2012 Summer Olympics, Day 7: Team USA Continues Swimming Dominance

Team USA Vs. Czech Republic, Women's Olympic Basketball: Americans Win 88-61

The United States women's basketball team continued to play well in the Olympics, defeating the Czech Republic 88-61 on Friday.

Women's 10,000m Final: Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba Defends Gold Medal

On the opening day of Athletics, Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba defended her gold medal in the women's 10,000 meters Friday night at the 2012 Summer Olympics, pulling away from her competition late and winning in dominant fashion.

Dibaba, 27, broke away with 500m remaining and furthered her lead, eventually winning in a time of 30:20.75, nearly a full six seconds ahead of the silver medal winner, Kenya's Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego. Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot, also of Kenya, finished in 30:30.44 for the bronze medal.

Americans Amy Hastings (31:10), Janet Cherobon-Bawcom and Lisa Uhl finished 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively.

The win marks Dibaba's third overall Olympic gold after winning both the 5,000m and 10,000m in Beijing -- she was first female athlete to accomplish that double. She'll aim to repeat that feat when she runs in the 5,000m in London in one week's time, on Aug. 10.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.

Men's Shot Put Final: Poland's Tomasz Majewski Wins Gold

Tomasz Majewski repeated as gold medalist in the shot put at the London 2012 Olympics.

Andy Murray Beats Novak Djokovic, Advances To Gold Medal Final

After Roger Federer found his way to a final at Wimbledon after a marathon game against Juan Martin Del Potro at the 2012 Olympics on Friday, Andy Murray decided to join him and set up a rematch at the All England Club.

Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5, to move on to his first Olympic gold medal final in his first Olympic appearance. It'll be a rematch of his emotional loss to Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon final, which ended in Murray giving a tearful speech to the crowd in attendance.

On Friday, Murray called his win over Djokovic "The most emotional match I've ever played." He might want to get ready for another one, as he goes for gold against the king of Wimbledon in front of what is sure to be a raucous crowd.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic tennis, follow the 2012 Olympic tennis section.

Florent Manaudou Wins Men's 50m Free, American Cullen Jones Grabs Silver

In swimming's fastest event, France's Florent Manaudou won gold in the men's 50m free. American Cullen Jones picked up the silver.

Michael Phelps Wins 100m Butterfly For 17th Career Gold Medal

Michael Phelps ended his individual career on a high note Friday in London, winning the 100m butterfly. It's his 17th Olympic gold medal, and his 21st medal overall.

The Most Andy Murray GIF

Missy Franklin Wins Women's 200m Backstroke Final, Sets World Record

Missy Franklin won the women's 200m backstroke on Friday, adding to the U.S.'s tally of medals in swimming at the 2012 Olympics.

Great Britain Continues To Dominate Track Cycling

Great Britain continues to dominate track cycling at the London Velodrome as world records continue to fall

Americans Todd Rogers, Phil Dalhausser Eliminated In Beach Volleyball

Team USA has dominated beach volleyball since it was introduced at the Olympics in 1996. But the defending champion men's beach volleyball squad of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser fell on Friday, 21-17, 21-19 in the round of 16, to Italy's team of Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai.

The Italians, often compared to the Rogers/Dalhausser team that won gold in Beijing, outmaneuvered and outplayed the U.S., but only marginally. Italy withstood a run late in the second set, but led from 8-7 onward in the second set, and converted its first match point.

"Those guys are a good team. They could very well end up with a medal," Rogers told NBC's Heather Cox in a post-match interview.

The loss means the U.S. will not medal in beach volleyball despite having two of the top four seeds entering the competition.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic beach volleyball, follow the 2012 Olympic beach volleyball section.

Becoming Michael Phelps: 7 Legendary Races By 'The Greatest Olympian'

Michael Phelps has become the greatest Olympian ever with a series of memorable races over four Olympics. Here are his seven most important.

Serena Williams Blitzes Victoria Azarenka, Will Meet Maria Sharapova In Women's Singles Final

Two of America's most famous tennis players will square off for a gold medal in the women's singles final of the 2012 Olympics. Only one of them is American: Serena Williams, who eviscerated women's No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to advance to the gold medal final.

