Olympic Recap: Americans Dominate in Basketball, Women's Track, and Wrestling
The 2012 Summer Olympics are slowly winding down as the Games head into their final two days.
On Friday, the U.S. men's basketball team fought off a strong first-half effort by Argentina to earn a spot in the gold-medal game, 109-83. The Americans were led by a scoring trio of Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Carmelo Anthony. Both Manu Ginobli and Luis Scola each converted seven-for-15 shots from the field for the Argentines.
The U.S. will face Spain on Sunday in a match that many expected. Pau Gasol led the Spaniards over Russia in a tight match, 67-59. Andrei Kirilenko scored 10 points and made just two-of-12 shots.
The American women won the 4x100-meter relay in a world-record time of 40.82 seconds, marking the first gold for the team since 1996. Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, and Carmelita Jeter defeated a Jamaican squad that set a national record of 41.41 seconds. Ukraine earned the bronze at 42.04.
On the men's side, the Bahamas surprisingly took gold in the 4x400-meter relay in a time of 2:56.72, followed by the U.S., and then Trinidad and Tobago. Great Britain fell short of the bronze by 0.13 seconds.
In men's water polo, Italy will face neighbor Croatia in the final on Sunday, as both nations advanced on Friday with victories over Serbia and Montenegro, respectively.
Russia defeated Bulgaria in four sets, while Brazil defeated Italy in straight sets in men's Volleyball. The Brazil-Italy final will take place on Sunday. Brazil and the U.S. meet in Saturday's final on the women's side.
Jordan Burroughs won the men's 74-kilogram freestyle by defeating Sadegh Goudarzi of Iran, 3-0, to give the U.S. its first wrestling gold medal this summer. Burroughs has almost 44,000 Twitter followers, and has been outspoken about his confidence in winning a gold medal.
"When people think about wrestling, I want them to think Jordan Burroughs," he said.
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