Olympics: US and China neck-in-neck in medals race

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http://www.todayonline.com/Sports/EDC120805-0000028/US-and-China-neck-in-neck-in-medals-race

Medal Count

Leaders

Total

1		United States	26	13	15	54
2		China	25	16	12	53
3		United Kingdom	14	7	8	29
4		Korea	9	3	5	17
5		France	8	6	8	22
6		Germany	5	10	6	21
7		Italy	5	5	3	13
8		Kazakhstan	5	-	-	5
9		DPR Korea	4	-	1	5
10		Russia	3	15	10	28
11		Netherlands	3	1	4	8
12		South Africa	3	1	-	4
13		New Zealand	3	-	4	7
14		Japan	2	10	12	24
15		Cuba	2	2	1	5
16		Hungary	2	1	2	5
17		Poland	2	1	1	4
18		Ukraine	2	-	5	7
19		Australia	1	12	7	20
20		Romania	1	4	2	7
21		Canada	1	3	6	10
22		Belarus	1	2	3	6
23		Denmark	1	2	2	5
24		Czech Republic	1	2	1	4
25		Brazil	1	1	4	6
26		Croatia	1	1	-	2
27		Slovenia	1	-	2	3
28		Ethiopia	1	-	1	2
28		Jamaica	1	-	1	2
30		Georgia	1	-	-	1
30		Lithuania	1	-	-	1
30		Switzerland	1	-	-	1
30		Venezuela	1	-	-	1
34		Mexico	-	3	1	4
35		Sweden	-	3	-	3
36		Colombia	-	2	1	3
36		Spain	-	2	1	3
38		Slovakia	-	1	3	4
39		India	-	1	2	3
40		Belgium	-	1	1	2
40		Indonesia	-	1	1	2
40		Kenya	-	1	1	2
40		Mongolia	-	1	1	2
40		Norway	-	1	1	2
40		Serbia	-	1	1	2
46		Egypt	-	1	-	1
46		Guatemala	-	1	-	1
46		Thailand	-	1	-	1
46		Chinese Taipei	-	1	-	1
50		Greece	-	-	2	2
50		Moldova	-	-	2	2
52		Azerbaijan	-	-	1	1
52		Hong Kong, China	-	-	1	1
52		Iran	-	-	1	1
52		Qatar	-	-	1	1
52		Singapore	-	-	1	1
52		Tunisia	-	-	1	1
52		Uzbekistan	-	-	1	1

52

Singapore

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The red, white and blue is painting the Olympics gold, silver and bronze.

Midway through the London Games, the United States is locked in a tight battle with China in the ultimate Olympic competition - the race for No. 1 in the medals.

While many had predicted China would top both categories, the Americans go into the second week with realistic chances of finishing with the most gold and most total medals.

After Saturday night's competition, the US led by one medal in each list - 26-25 in golds and 54-53 overall.

Behind the two powerhouses, the battle for the next few spots has thrown up some surprises, with South Korea surging into the top four and Russia and Australia lagging behind expectations.

Britain picked up six golds on Saturday - including three in track and field by Jessica Ennis (heptathlon), Mo Farah (10,000 meters) and Greg Rutherford (long jump) - to bring its total to 14 gold and 29 overall, third in both categories.
"We are a little bit behind where we were in Beijing, but we are still having really good performances," US Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky said. "It's gone back and forth the last three or four days. We may go up at night, China may go up in the morning, but obviously China is still very strong."

Sebastian Coe, the former two-time 1,500-meter champion who runs the London organizing committee, raised eyebrows in the US when he told The Associated Press in April that he thought China would beat the United States in the medals race.

No one has been more disappointed than the Australians. Before coming to London, the Australian Olympic Committee said it wanted to finish in the top five of both medals tables but is way off that projection.

Australia had only one gold and was well outside the top 10 in both categories. Worse yet, South Pacific neighbor and traditional rival New Zealand had three golds. The last time Australia finished behind New Zealand in gold medals was in 1984.