Williams thrashed Azarenka on her first serve, winning 31 of 35 points, and crushed her on the return, allowing the Belarussian to win just over half of her points on first serve and breaking four times. Williams also cranked up her serve, which yielded 16 aces and four in the decisive game, including a second serve ace on match point.

Williams will meet Russia's Maria Sharapova, competing in her first Olympics, in the gold medal final. Of the two, only Sharapova has dropped a set en route to the finals.

Azarenka will meet Maria Kirilenko on Saturday in the bronze medal final.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic tennis, follow the 2012 Olympic tennis section.

China Adds Medals In Trampoline And Badminton, Cuba Wins Second Gold

As Day 7 of the 2012 Summer Olympics rolls on, China has picked up two more medals to add to their count. China's Dong Dong was able to pick up a gold medal in the Men's Trampoline with a winning score of 62.99. Dong wasn't the only one to medal for China in the event as Chunlong Lu also picked up the bronze medal with a score of 61.319.

China aded two more medals in Badminton, as both Chinese team's in the Mixed Doubles made the gold medal round, securing the gold and silver medal for China. Another bronze medal was added for China with Xiaoxiang Dai taking third place in Men's Individual Archery.

Idalys Ortiz picked up Cuba's second gold medal for the 2012 Summer Games, defeating Japan's Mika Sugimoto in Women's 78 kg Judo. Cuba's only other gold medal came in the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol.

French judoka Teddy Riner took home the Men's 100 kg Judo gold as well, defeating silver medal winner MIKHAYLIN Alexander Mikhaylin of Russia in the gold medal round. Germany's Andreas Toelzer and Brazil's Rafael Silve both came away with bronze medals in the 100 kg Men's Judo.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.

Roger Federer Survives Against Juan Martin Del Potro, Advances to Olympic Finals

Roger Federer was pushed to the brink by Juan Martin del Potro before finally winning 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 19-17 and advancing to his first ever Olympic singles gold medal match.

Remember that longest match in Olympic history that just happened on Tuesday between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic? Well this one was longer. It wasn’t more games, but it took more time, four hours and 25 minutes to be precise. Four hours and 25 minutes of Kobe Bryant clapping.

Federer didn’t look like himself for much of the first two sets, making all sorts of uncharacteristic unforced errors, particularly in the second set where he committed 17; comparatively he had just 12 unforced errors in his entire quarterfinal match against John Isner. But his serve kept him in the game, getting big aces at the most important times (he finished with 24 aces for the match). Federer was not able break del Potro all match until late in the match, going 0-7 on break point opportunities before finally getting a break to go up 10-9 in the third.

In the final set both men were on their game early, breezing through their service games until late when Federer started to put on the pressure. Once the match reached 6-6 you could see the service games get easier for Fed and tougher for del Potro. Ultimately Federer got his first break of the match to go up 10-9, but then after being so dominant on his serve for the entire set he gave up the break and the momentum.

After tying it back up del Potro started rolling through his service games and the momentum shifted back and forth with each looking the stronger man from time to time. Neither player got another break or even a break point until Federer had triple break point at 14-14. But of course, Del Potro fought off all three to win the game and the match returned to the back-and-forth rhythm it established. Once again at 17-17 Federer got another triple break point, this time he capitalized and finally closed out del Potro 19-17, but not before making things exciting by letting the final game get to deuce.

Federer will play the winner of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray for the gold medal on Sunday. Del Potro will play the loser of that match for bronze.

Meanwhile on the women’s side Maria Sharapova topped countrywoman Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the gold medal match. She will face the winner of Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Olympic Trampoline Is The Best Thing Ever

Belarus, Cuba Win First Golds Of London Games In Shooting

Two shooting medals were awarded today in London, and two nations got themselves their first medals of the 2012 Games in Belarus and Cuba, including some world record performances.

