USA Basketball Wins Gold, Edges Spain

In a thrilling Gold Medal game between the United States and Spain in men's basketball, Team USA struggled to build a big lead, and just hung on for the win.

Kevin Durant led the team in scoring with 30 points, and LeBron James added 19, but the Americans struggled all game long to generate turnovers and fast break points against the very disciplined Spanish squad, which was led by Pau Gasol, who had 24 points. In addition to the Spanish big men, which also included a good contribution off the bench from Serge Ibaka when Marc Gasol got into foul trouble, the Americans had trouble all game long with the Spanish guards.

Juan Carlos Navarro dropped in 24 for Spain, which only trailed by one point headed into the 4th quarter. But Team USA increased the defensive pressure in the final period, holding Spain to just 18 points, and LeBron James took over, with a dunk and a three to increase the American lead to 9 points, with 1:59 to play.

For head coach Mike Krzyzewski, the win capped off a 7-year reign as US coach, which saw him turn around a team which won bronze in Athens in 2004 to back to back golds in Beijing and London.

Mexico Stuns Brazil, Wins Gold Medal

Brazil's quest for gold will have to wait in men's soccer will have to wait.

Mexico scored within the first 30 seconds of the match, and held on late to deliver a shocking 2-1 win over Brazil in the Gold Medal Match at Wembley Stadium in London.

Oscar Peralta had both goals for El Tri, and capitalized on a horrible backpass in the first minute by the Brazilians, slotting home the first shot of the game past Brazilian goalie Gabriel, the earliest goal in an Olympic match, according to FIFA.

His second would come via a wide-open header off a free kick in 74th minute.

Brazil would get a goal in the 91st minute from Hulk to make it interesting, but after Oscar missed a free header in the waning seconds, it was all over for Brazil, which was the heavy favorite coming into this Olympic competition in London. With young stars like Oscar and Neymar, Brazil will have two years to regroup before they host the World Cup in 2014.

Murray Takes Gold Medal in Tennis

Four major competitions, four different champions this year in Men's Tennis, as today Andy Murray wins the Gold Medal for Great Britain, defeating Switzerland's Roger Federer in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 at Centre Court at Wimbledon.

In a rematch of last month's Wimbledon final, in which Federer won to reclaim the world #1 ranking, Murray simply dominated Federer, forcing him into unforced error after unforced error. It was shocking to see how dominant Murray, who has never won a Grand Slam, was in dispatching Federer so easily. 

"I've had a lot of tough losses in my career," he said. "This is the best way to come back from the Wimbledon final. I'll never forget it."

The match result also showed the immense amount of parity in the sport this year, with Novak Djokovic winning the Australian, Rafael Nadal the French, Federer Wimbledon, and Murray the Olympics. It sets up what should be an amazing U.S. Open next month in New York.

USA Rolls over France

In their first Olympic game in London, Team USA basketball was on cruise control from the 2nd quarter onward, as they beat France by 27 points, 98-71. 

Kevin Durant led the USA with 22 points and 9 rebounds, while Kevin Love added 14 off the bench for the Americans, who beat up a French national team with six NBA players, including all-star PG Tony Parker.

But the French just couldn't hit a three-pointer to save their lives, shooting 2 for 22 from behind the arc, while turning the ball over 18 times.

Team USA next plays Tunisia Tuesday night in London, while France prepares for a showdown with Argentina.

Lochte Wins Gold in 400 IM, Phelps 4th

It wasn't a surprise that reigning world champion Ryan Lochte won the gold medal at the 400 meter individual medley final in London today. He has been the best swimmer in the world for the last two years, and blew away the field in the final today, winning the final meet with a time of 4:05.18.

"This is my year," said Lochte, who popped in his grillz -- diamond-studded mouth jewelry -- for the victory ceremony. "I know it and I feel it, because I've put in hard work. I've trained my butt off for four years ... and there's no better way to start this Olympics off than getting gold."

Brazil's Thiago Pereira (4:08.86) and Japan's Kosuke Hagino (4:08.94) took the silver and bronze, respectively, and Michael Phelps, who won a record eight-gold medals four years ago at Beijing, finished fourth with a time of 4:09.28. 

"It's frustrating, that's all I can say. It's pretty upsetting," Phelps said. "The biggest thing now is to try to look forward. I have a bunch of other races, and hopefully we can finish a lot better than how we started."