SB Nation Detroit - Olympics 2012: State Of Michigan Well Represented In London

Jordyn Wieber And A Robot To Throw Out First Pitches At Wednesday's Tigers Game

2012-08-22T16:29:59Z

What do Olympian Jordyn Wieber and a robot named "Cy-ber Young" have in common? They're throwing out the first pitches at Wednesday's Detroit Tigers game. Seriously:

Tonight's first pitches will be thrown by "Cy-ber Young", a robot built by a group of SE Michigan students and Olympian @jordyn_wieber.
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 22, 2012

2012 London Olympics: The Most-Watched Event In U.S. Television History, According To NBC

2012-08-13T21:05:59Z

For all of the complaining about tape-delays and bad announcing, NBC has announced that 2012 London Olympics is now the most-watched event in U.S. television history, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell. About 219.4 million total viewers took in some part of this year's Olympics, the largest American audience for any televised event in history.

While there was significant backlash towards NBC by many viewers for some of their broadcasting practices, including the decision to tape-delay many significant competitions rather than broadcast the events live, Americans clearly found themselves entertained by the world's elite athletes congregating in Great Britain.

With stories like Michael Phelps's last go-around, Usain Bolt's dash towards "living legend" status and the USA women's soccer team avenging the World Cup defeat against Japan, these were truly games worth watching. Given the staggering numbers being reported by NBC, the American public doesn't appear to have missed out.

Stay with this StoryStream for more coverage of the London Games, and also be sure to visit SB Nation's 2012 Olympic hub for more news and analysis through the closing ceremony.

Olympics 2012: Michigan Athletes Help Final U.S. Medal Count

2012-08-13T00:56:10Z

For the fifth-straight Olympics the United States won more medals than any other county, and athletes with ties to the state of Michigan played a major role in that. As Off Tackle Empire notes, four medals came from University of Michigan athletes:

Michigan

GOLD
Tyler Clary - USA Men's Swimming: 200m Backstroke
Betsey Armstrong - USA Women's Water Polo

SILVER
Janine Hanson - Canada Women's Rowing: Eight w/Coxswain

BRONZE
Peter Vanderkaay - USA Men's Swimming: 400m Freestyle

Michigan State did not have a medalist and had only one representative in London, the fewest among Big Ten schools.

Michael Phelps was the most notable athlete with Michigan ties, as he earned six medals total. Tyler Clary established a new Olympic record in winning the 200 meter backstroke.

Here are other athletes with ties to the state of Michigan that won medals:

Claressa Shields - Women's Middleweight Boxing - Gold - United States

Jordyn Wieber - Women's Artistic Gymnastics (Team Competition) - Gold - United States

Janine Hanson - Women's eights rowing - Silver - Canada

Peter Vanderkaay - Men's 400-meter Freestyle Swimming - Bronze - United States

Betsey Armstrong - Women's Water Polo - Gold - United States

Stay with this StoryStream for more coverage of the London Games, and also be sure to visit SB Nation's 2012 Olympic hub for more news and analysis through the closing ceremony.

Final Medal Count 2012: Team USA Takes 1st Place Overall At Summer Olympics With 104 Total Medals

2012-08-12T21:57:52Z

The 2012 Summer Games from London have officially wrapped up, and Team USA sits atop the final medal count standings by a wide margin after 302 Olympic events.

Two more gold medals, a narrow victory over Spain in the men's basketball final and an individual medal from men's 96kg freestlye wrestler Jake Varner, were added to the United States' overall tally on Sunday, pushing the American margin of victory to a whopping 17 medals.

No other country was able to rack up more golds or more silvers at this year's games, with only Russia topping the United States in bronze medals, 33-29. Easily the most prolific nation this year heading into the long-awaited closing ceremony, the Summer Games in London will surely go down as one of the best all-around Olympic performances in Team USA history.

Here are the results of the final medal count:

1. United States, 104 (46 gold, 29 silver, 29 bronze)

2. China, 87 (38, 27, 22)

3. Russia, 82 (24, 25, 33)

4. Great Britain, 65 (29, 17, 19)

5. Germany, 44 (11, 19, 14)

Stay with this StoryStream for more coverage of the London Games, and also be sure to visit SB Nation's 2012 Olympic hub for more news and analysis through the closing ceremony.

