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Let's Catch Up: London Abuzz Over Women's Soccer; Alternate Medal Count

Chinese trampoline gold medalist Dong Dong competes in London. An analysis by Yahoo finds that China's Olympians outpace their U.S. counterparts in judged competitions, such as trampoline and diving.
Cameron Spencer
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Chinese trampoline gold medalist Dong Dong competes in London. An analysis by Yahoo finds that China's Olympians outpace their U.S. counterparts in judged competitions, such as trampoline and diving.

Good morning. Only five days remain in the Summer Games, and China leads the United States in the medal count, with a total of 73 (34 gold) to America's 71 (30 gold). Here's other news that caught our eye this morning:

China has buoyed its Olympic medal count in judged competitions, says Yahoo's Fourth-Place Medal blog. Yahoo's Chris Chase has tallied what he calls a "real" medal count — one that "ignores judged activities masquerading as sports," he says. And in that realm, Team USA has 26 golds to China's 24, and a lead of 59-53 total medals.

The USA-Japan women's soccer final, slated for Thursday afternoon, is causing a flurry of ticket-buying and excitement about the gold medal game, a rematch of last year's World Cup. Organizers expect at least 83,000 to attend the game — which would shatter the record attendance for women's Olympic soccer.

When seven Olympians from Cameroon disappeared while at the London Games, it set off a mystery. But an official with the Cameroonian entourage says it's happened before — and is usually a case of the athletes looking for new opportunities and homes. "Most of the time they don't come back," press secretary Emmanuel Tataw tells the AP.

Australia has captured its fifth gold medal of the London Games, as Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen won the 49er skiff sailing competition. Many Australians have been sanguine about what's being called a "medal drought." One commenter to The Sidney Morning Herald earlier wrote, "Individual gold for Australia in the sailing! Take that Kazakhstan!"

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.