US Olympic Medal Count 2012: US Volleyball Domination Provides Leg Up on China

By the time all the medals had been given out on Day 12 at the 2012 London Olympics, the United States finally surpassed rival China as the top medal-getting country of the Games.

The Chinese still have two more gold medals to their credit (36 to 34), but American competitors now hold a four-medal advantage on their biggest competition (81-76).

Day 12 was a big day for the United States, and its biggest event was beach volleyball. Without the American dominance on the beach, the US wouldn't be three medals to the good.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh defeated fellow Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross in the gold medal match at Horse Guards Parade in front of a jacked-up crowd to complete the unprecedented feat of winning back-to-back-to-back golds on the beach.

May-Treanor and Walsh, 35 and 33, looked just as spry as they did in the 2004 Athens Games when they won their inaugural gold. 

In the semifinal match, the duo beat China's Xue Chen and Xi Zhang 22-20 in both sets to ensure that they would be fighting for the gold medal. The Chinese team pushed the Americans to the brink, but it takes something special to beat May-Treanor and Walsh—and Xue and Xi didn't have it.

Not only did that win send May-Treanor and Walsh to the final, but it sent the Chinese to the bronze medal match, putting them in position to fail to medal.

Xue and Xi would have to wait to see which team they would play, though.

Kessy and Ross met Brazil's Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva in their semifinal tilt, attempting to set up an All-American final. Despite some early trouble, they did exactly that, mounting a comeback win over their rival Brazilians in a marathon match that lasted nearly an hour.

That ensured that the United States would be guaranteed gold and silver in the beach volleyball event, as Kessy and Ross went for their first gold and May-Treanor and Walsh went for the trifecta.

More importantly, Xue and Xi went on to lose the bronze medal match against Franca and Silva. The Chinese team had a one-set lead and appeared to be heading toward an easy win, but a massive momentum change allowed Brazil to storm back for victory.

Thanks to a series of fortunate events that left the Americans with two medals in beach volleyball and China with zero, the United States was able to close the gap on its greatest threat in the overall medal race.

Here are the top-five countries in the medal race.

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
United States	34	22	25	81
China	36	22	19	77
Russia	11	19	22	52
Great Britain	22	13	13	48
Germany	7	15	10	32

Here is a link to the full leaderboard.