Robert Harting

Robert Harting is a German discuss thrower. He won gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics discuss event. He is also currently the  world and European champion in the men's event. 

Born: October 18, 1984 in Cottbus, Germany 
Height: 6'7" 
Weight: 280 lbs 
Website/Social media: derharting.de, Twitter , Facebook 

Career Highlights: 

 • personal best: 70.31 meters, set in May 2012 
 • won silver medak at the 2001 World Youth Championships 
 • won gold medal at the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships 
 • won gold in 2011 and 2009 world Championships, silver in 2007 
 • won gold in 2012 European Championships in Helsinki, silver in 2010 Barcelona

Danell Leyva

Danell Leyva is an American gymnast, a bronze medalist at the men's all around event at the 2012 London Olympics. 

Leyva has Cuban heritage, his mother and stepfather defected from Cuba when he was a year old.

Born: October 30, 1991
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 161 lbs
Website/Social Network: www.danelljleyva.com, Twitter

Career Highlight: 

• in 2009, the youngest member of the US national senior team, at age 17
• won gold at 2011 World Championships parallel bars event
• won bronze at the 2011 World Championships team event
• won gold in 2010 Pacific Rim Championships in team, parallel bars and horizontal bar events; bronze in still rings

 

Michael Phelps at his Element

The most decorated Olympian ever

The stats:

• 22 medals overall
• 18 gold medals
• 11 gold medals from individual events
• 13 medals in male individual events
• 6 gold medals and 2 bronzes in 2004 Athens Olympics
• 8 gold medals in 2008 Olympics
• 5 golds and 2 silvers in 2012 London Olympics

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Pistorius is a South African sprinter. A double below-knee amputee since he was a baby, he was nicknamed the 'Blade Runner' owing to his carbon fiber artificial limbs. 

He first competed in international able-bodied events in 2007. Initially he was ruled ineligible to compete by the IAAF, but the decision was reversed. He is part of the South African 2012 Olympic team, competing in 400-meter sprint and 4x400-meter relay events, becoming the first amputee to compete in the Summer Olympics.

Born: November 22, 1986 in Johannesburg, South Africa
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 178 lbs
Website/Social Media: www.oscarpistorius.com, Twitter

Career Highlights

• Won gold at the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympics, in 200-meter spring event
• Won bronze at the 2004 Athens Summer Paralympics, in 100-meter spring event
• Won gold in 3 events (100-m, 200-m and 400-m sprint) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
• won silver at the 2011 World Championships 4x400-meter relay event (able-bodied)
• included in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2008
• awarded 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards for Sportsperson of the Year with Disability
• first man to compete both in Olympics and Paralympics

Recap: Jake Dalton in London 2012

London 2012 results: Jake Dalton placed fifth in men's floor exercises final. The United States team, which he is a part of, also placed fifth in the men's team event. 

Scott Higginbotham

Scott Higginbotham is an Australian rugby union player. He is currently playing as a loose forward with the Queensland Reds in the Super Rugby league, from 2008 to 2012. He will be playing for Melbourne Rebels starting in 2013, in a 2 year contract. 

Higginbotham also played for Ballymore Tornadoes, in 2007

Born: September 5, 1986 in Perth, Australia 

Height: 6'5" 

Weight: 110 kg 

Website: Twitter

Career Highlights:

• Named part of the Australian team in 2010, as a reserve
• first start with the Wallabies in 2011 Tri Nations Series
• played 11 tests for Australia
• record with Reds: 64 caps, 85 points

Tommaso Rinaldi

Tommaso Rinaldi is an Italian diver. He competed in the 2012 London Olympics, in 3-meter springboard event, placing 24th in the preliminary round.

Rinaldi studies dentistry and medicine in Madrid University.

Born: January 18, 1991 in Rome, Italy
Height:  5'11"
Weight: 78 kg
Website: Twitter

Career Highlights:

• won bronze in  1-meter springboard event, 2006 European Youth Championships
• won silver in 3-meter synchronized springboard event, 2007  European Youth Championships (with partner Andreas Billi)
• finished 7th in 3-meter synchronized springboard event, 2011 European Diving Championships (with partner Michele Benedetti) 

On to Rio

The 2012 London Olympics just closed in a spectacular ceremony that featured pop stars - as varied as One Direction, Spice Girls, George Michael, The Who, The Pet Shop Boys - and Prince Harry. After the ceremony the Games were handed off to Rio de Janeiro, the host of the 2016 Olympic Games.

