Women's soccer & polo teams add more gold for USA

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 9 - She's still in high school, but USA boxer Claressa Shields, 17, is also an Olympic gold medalist, after she won her middleweight final. She defeated Russia's Nadezda Torlopova by a score of 19-12. It was the first gold medal ever awarded for women's middleweight boxing. And by the time the match started, Shields, who trained in Flint, Michigan, represented America's only hope for a gold medal in boxing at the London 2012 Games.


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USA's Christian Taylor won the Olympic triple jump gold medal to go with his world title, overtaking U.S. teammate Will Claye with his fourth jump in the final. Taylor continued his season-leading form with a best jump of 17.81 meters & 19 centimeters clear of silver medalist Claye. Italy's Fabrizio Donato, the 35-year-old European champion, took bronze at 17.48.


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The United States gained sweet revenge for one of the most painful women's soccer defeats, beating Japan, 2-1 to take the Olympic Games gold medal before a record crowd of 80,203 at Wembley Stadium. A pair of outstanding goals from midfielder Carli Lloyd was enough to ensure the Americans avenged their defeat by the same opponent on penalty kicks in last year's Women's World Cup final.


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The 19-year-old Maggie Steffens capped a stunning two-week performance in London, scoring five goals to power the U.S. past Spain, 8-5 to give the Americans their first ever Olympic gold title in women's water polo. The win was extra sweet for Brenda Villa and Heather Petri, who are two decorated veterans playing in their last Olympics. They had medaled for the U.S. at every games since women's water polo made its debut in 2000, but had never won gold - until now.


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Ashton Eaton's olympic gold medal in the decathlon was all but sealed when he reached the last event, the 1,500 meters, where he simply needed to finish in an average time to win the event. Eaton finished the two-day competition with 8,869 points to defeat fellow American Trey Hardee, who earned silver, by 198 points. It's the first time the Americans have gone 1-2 in the Olympic decathlon since Milton Gray Campbell and Rafer Johnson in 1956.


OTHER USA MEDALS WON...

SILVER - Swimming (Haley Anderson - Women's Open Water 10km Marathon)

BRONZE - Taekwondo (Terrence Jennings - Men's Feathererweight 68kg)