Even though the first day of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London only saw 12 of the 302 events crown a champion, a number of countries got off to hot starts by adding a number of medals to their credit.
The United States, currently sitting in third place but in a tie with Italy for the second-highest medal total of five, picked up a key gold from swimmer Ryan Lochte on Saturday in the 400 meter men's individual medley. Narrowly missing a gold medal in the men's archery final as well, Team USA fell to Italy in a close match that could have really given the Americans a great deal of momentum to kick things off.
Hardly unusual suspects atop the leaderboard with six medals thus far, China snagged a whopping four golds on Saturday alone to take a commanding lead in the overall medal hunt. In addition to first place in women's weightlifting and shooting events, Chinese women's swimmer Ye Shiwen set a world record with a 4:28.43 time in the women's 400 meter individual medley to earn a well-deserved gold medal.
Here are the standings after day one:
1. China - 6 total (4 Gold, 0 Silver, 2 Bronze)
2. Italy - 5 total (2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze)
3. United States - 5 total (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze)
4. South Korea - 3 total (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze)
5. Brazil - 3 total (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze)
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