Olympic Medal Count 2012: USA's Leg Up in Team Sports Provides Easy Gold Medals

It isn't fair to say that winning an Olympic gold medal is an easy task, but some American teams have made it look less than difficult to finish atop their respective fields at the 2012 London Games.

While the Americans put on strong showings in swimming (31 medals), track and field (24 medals) and gymnastics (six medals), the country's real strength is in team sports.

Team sports have helped the Americans vault ahead of China in the overall medal count by a solid 10-medal margin.

Thanks to the USA's talent in team competitions, three easy gold medals were brought home and two more are on the way.

Team USA Women's Soccer

The United States women's soccer team ran roughshod on the competition, with the end result being a 2-1 victory over rival Japan in Thursday's gold-medal match.

It was an easy gold for the American women, who compiled a 6-0 record by outscoring opponents 16-6. The next-highest scoring differential was Canada's four-goal difference.

No team had the firepower and chemistry that Team USA exhibited throughout the entirety of this tournament. The Americans have a leg up on their competition thanks to the ridiculous depth that coach Pia Sundhage has at her disposal.

Carli Lloyd, who scored both goals in the final and four in the tournament, wasn't going to get much playing time before Shannon Boxx went down in the opener against France.

Women's Water Polo

The United States women's water polo team shocked the field by scoring an 8-5 win over Spain in the gold-medal match on Thursday.

Maggie Steffens led the team with five goals on five shots to further prove that she was the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. She scored 21 goals, the most of any player in the tournament, and did it on a remarkable 27 shots. That makes for a 77.8 shot percentage.

The Americans were down 2-1 before Steffens and her teammates rattled off seven consecutive goals. Goalie Betsey Armstrong was able to keep the Spanish at bay for the rest of the match.

Women's Beach Volleyball

Beach volleyball isn't the same team sport that the others on this list are, but it features a partnership nonetheless.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won their third consecutive Olympic gold medal by beating fellow countrywomen Jen Kessy and April Ross at Horse Guards Parade on Wednesday.

May-Treanor and Walsh had no problem with China's Xue Chen and Xi Zhang in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Kessy and Ross needed to mount a comeback against Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva, but found themselves facing the American powerhouse team in the final match.

The Americans went one and two in the beach volleyball competition, proving that the United States is the cream of the crop in the sport.

Team USA Men's and Women's Basketball

This is a bit of an honorable mention, as there is no need to get into specifics. It is no secret that both the American men and women are going to coast to the gold medal barring a colossal upset in the basketball.

LeBron James and company stomped out every opponent they came across in London with the exception of Lithuania, and have a semifinal date with Argentina on the horizon.

Candace Parker and the rest of the women's team have done more of the same. They defeated Australia in the semifinals by 13 points to ensure that they would be going for yet another gold.

It is times like these that gives the rest of the world more ammunition to hate the United States.

Here are the top five countries in the medal race.

Olympic Medal Tracker
	United States Total: 90	39	25	26
	China Total: 80	37	24	19
	Russia Total: 56	12	21	23
	Great Britain Total: 52	25	13	14
	Germany Total: 37	10	16	11

Here is a link to the overall leaderboard.