The total of 46 gold medals was the highest for the U.S. in an Olympics contested on foreign soil. Those gold medals were supplemented by 29 silver medals and 29 bronze medals for a grand total of 104, giving Team USA the lead in the medal count for the fifth straight Games.
Those totals are still far behind the best medal hauls for the U.S at any Olympics: 83 golds (174 overall) at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, boycotted by the Soviet Union, and 78 golds (a whopping 239 overall) at the 1904 St. Louis Games.
China had capitalized on its home-country advantage four years ago to win 51 gold medals, 15 more than the U.S. And although the U.S. won more medals overall in Beijing, 110-100, some experts give greater weight to the number of gold medals when ranking Olympic performances.
As the Olympics closing ceremony began, the United States team did not hold back and showed their joy with their teams overall performance that brought pride and joy to the country.
Swimmers won the most medals for Team USA, 31. That equaled the Beijing team's total but the London swimmers won 16 gold medals, four more than the Beijing team.
Michael Phelps dominated the pool here by winning six gold medals and eight overall to pad his career total to 22, the most in Olympic history. Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte and Allison Schmitt each won five medals and U.S. swimmers set five world records, two by breaststroke specialist Rebecca Soni.
The second-biggest contribution was 29 from a track and field team whose distance renaissance softened the sting of losing three of four individual sprint races to Jamaicans.
