Jul 31, 2012; London, United Kingdom; General view of empty seats in the women's singles second round match during the London 2012 Olympic Games at Wimbledon. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
LONDON - As an Olympic superpower, you know you're off to a bit of a rocky start when your fourth-place finishers are overshadowing your winners.
Ryan Lochte wins the first swimming event of the 2012 Olympics, but Michael Phelps' out-of-the-medals finish from way over in Lane 8 grabs most of the headlines.
Americans go a stunning 2-3 in women's individual all-around gymnastics qualifying, and the U.S. team puts itself in position for its first gold in 16 years, but all anyone is talking about is the reigning world champion who finished fourth and can't even try to win the all-around gold.
And then, on Day 3, another famous fourth: Lochte this time, failing to win a medal in the 200 freestyle.
We're No. 4?
You've heard of winning ugly? The U.S. team is starting ugly. The men's gymnastics team, so hopeful of winning a medal, finished fifth in the team final Monday. Lochte's underwhelming performance in the 200 free was surprising, but it did not ruin the Americans' day, which was saved by the irrepressible Missy Franklin and her gold medal in the women's 100 backstroke, and Matt Grevers' gold in the men's 100 back.
It's far too early in these London Games to start making declarations about what kind of Olympics this will be for the American team. With the demise of the Big-Red-Machine Soviet Union, the United States has won the overall medal count at every Summer Games since 1996 in Atlanta, although China won more golds (51-36) at its home-game Olympics in 2008, and seems to be trending that way here in London too.
So far, the two nations are tied with 17 medals apiece, but China has more gold medals, 9-5.
The Americans have been making news, not all of it good, even before the opening of the Olympics with the not-made-in-the-USA team clothing controversy. For years, the Americans have walked into the Olympic Opening Ceremony and onto medal stands with clothes made in China or elsewhere, but in 2012, with the nation focused on its economic woes and the hot button issue of outsourcing, this topic suddenly became a national conversation.
So did this:
Hope Solo. With a positive drug test, risqué quotes about sneaking celebrities into the Beijing Olympic Village and a Twitter barrage against soccer icon Brandi Chastain, the American soccer goalkeeper and her bizarre behavior are a paragraph all by themselves, if not a whole column. And the Games are still young.
There's even more, and only three days in. Solo's teammate, U.S. star Abby Wambach, was punched in the eye by a Colombian opponent, and thought about retaliating but wisely reasoned she would be the one to be punished. The Americans won the game easily, 3-0.
Track and field doesn't start until the end of the week, but that doesn't mean U.S. athletes aren't already in the headlines. There was that tie for the third and final Olympic spot in the women's 100 meters at the U.S. track and field trials last month, and the bizarre way it was handled. At first, no one knew what to do. Then they decided there would be a run-off. Then Jeneba Tarmoh didn't want to run, so the spot went to Allyson Felix. Both women are in the 4x100 relay later in the Games, perhaps even passing the baton from one to the other, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, other U.S. track athletes held a Twitter protest, then a news conference Monday, to complain that the International Olympic Committee is limiting their ability to sell themselves with its Rule 40, which says they can't promote any brand except an official Olympic sponsor here at the Games. This isn't a new issue. Nike guy Michael Jordan didn't like this 20 years ago, placing the U.S. flag over the Reebok symbol on his U.S. team warmup.
Celebrating can even get the Americans into trouble. After Lochte won the 400-meter individual medley Saturday, he wanted to show off a stars-and-stripes grill over his front teeth on the medal stand. No way, said the IOC. So he relented -- until he snuck it in when he made it to the photographers, who very much enjoyed his nod to individuality.
On a less serious note, but nonetheless an unsettling one to some, it's too cold for American beach volleyball reigning gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh to wear their bikinis.
The British bookmaker, Ladbrokes, took a look at the first weekend of Olympic action and replaced the Americans with the Chinese as the odds-on favorite to win the medal count, which, it can be argued, is the most overblown statistic of the Olympics. That said, it's clearly here to stay, so we all might as well start keeping score at home.
But look at the bright side, America. At least you're not British. The high hopes of the United Kingdom coming off their fun and edgy Opening Ceremony were dashed in a weekend of cycling disappointment, and Team GB has just one silver and two bronze medals at the moment, tied for 10th overall.
Christine Brennan, USA TODAY