After an extended stay outside of the top 10, Italy has returned to medal counting prominence!
Italy's top 10 placing in the medal standings is truly a great accomplishment that can be counted alongside the Sistine Chapel, the distinct boot shape of the country itself, and Renaissance artist Donatello.
If like us you've been watching beach volleyball, you may have noticed that fantastic trumpet sound they've been playing once every three seconds. And if you're like us it's slowly but surely eating away at your sanity.
Oh and also there are games going on! China takes on Brazil for the bronze, while Team USA takes on... Team USA?
In what will very likely come to be an iconic Olympic moment, Chinese track star Liu Xiang finished his heat 100 meter hurdle heat on one leg after re-aggravating the achilles injury that forced him out of Beijing in 2008.
Xiang pulled up lame after the first hurdle, got up, and made a beeline for the tunnel, refusing the wheelchair offering to him as he hopped away.
But then Xiang stopped halfway down the tunnel and turned back towards the track. Still on one leg, he hopped the length of the homestretch, stopping to kiss the final hurdle before crossing the finish line.
We've seen a few unforgettable moments in London that will be talked about for years to come. We saw Mo Farah become the first British athlete to ever win the Olympic 10k. For the first time in history, the four fastest men in the world squared off in the 100 meters. The British gymnastics team took an unprecedented bronze medal in the team competition.
Liu Xiang's determination that he would finish an Olympic race no matter what will be one of those special moments.
After a weekend that saw Team GB skyrocket up the medal standings, they now stand in third place behind China and Team USA.
Italy snuck into 6th place after taking team fencing gold today, making for a great accomplishment to go along with the Ferrari, the Pantheon in Rome, and the 2006 World Cup Champion Azzurri.
For the first time in this Olympiad, Team USA has taken the lead in the medal count. With Track & Field getting started there's a good chance we could see this lead expanding.
Today's Italian history lesson is going to have us console the people of the bustling Mediterranean peninsula about their medal count with the knowledge that they were the cultural center of the Western World for the better part of the 13th-16th centuries.
And let's not forget the Holy Roman Empire, the Duomo in Florence and Leaning Tower of Pisa. Good on you, Italians!
Dong's hefty score of 62.990 secured a firm Gold-Medal victory over Russia's Dmitry Ushakov during his final routine of the day.
Dong is a two-time world champion, and was one of the first trampolinists to break in a new Trampoline scoring system--a system of lasers that measure "time of flight". His mid-air stamina lasted more than 18 seconds.
Dong's impressive height helped nail him down a medal. It was a long, hard match, but Dong Dong maintained a grip on the competition.
I'm so sorry.
The big news today was Team GB going from eleventh to fifth in the span of just thirty minutes, while Team USA tied China in golds, with the overall lead going to China using silvers as the tiebreaker.
Keeping with tradition mentioning Italy every single day in the medal count no matter what, it's worth noting that they took gold in women's team fencing today. Italy now has this accomplishment to go along with Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, defeating the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War, and Venetian gondolas.