To recap: the United States led the total number of medals (104)and the number of golds won (46), followed by China (38 golds, 88 total) and by host Great Britain (29 and 65). 

Olympic Update: Boudia Wins Gold, Daley Bronze

Olympic Update: 

David Boudia of the United States won gold in the 2012 London Olympics 10-meter platform competition, beating reigning champion Qui Bo of China. Boudia scored 102.60 in the final dive to move to first place with a total score of 568.65.  Bo scored 566.85

Eighteen-year old Tom Daley of Great Britain won bronze, scoring 556.95. He led the field going into the final dive with a margin of 0.15 points.

Marcel Nguyen in Action

Marcel Nguyen of Germany in action at the London Olympics. Nguyen won silver in the men's all around event, and another silver in men's parallel bars.

Bjorn Barrefors

Bjorn Barrefors is a Swede decathlete. He competes for the University of Nebraska in the NCAA, and for Sweden in international competitions. Unfortunately he missed qualifying in the 2012 London Olympics.

Born: October 27, 1987 in 
Height: 1.88 meters
Weight: 85 kg
Website: Twitter

Career Highlights:

• won in heptathlon event in 2008 National Indoor Championships
• Personal best in heptathlon: 5894
• finished ninth in the heptathlon at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships
• 12th in the decathlon at the 2011 Outdoor Championship
• finished fifth (7,417) in the decathlon at the 2011 Big 12 Outdoor Championships

Nathan Adrian in Action

Nathan Adrian won 2 golds and a silver in 2012 London Olympics: 100-m freestyle (gold), 4x100-m medley relay (gold) and 4x100-m freestyle relay (silver)

Jake Kaminski

Jake Kaminski is an American archer. He won silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics team archery event, together with his teammates Brady Ellison and Jacob Wukie. They defeated the no. 1 seed South Korea, before losing to Italy in the finals. 


Kaminsky started archery at age 6, and started competing in 1997.

Born: August 11, 1988
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 158 lbs
Website: Twitter, http://jakekaminski.com/ 

Career Highlights:

• 2005 Overall National Champion 
• 2005 All America’s Indoor Champion 
• 2005 & 2006 Jr United States Archery Team 
• 2006 Jr World Team Member 
• 2007 Senior National Team Champion 
• 2007 Merenge Cup Team Silver 
• 2008 Australian Invitational 17th place 
• 2008 Senior National Team Silver 
• 2009 United States Archery Team Member 
• 2009 Mexican Grand Prix Individual Silver 
• 2009 Target Nationals Bronze 
• 2009 Target National Team Champion

Nathan Adrian

Nathan Adrian is an American swimmer who currently holds the United States record in 50 and 100-yard freestyle events.

Adrian won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics in the 100-meter freestyle event, edging James Magnussen by 1/100 seconds. He also won silver in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, together with team mates Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Cullen Jones.

Born: December 7, 1988 in Bremerton, Washington

Height: 6'6"

Weight: 220 lbs

Website: Twitter

Career Highlights:

• Won gold medal in 2008 Olympics 4x100-meter freestyle relay
• Won 14 medals in international competitions: 11 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze
• Five-time NCAA champion, swimming for UC Berkeley
• Won four gold medals at the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships
• First American to win 100-meter freestyle in Olympics since Matt Biondi in 1988

Marcel Nguyen

Marcel Nguyen is a Viet-German gymnast. He recently won silver in the 2012 London Olympics men's all-around gymnastics competition, placing behind Japan's Kohei Ochimura. Nguyen also competed in the floor and parallel bars competition at the Olympics.

Nguyen started gymnastics at age four. He became a three-time European champion in bars and men's all around competition.

Born: September 8, 1987 in Munich, Germany
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 119 lbs
Website: Twitter






Career Highlights:

• German junior champion in parallel bars, 2006
• Finished 4th at the 2008 Olympics team all-around competition, 7th in the 2012 Olympics