Olympic Medal Count 2012: Contenders USA Needs to Come Through to Beat China
The United States pulled back into the overall medal lead on Day 12 of the 2012 Olympics as they lead China 81 to 77.
Both of these powerhouse countries have plenty of gold medal favorites left to compete, which means the race for the overall medal crown is going to come down to which borderline medal contenders can come through with some hardware.
If these next three athletes come through, the U.S. will be in great shape.
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Check out B/R's Standings and Medal Winners Tracker here, and view the totals following Day 11 below.
Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi, Men's Marathon
The marathon is not typically an event the U.S. looks towards to help them boost their medal count, but they have a legitimate shot at doing so this year.
Ryan Hall has a personal best of 2 minutes, 04.58 seconds, which is certainly good enough to put him in the medal mix.
Hall is not the American's only threat here either. Meb Keflezighi won silver in this event in the 2004 Games. He is now 36, but he ran a personal best this past November, so age hasn't exactly slowed him down yet.
He appears to be healthy and ready to go, and when that happens, he performs.
Kelsey Campbell, Women's Freestyle 55 kg
Kelsey Campbell is in a tough weightclass, and she is no where close to being the favorite, but she won't be afraid of being the underdog.
After dropping down a weightclass, she pulled one off to win the U.S. Olympic Trials by beating 2011 U.S. Team Trials champ Helen Maroulis.
She is also not a stranger to winning. She was twice a national collegiate champion, and in 2011 she won the Pan American Games gold medal, Mongolian Open, and Poland Open.
All of that said, it would be a major upset if she or anyone else beside Japan's Saori Yoshida won this gold. Yoshida is a individual dynasty. Since 2002, she is the only person in this weightclass to take gold at the World Championships or the Olympics gold.
Campbell will also have to deal with last year's World Championship silver medalist and two-time Olympic medalist Tonya Verbeek of Canada. She is going to have her work cut out for her, but Campbell is on a nice roll at this weight, and she has serious potential to exceed expectations.
Galen Rupp, Men's 5,000 Meters
Galen Rupp has already had a great trip to London. He took the silver in the 10,000-meter race to win the U.S. its first medal in that since 1964.
Now he turns his attention to going half that distance in the 5,000. He won this race at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
On August 9, Sports.williamhill.com has Rupp's odds at 14/1 to win gold. That is the fifth lowest odds on the board. The favorite is Mo Farah, who Rupp narrowly lost to in the 10,000.
This is yet another race where the U.S. has not medaled since 1964.
Rupp can change that. He is going to have to run the race of his life to medal, but the way he is going it wouldn't be a shock to see him jog out of this event with his second medal.
London Olympics Medal Count - At the End of Day 12
 |  |  | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | United States Total: 81 | 34 | 22 | 25 |
 | China Total: 76 | 35 | 22 | 19 |
 | Russia Total: 52 | 11 | 19 | 22 |
 | Great Britain Total: 48 | 22 | 13 | 13 |
 | Germany Total: 32 | 7 | 15 | 10 |
 | Japan Total: 31 | 4 | 13 | 14 |
 | France Total: 28 | 8 | 9 | 11 |
 | Australia Total: 26 | 5 | 12 | 9 |
 | South Korea Total: 24 | 12 | 6 | 6 |
 | Italy Total: 17 | 7 | 6 | 4 |
 | Netherlands Total: 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
 | Canada Total: 14/td> | 1 | 4 | 9 |
 | Hungary Total: 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 |
 | New Zealand Total: 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
 | Brazil Total: 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
 | Belarus Total: 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
 | Ukraine Total: 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
 | Romania Total: 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
 | Denmark Total: 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
 | Kazakhstan Total: 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
 | Iran Total: 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
 | Poland Total: 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
 | Cuba Total: 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
 | Spain Total: 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
 | Sweden Total: 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
 | Jamaica Total: 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
 | Czech Republic Total: 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
 | North Korea Total: 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
 | Kenya Total: 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
 | Mexico Total: 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
 | Colombia Total: 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
 | South Africa Total: 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
 | Croatia Total: 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
 | Ethiopia Total: 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
 | Slovenia Total: 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 | Azerbaijan Total: 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 | India Total: 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
 | Slovakia Total: 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
 | Switzerland Total: 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
 | Georgia Total: 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
 | Norway Total: 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
 | Belgium Total: 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 | Armenia Total: 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 | Mongolia Total: 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 | Dominican Republic Total: 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
 | Lithuania Total: 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 | Egypt Total: 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
 | Serbia Total: 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 | Indonesia Total: 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 | Tunisia Total: 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 | Thailand Total: 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 | Estonia Total: 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 | Greece Total: 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 | Singapore Total: 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 | Qatar Total: 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 | Moldova Total: 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 | Grenada Total: 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | Algeria Total: 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | Venezuela Total: 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 | Guatemala Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Finland Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Chinese Taipei Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Cyprus Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Portugal Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Malaysia Total: 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 | Hong Kong Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Trinidad and Tobago Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Turkey Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Morocco Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Ireland Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Argentina Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Tajikistan Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Saudi Arabia Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Kuwait Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Puerto Rico Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 | Uzbekistan Total: 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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