Many very talented athletes competed in the 30th Olympiad. They come from different cultures and

backgrounds, but they all have the same goal. They strive to win gold and be the best. The record for Olympic medals awarded to an individual before the 2012 Olympics was 18. Now an American, Michael Phelps holds that record, with 21. “Michael Phelps is one of the best Olympians ever and I’m glad that he’s retiring after setting the record. It gives other great athletes motivation to break it,” sophomore Douglas Martin said. After winning a record eight gold medals in Beijing, Michael Phelps finished up his Olympic career with 6 more medals in London, four of those being gold. Phelps was not the only American to break Olympic records, however. “Gabby Douglas and the rest of the women’s gymnastics team performed great. It’s amazing how good they are at what they do even though they are just teenagers,” junior Kayla Wistrom said. No female African American had ever won gold in all around gymnastics. Now Gabby Douglas has accomplished that feat. The US women’s gymnastics team, also known as the fab five, won gold in the team final. There was two ways for Americans to learn this news on the day of the event. They could have found out on the Internet right after it happened or they could have watched during primetime on NBC, hours after.

Written by Ben Whalen | infograph by Summer Prather

The summer Olympics, in London, brings athletes from across the globe together to compete for their country

swimming:

U.S.A gold medal count

16rowing:

1gymnastics:

3tennis:

3shooting:

3

locked on the london olympics

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“I wish the spoilers wouldn’t have happened but I don’t think it’s really an issue that can be solved. Not many people are going to watch if the Olympics are on at four in the morning,” senior Jordan Donner said. Because of the time change between the US and England, the Olympics would occur from early in the morning to the early afternoon. NBC would show the Olympics live as much as they could, however they would also show the Olympics at night during primetime. “The Olympics were very fun to watch. The US athletes represent our country and it gives the feel that we, as a country are competing against the world,” junior Alex Parkins said. The Olympics were very eventful with many records broken by some of the greatest athletes in the world. In this year’s Olympics many great athletes, like Gabby Douglas, became stars and stars like Michael Phelps continued to shine.