Britain Dominates at London Olympics Tuesday

Posted August 7th, 2012 at 6:20 pm (UTC-5)
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The host country of the London Olympics enjoyed a big day Tuesday, earning a stream of medals to add to its fast-growing tally.

Britain won gold medals in the men's triathlon, track cycling and equestrian team dressage, and it captured other medals in sailing, track cycling and triathlon.

By day's end, Britain had surpassed its Olympic record of 19 gold medals set in Beijing in 2008.

At the London Velodrome, fans waving the British Union Jack beamed with pride as cyclists Chris Hoy and Laura Trott raced to gold medal wins. Hoy now holds a British record of six Olympic gold medals.

Meanwhile, China earned two more gold medals in gymnastics.

Deng Linlin finished first on the balance beam, and teammate Feng Zhe captured the men's parallel bars title. American Ally Raisman won a gold in the floor exercise, and Dutchman Epke Zonderland took the gold for the horizontal bar.

On the track, Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi earned the gold medal in the men's 1,500-meter final.

In the women's 100-meter hurdles, Australia's Sally Pearson edged Dawn Harper of the U.S. with an Olympic-record time of 12.35 seconds. It was only the fourth gold medal for Australia.

China and the U.S. are far ahead in the total medal count with at least 70 each. Britain and Russia are about tied for third, but Britain has more than twice as many gold medals.