Our Favorite Olympic Athletes (so far)_One of Four

We start our look at our favorite Olympic athletes so far with a brief profile of six American male athletes and what they have accomplished at the 2012 London Olympics. Not all of these participants are medal winners, but they did leave a lasting impression on the summer games.

We will provide the athlete's name, sport, age, city of birth and/or residency, and the college or university they attended. The numbers are not in terms of preference as these athletes are listed in alphabetical order.

1. Kevin Durant, basketball, 23, Washington DC, University of Texas_ Durant who plays in the NBA for the Oklahoma City Thunder was instrumental in helping Team America beat Argentina 126-97 in a game that was very close until the third quarter when Durant scored 17 points of the team's 42 points in that period. Durant finished with 42 points; the team faces Australia in the quarterfinals.

2. Daryl Homer, fencing (sabre), 21, New York, St. John's University, (pictured top)_ Homer did not medal at the 2012 London Olympics as he finished in a respectable sixth place during his first Olympics. But, he is the first African-American to compete in fencing, a sport typically dominated by France, Italy and Hungary. Homer lost to Ranes Dumitrescu of Romania, who won a team silver in the sabre division. Aron Szilagyi of Hungary won the individual event that Homer competed in.

3. Jonathan Horton, gymnastics, 26, Houston, Texas, University of Oklahoma (pictured middle)_ Horton has so far (we are deliberately unaware of the current gymnastics results from London since they will not air until at least seven hours from now in the United States) not medaled at the Olympics, but he did win silver on the horizontal bar and a team bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Nevertheless, he has once again been a vital leader on the men's gymnastics team. His teammate Darell Leyva, 20, won bronze in the all-around competition.

4. Cullen Jones, 28, Charlotte, NC, North Carolina State (pictured below)_ Jones has not put up the numbers that Michael Phelps has, but he has had a successful Olympics. Jones won gold in the 4x100 medley, as he did in 2008, and two silver medals.

5. Michael Phelps, 27, Baltimore, Maryland, University of Michigan (did not compete for school)_ Aside from NBA basketball players like LeBron James, few Olympic athletes are likely to become multimillionaires, but Phelps already is. In London, he won four gold medals and two silvers, for a career total of 18 gold medals and four silver medals, making him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.

6. Errol Spence, 22, Dallas, Texas_ Spence is the last remaining hope for the United States in boxing; today he has a crucial bout against Andrey Zamakovoy of Russia.

http://www.darylhomer.com

http://www.jonathan-horton.com

http://www.cullenjones.com

Olympic Stories_ Domination of Italian Fencers

Valentia Vezzali (pictured top), 38, who was actually born on Valentine's Day in 1974 and is Italy's flag-bearer, won yet another Olympic medal on Saturday. At the 2012 London Olympics, Vezzali won a bronze medal while her national teammates Elisa Di Francisca (pictured below), who is also a sex symbol in Italy, won gold. The Italian medal sweep in the individual foil competition was completed with Arianna Errigo winning the silver.

Di Francisca defeated Errigo 12-11 in overtime to win the gold; Vezzali beat out the number fencer Nan Hun-Hee of South Korea for the bronze.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vezzali became the first woman to win three consecutive gold medals, starting with the 2000 Sydney Olympics, in the individual foil competition. She also won a silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Additionally, Vezzali has won 13 golds at World Fencing Championship events with the last one coming at the 2011 championships in Catania, Italy.

An Italian male fencer Diego Occhiuzzi, 31, won bronze in the sabre competiton.

Hungarian Aron Szilagyi won a gold medal in the sabre competition to win the first gold medal for his country at the summer games.

Since American fencer Mariel Zagunis, the flag-bearer for the United States Olympic delegation, is a sabre fencer, she does not compete with Vezzali.

In the women's foil competition, American Lee Kiefer, 18, an up and coming star for the United States, was defeated by Errigo.  

http://www.valentinavezzali.com