merritt isn't accomplished, he just hasn't done much lately. He won the World Junior Championship's gold medal in 2004 in the 110 hurdles, but he hasn't done anything at this distance since then.

Merritt won the 60-meter hurdles at the 2011 World Championships, but that success won't translate. His success at this distance was short-lived, and he won't reestablish himself in London.

Argentina Men's Basketball Team

OK so this is a lot of athletes, but they will still fail collectively. Argentina's basketball team boasts a ton of NBA experience, but that won't translate to an Olympic medal. 

Predicting Olympic basketball medals beyond Team USA is tough. Spain, Brazil, France and Argentina are all conceivable threats to earn a top-three finish, but Argentina will be the odd team out.

Their best player, Manu Ginobili, has played well, but their perimeter hasn't given him enough help. Carlos Delfino and Pablo Prigioni are fine players, but they don't change games.

Argentina's frontcourt, led by Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni, is talented, but they aren't as good as Brazil or Spain's interior group. If it comes to that, the Argentinian big men will be bullied.

Team USA already defeated this team by 29 on Monday. Granted they did rest Scola for part of the game, and Prigioni was absent for all of it, but it still wasn't a solid team showing. 

They are a talented squad, but don't expect them to accept a medal by the time hoops' action comes to a close.

Caster Semenya

Semenya has had a long and wild ride on her way to London. The South African 800-meter runner has gone through an ongoing dispute about her gender, and she will look to triumph over that adversity.

There's no doubting Semenya's ability. She took gold in this event at the 2009 World Championships and a silver in the 2011 edition. She's incredibly talented, but her off-track distractions will prove to be too much.

This event has several contenders, and it could go any which way. Semenya will duel with Pamela Jelimo, Mariya Savinova and a couple of underdogs (namely Alysia Montano and Fantu Magiso). It's tough to bet against Jelimo after her gold in Beijing, and someone will have to be the odd woman out of this mix.

Semenya's story is very interesting, but she won't claim a medal in London. The field for this event is too deep, and Semenya's focus will be an issue.