Team USA Racking Up More Medals in the Paris Olympic Games
Heading into the second week of the Olympic Games in Paris, the U.S. are sitting in first place in the overall medal count with 37 total medals. The Chinese have the most gold medals with 11, followed by the U.S. with nine.
The last few days have featured strong performances by both the men's and women's gymnastics teams as well as the American swimmers. Team USA basketball is also seeing great success on the court.
Here is a look back at what has been happening the last few days in Paris.
Team USA Gymnastics Shines
It was a great week for both the Team USA women's and men's gymnastics teams. On Monday, the men's team medaled for the first time in 16 years when they took home the bronze in the team competition. The Japanese won the gold medal while the Chinese came away with the silver.
One day later, the women's team ran away with the gold medal in the team competition. Led by veteran gymnast Simone Biles, the women's team posted impressive scores to cruise to the top of the medal stand.
Biles competed in all four events for her team and capped the night off for the Americans with a floor routine that brought the crowd to their feet. The win for Biles was her eighth Olympic gold medal, giving her the distinction of winning more than any other American Olympian.
The excitement did not stop with the team competitions. The women took to the mat on Thursday to compete in the much-anticipated all around individual final. As expected, Simone Biles put in another extraordinary performance to take home the gold medal. After a slight slip on the bars, Biles had to up her game to edge out Brazilian Rebeca Andrade on the podium.
Biles leaned on her signature Yurochenko double pike on the vault to take the lead after the first event. American Suni Lee also put on a strong performance on Thursday, bringing the bronze medal back to the U.S.
The women's competition is not quite over for Biles. She will compete for the vault title on Saturday before taking on the balance beam and the floor exercise on Monday.
Other Americans slated to compete in the apparatus finals include Jade Carey on the vault and Lee on the uneven bars on Sunday. Lee will also join Biles on the beam to close out the competition. Team USA's Jordan Chiles qualified to compete on the floor exercise.
What is Happening in the Swimming Pool
Records have been falling all over the place in the swimming pool over the last few days. American sensation Katie Ledecky notched her first gold medal of these Games on Wednesday, winning the 1500m freestyle with a new Olympic record.
On Thursday, Ledecky was part of the silver medal women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team. This second place finish gave Ledecky 13 total Olympic medals in her career, making her the most decorated American female Olympian ever.
American Kate Douglass also secured another gold for Team USA, holding off South Africa's Tatjana Smith in the 200m breaststroke.
The French have also had plenty to cheer about in the swimming competition thanks to the performance of Leon Marchand. The home town star swimmer won two gold medals in one day on Wednesday, setting two new Olympic records along the way.
By winning the two individual Olympic gold medals in one day, Marchand accomplished a feat that has not happened since 1976 in Montreal.
While Team USA could not edge out Australia's Kaylee McKeown for the top spot in the women's 100m backstroke, Americans Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff finished in second and third in the event. It was a similar situation for the women's 400m individual medley when U.S. swimmers Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant finished in second and third behind Canadian Summer McIntosh.
Team USA Cruises in Hoops and Soccer
The defending Olympic champion U.S. women's basketball team made a statement with its first game of pool play, beating Japan 102 - 76 on Monday. The Americans struggled early to put away Belgium on Thursday but pulled away in the last period to win 87 - 74.
Team USA was led by Breanna Stewart, scoring 15 points in the first half alone before finishing with 26 points. The women's team will finish group play on Sunday with a match-up against Germany. Team USA has not lost in this event in the Olympics since 1992, a testament to its dominance.
The U.S. men's basketball team is also seeing much success, taking home its second win of the Games on Wednesday when it beat South Sudan 103 - 86.
The victory clenched a spot in the quarterfinals for the team led by LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant. A Saturday game against Puerto Rico is next up for the Americans.
Team USA women's soccer came away victorious, winning its third game in a row when it beat Australia 2 - 1 to move into the knockout round and win Group B. The American women are playing with great confidence heading into its game against Japan on Saturday.
Other Notable Achievements
While gymnastics, swimming, and basketball has garnered most of the headlines in Paris thus far, there have been plenty of other notable events. The Ukrainians celebrated their first medal of these Olympics when fencer Olga Kharlan won the bronze in the women's sabre individual event.
It was a tough Games for American tennis star Coco Gauff, losing in straight sets to Donna Vekić of Croatia in the singles event on Tuesday. Gauff was the favorite by many to take home the gold medal in her first Games. The 20-year-old also lost in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles event just one day later, ending her stint at this year's Olympics.
Rather than leaving Paris with three medals, the U.S. flag bearer for Friday's opening ceremony will go home empty handed.
Also on the tennis court, three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray's career came to end in Paris after a loss in the men’s doubles tennis tournament. The British star had previously said that he would retire after these Games.
The U.S. won its first fencing team gold medal in history on Thursday when the women beat Italy 45 - 39. The Americans were led by Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs to take the team to the gold.