My favorite moments of the London 2012 games

Another Olympics, come and gone. Tons of memories and amazing moments left, however, and these are (some of) my top moments of what proved to be a truly extraordinary two weeks.

NOTE: I'm cheating a bit and combining related things together. You also won't see the USA's basketball or volleyball triumphs on this list because I admittedly care very little for those sports.


15. Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson make it 1-2 for USA in the men's 110m hurdles.

14. Andy Murray wins gold in a rematch against Roger Federer to a roaring, elated crowd. Soon after, he embraces a young fan in the audience.

13. Kirani James wins the first ever medal for Grenada in the men's 400m.

12. Nicola Adams from Great Britain, Katie Taylor from Ireland, and Claressa Shields from the US give Olympic women's boxing an enormously gratifying welcome as they become the first ever gold medalists in the event.

11. Jordan Burroughs dominates in freestyle wrestling to become the only American wrestler to win gold in London.

10. David Boudia becomes the first individual American diver to claim gold since 1988 in an impossibly intense, mind-bogglingly close final round that also sees an ecstatic Tom Daley of the UK win bronze.

9. US women's football/soccer wins gold in stunning fashion.

8. Michael Phelps wins 6 more medals, four of them gold, to become the most decorated Olympic champion of all time with 22 total medals across three Olympic games. The best part of all, however, comes in the 200m butterfly race: beaten by South African Chad le Clos by Phelps's very own move, Phelps graciously acknowledges his friend's achievement and helps guide him through the photographers.

7. An amazing day for Great Britain ends with three golds within less than an hour: Greg Rutherford with the men's long jump; Jessica Ennis with a rousing finish to a dominant performance in the heptathlon; and Mo Farah revving the crowd up to a deafening roar with a win in the men's 10,000m.

6. Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Allison Schmitt, Rebecca Soni, Katie Ledecky, Matt Grevers, Nathan Adrian, Tyler Clary, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, and even more help make America an indomitable force in swimming.

5. Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands delivers a jaw-dropping horizontal bar routine to win gold.

4. Usain Bolt establishes himself as a historic, legendary athlete with an unprecedented *second* sweep of the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m.

3. Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic, who won the event in 2004 but failed to medal in 2008 when he learned of his grandma's passing, wins the men's 400m hurdles once again. All the emotions pour out on the podium in perhaps the games' most moving moment.

2. The incredible triumph of the US's women's gymnastics team, the first American gold medalists in the team final since 1996. Add on MVP Gabby Douglas's gold in the all around, McKayla Maroney's perfect vault and Aly Raisman's gold on the floor exercise and bronze on the balance beam, and there was ample reason to cheer.

1. Tianna Madison. Bianca Knight. Allyson Felix with three golds. Carmelita Jeter with one of each medal. These four women run the race of their lives in the women's 4x100 relay, not only creating a new world record in the process, but obliterating the one set by East Germany 27 years ago. Knowing she had done it, anchor-leg runner Jeter points to the clock with sheer exultation.

Whew. I also want to give mention to Sir Chris Hoy, the most decorated British Olympian of all time; the Italian fencers, who put up an amazing show and dominated most of the competition; Oscar Pistorius, for reasons everyone knows; Jade Jones, Britain's first Olympic champion in taekwondo; Kayla Harrison and Gemma Gibbons, winning surprise gold and silver respectively in judo; Luke Campbell's emotional bantamweight wrestling win; the Russian synchronized swimmers and rhythmic gymnasts who continue to prove they're the absolute best in those arenas; and Ilya Zakharov, also of Russia, who stopped China's potential clean sweep of golds in diving on the men's 3m springboard. Well done to absolutely everyone.