First up was the men's 50m prone rifle. Sergey Martynov tied a world record by shooting perfect 10s on all 60 of his shots in qualifications, then set a finals world record by scoring a 105.5 on 10 shots, which are ranked not simply as 10s but also graded by how close the shot is to the exact center of the circle. Second was Lionel Cox of Belgium, followed by Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia.

Then came the 25-meter rapid fire pistol competition. Russian Alexei Klimov set a world record by scoring 592 in the qualifications. By the way, this is what Klimov, and most rapid fire pistol shooters, wear while shooting:

Klimov couldn't keep up his strong shooting in the finals though, as Leuris Pupo of Cuba hit 34 out of 40 shots -- including three sets of five-out-of-five, more than anybody in the competition -- to bring home his country's first gold of the Olympics.That score of 34 tied a finals world record in the event.

So that's two gold medals, but four world records -- two in qualifications, two in finals -- either set or tied.

While the United States won both skeet shooting medals, America apparently isn't as good at shooting things that are still -- no Americans made either final.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.

Bob Costas, NBC Have Really Unfortunate Timing

Men's Doubles: Bryan Brothers Advance To Finals, Guaranteed Medal

The Bryan Brothers will bring some sort of neckwear back to the United States after a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the French pairing of Julian Benneteau and Richard Gasquet, giving the No. 1 seeded doubles squad a chance to bring home gold for America.

For the second straight day, the duo advanced without losing a game on service: however, today, their dominance was more complete, as the Bryans didn't face a single break point and also broke serve twice, which they could not do the day before against Israel's Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich, when they needed two tiebreakers to win. They won a ridiculous 29 of 32 points on first serve and quickly moved on in straight sets.

The Bryans will face the winner of a match featuring another French pairing of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra, who played David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez. Meanwhile, on the women's side of the bracket, the United States has a chance at taking two medals: Serena and Venus Williams will take on Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova of Russia later in one semifinal, while Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond will play the loser in a bronze medal match after falling to Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-1 7-6 (7-2) in the other semifinal.

Roger Federer is playing for a spot in the singles gold medal match after beating Juan Martin Del Potro in a second-set tiebreaker. The third set is currently underway on Bravo.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.

German Rower Leaves Olympics Amid Reports Of 'Nazi-Inspired' Ties

The 2012 Summer Olympics has already had a few mini-scandals, such as the badminton match fixing fiasco, but now an Olympic athlete has pulled out of the Summer Games over allegations of a "Nazi boyfriend." German rower Nadja Drygalla decided to leave the Olympics after a 90-minute conversation with German officials following media allegations that her boyfriend is a "far-right extremist."

"Miss Drygalla confirmed credibly her commitment to the Olympic Charter," Michael Vesper, the head of Germany's Olympic committee said in a release. "She is leaving the Olympic Village so as not to be a burden for the team."

German public broadcaster ARD reported that Drygalla's boyfriend was a leading member of the "Rostock National Socialists" and fought a state election for the far-right National Democratic Party. Germany's intelligence agency describes the party as racist, anti-Semitic and inspired by the Nazis. It's campaign's blames immigrants for unemployment and high crime.

"There is no issue for us regarding the rower. I have seen the report. But as far as the Games are concerned, she has not done anything wrong," International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said in a statement.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.

Wojdan Shaherkani Becomes First Saudi Woman To Compete In Olympics

Saudi Arabia's Wojdan Shaherkani became the first woman ever to participate in an Olympic event representing her nation, quickly losing a judo match.

What To Watch, Day 7: Michael Phelps' Final Individual Race (And Trampoline!)

What To Watch on Day 7 at the 2012 Summer Olympics, including tennis semifinals at Wimbledon, more insane track cycling, track and field and Michael Phelps' last ever individual race.

Rowing: Great Britain Stays Strong, New Zealand Captures 2 Golds

Great Britian continues to pace the competition in rowing medals, earning its sixth gold medal of the games.

London 2012 Olympics: Event Schedule, TV Coverage For Friday

Alright the weekend is here. Whether you're allowed summer hours and can catch up on live action during the afternoon or need appointment television for the evening, there's plenty to watch and enjoy as the 2012 Summer Olympics head into the second full weekend of competition.