London 2012 Closing Ceremony: TV Coverage, Streaming, Live Updates And More

2012-08-12T14:41:10Z

The 2012 London Olympics come to a close Sunday, and the Closing Ceremony should provide a fitting end to the games by paying tribute to Britain's long musical history. British musicians like The Who, George Michael, Annie Lennox, and Muse, among others, will perform Sunday at London's Olympic Stadium.

All athletes will enter the Olympic Stadium for the 'after-party,' which will also feature the traditional Men's Marathon medal ceremony.

Finally, the ceremony will serve as the official hand-off to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 summer games, and the flame at Olympic Stadium will be put out.

NBC, which did not live-stream the Opening Ceremony a fortnight ago, will stream the closing ceremonies live online beginning at 3 pm CT on NBCOlympics.com. The network will show the ceremonies on NBC's primetime coverage across all time zones beginning at 6 p.m. CT.

For the live stream, check out NBC's online listings here, or stick with SB Nation for live coverage of the event.

Stay with this StoryStream for coverage of the remainder of Sunday's events, or head over to SB Nation's Olympics hub.

2012 London Olympics: Sunday Daily Preview

2012-08-12T13:37:34Z

The US Men's Basketball team looks to defend their gold medal in a rematch with Spain as the Olympics wrap up Sunday. It took the Americans nearly the full 40 minutes to pull away from Pau Gasol's Spanish team in Beijing in 2008, but the US was finally able to pull away for a 118-107 win. It only seemed fair for Spain to get another shot at the US with Olympic gold on the line.

Men's volleyball wraps up with Brazil and Russia playing for gold, meaning the Brazilians have the chance to sweep indoor volleyball. Italy and Croatia play for gold in men's water polo, after the US took eighth this morning with a 10-9 loss to Australia.

The US wrapped up the overall medal count lead over China with less than one day left of competition. A full medal count is available here.

As usual, NBC will stream all events live on NBCOlympics.com, but the site requires a username and password to your cable/satellite TV provider for access. Otherwise, NBC will televise events throughout the day on its family of networks.

For coverage of the final day of the 2012 Olympics, stick with this StoryStream, or head over to SB Nation's Olympics hub.

London Medal Count 2012: Team USA Eclipses 100-Medal Mark After 15 Days Of Competition

2012-08-12T00:50:44Z

With only 15 events remaining from London, the United States has already surpassed the 100-medal mark and is on the verge of wrapping up an impressive overall victory at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Team USA pushed its leading tally into triple digits with another strong day on Saturday, as the women's basketball team and women's 4x400m relay team each brought home golds, in addition to an individual gold from men's 10m platform diver David Boudia.

Although the United States' women's volleyball team fell short to Brazil in Saturday's gold medal match, it marked one of three silvers that Team USA picked up on day 15. Here are the leaders in the overall medal count:

1. United States, 102 (44 gold, 29 silver, 29 bronze)

2. China, 87 (38 gold, 27 silver, 22 bronze)

3. Russia, 78 (21 gold, 25 silver, 32 bronze)

4. Great Britain, 62 (28 gold, 15 silver, 19 bronze)

5. Germany, 44 (11 gold, 19 silver, 14 bronze)

Stay with this StoryStream for more coverage of local athletes at the Olympics, and be sure to check out SB Nation's Olympic hub for more news and analysis from London.

London Medal Count 2012: United States Expands Overall Lead Over China After Day 14

2012-08-10T23:59:58Z

With only 67 of the 302 scheduled events at the 2012 London Games left to be decided, the United States owns a significant lead on the rest of the world in total medals through 14 days of competition.

Furthering the trend it set on a productive Thursday from London, Team USA added four more medals to its total on Friday, including a pair of golds from wrestler Jordan Burroughs in the men's 74kg freestyle event and the women's 4x100m relay team.

The United States also picked up a second place finish in the men's 4x400m relay, and rounded out the day with a bronze medal from Paige McPherson in a hotly-contested women's welterweight taekwondo. But with a 13-medal lead on China and plenty of chances for medals remaining before the games conclude, it might take a massive collapse for the United States to cough up its lead at this point.

Here are the top five leaders in the latest medal count:

1. United States, 94 (41 gold, 26 silver, 27 bronze)

2. China, 81 (37 gold, 25 silver, 19 bronze)

3. Russia, 63 (15 gold, 21 silver, 27 bronze)

4. Great Britain, 57 (25 gold, 15 silver, 17 bronze)

5. Germany, 42 (10 gold, 18 silver, 14 bronze)

Stay with this StoryStream for more coverage of local athletes, and be sure to check out SB Nation's Olympic hub for more news and analysis from London.