America Leading the Medal Olympics

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First Gold Won by Female Shooter (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)[/caption]Virginia Thrasher, of West Virginia, won the United States’ first gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, earning the top award after shooting in the 10-meter women’s air rifle event. She scored a total of 208.0 in the final round, beating silver medalist Du Li of China.With the victory, the former NCAA Champion upset the competition. She was not expected to medal, and just making the finals was an accomplishment. But she came through, at 19 years old, and beat several higher-ranked shooters.

Other gold medals include the men’s 4x100m freestyle swimming relay, which included 19-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps. Phelps has won 23 medals in total, which continues his streak as the most-awarded Olympian of all time.Michael Phelps raced an impressive second leg of the 4x100m, and his talented teammates kept the lead and ran with it.On day 2, however, it was all Katie Ledecky.The 19-year old phenom broke her own world recordin the 400m freestyle. She raced the solid yellow line on television screens everywhere while leaving her opponents in her wake. Ledecky led her opponents by so much that she looked as if she were racing high schoolers.The swimmer holds the world records in the 400, 800 and 1,500 meter freestyle.She will continue to swim during the Rio Olympics, in the200 and 800 freestyles, and likely in the women’s 4x200 meter freestyle relay.Other Day 2 USA medals include a silver and four bronze medals. The silver came in men’s individual fencing, while the bronzes were women’s trap, 100m butterfly (swimming), 400m women’s freestyle (swimming) and men’s 100m breaststroke (swimming).The USA currently leads overall medal counts with 12. Italy, China and Australia also have three gold medals each, but fewer silver and bronze.