The biggest events will be broadcast in primetime, naturally, as Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin and Cullen Jones all chase gold at the London Aquatics Center. Phelps will look to defend in the 100m butterfly. Franklin will hope to cruise to her fourth medal of these games in the 200m backstroke and Jones will have to proverbially sprint to victory in the 50m freestyle.

Other important events include tennis semifinals from Wimbledon, and the start of elimination matches in beach volleyball.

And oh yes, there is more equestrian dressage qualifying.

4 a.m. - 8 p.m. (NBCSN)

• Beach Volleyball: Elimination Round (4 a.m., 6:30 a.m.)
  
• Women's Volleyball: Brazil vs. China (5 a.m.)
  
• Women's Soccer: Quarterfinals (7 a.m., 9:30 a.m., Noon, 2:30 p.m.)
• Men's Shooting: 50M Prone Rifle Gold Medal Final (9 a.m.), Unspecified (1:45 p.m.)
  
• Men's Archery: Individual Gold Medal Final (11:15 a.m.)
• Men's Boxing: Elimination Bouts (flyweight and welterweight classes 2 p.m., 4:15 p.m.)
• Women's Basketball: USA vs. Czech Republic (5 p.m.)

7 a.m. - 3 p.m. (Bravo)

• Tennis: Singles and Mixed Doubles Semifinals
  

9 a.m. - 6 p.m. (MSNBC)

• Men's Gymnastics: Trampoline Qualifying (9 a.m.)
  
• Women's Water Polo: Russia vs. Australia (10:30 a.m.), Spain vs. Hungary (11:30 a.m.)
• Equestrian: Dressage Qualifying (12:30 p.m.)
  
• Badminton: Women's Singles Semifinal (1:30 p.m.), Men's Singles Semifinal (2:30 p.m.) , Mixed Doubles Final (3:45 p.m.)
  
• Women's Weightlifting: 75 kg Gold Medal Final (2 p.m.)
• Men's Weightlifting: 85 kg Gold Medal Final (3 p.m.)
• Women's Handball: Denmark vs. Norway (4:15 p.m.)

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (NBC)

• Track & Field: Qualifying (10 a.m., 11:30 a.m.), Women's 10,000M Gold Medal Final (4:30 p.m.)
  
• Rowing: Gold Medal Finals (Men's pair, single Sculls, quadruple sculls; Women's double sculls, 10:30 a.m., 3:45 p.m.)
  
• Swimming: Qualifying (Women's 50m freestyle, 4x100m medley relay; Men's 1500m freestyle, 4x100m medley relay. 10:45 a.m., 2 p.m.)
• Beach Volleyball: Elimination Round (Noon)
• Women's Water Polo: USA vs. China (2:30 p.m.)

5 - 8 p.m. (CNBC)

• Men's Boxing: Elimination Bouts (flyweight and welterweight classes)
  

8 p.m. - Midnight (NBC)

• Swimming: Gold Medal Finals (Men's 100M butterfly, 50M freestyle; Women's 200M backstroke, 800M freestyle)
  
• Track & Field: Men's Shotput Gold Medal Final
  
• Women's Diving: Springboard Qualifying
  
• Women's Volleyball: USA vs. Serbia
  
• Men's Gymnastics: Trampoline Gold Medal Final
  

12:35 - 1:35 a.m. (NBC)

• Women's Discus Qualifying and Heptathlon
  
• Cycling: Track Gold Medal Final

SI.com has a complete medal tracker to keep up to date with the top nations.

For complete coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, visit SB Nation's Summer Olympics hub.

London 2012 Olympics Swimming: TV Coverage, Event Schedule For Friday

Swimming is wrapping up in the 2012 Summer Olympics, but Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin and Cullen Jones will all be in the pool chasing gold on Friday.

2012 Olympics Track & Field: Schedule, TV Coverage For Friday

Track and field events begin Friday, with men's shotput and women's 400m qualifying events headlining the slate.