olympics

So far, the 2012 London Summer Olympics have had some memorable athletic accomplishments — along with some moments that didn’t really live up to the Olympic standard.

We couldn’t believe what we were watching during a commercial break from the Olympics. It seemed like a simple advertisement for the family-friendly pasta sauce Ragu, but oh, it was so much more.

Though it was a light day for medals, there was still plenty of drama at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on Monday. Here’s a recap of the day’s action:

When Hungarian swimmer Daniel Gyurta won the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke during the London Olympics it just didn’t feel right. That’s because rival and good friend Dale Oen wasn’t there to compete against him.

NBC has been the Olympics network for a while now, so you would it would know it’s doing. Not everyone thinks that’s the case.

If there’s one thing we’ve always taken for granted regarding the Olympics, it’s that gold medals are actually made out of gold. So imagine our surprise when we learned that this year’s first place medals are mostly silver.

The spotlight turned to the track and field events at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on Sunday. Here’s a recap of the day’s action:

Troy Dumais was all smiles on the podium when he and synchronized diving partner Kristian Ipsen won bronze in the three meter springboard event in London. Dumais has been waiting a long time for this medal, and so winning was especially sweet.

2012 Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius from South Africa is breaking barriers this year in London. Just this Saturday, the man known as “Blade Runner” competed in the 400-meter run and finished in second to move on to the semifinals this Sunday. And he did all this with two prosthetic racing legs.

When it comes to the 2012 Olympics, British bookshop owner David Mitchell said it best, “Performance levels have become so much higher that it’s so hard now to get a medal.” Just think about Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, both of whom have won medals by mere seconds ahead of their competitors. But does that make those Olympians who came just shy of placing any less athletic?

As always, we have the best gifs to sum up your week. If you’re anything like us, you’re all over the Olympic coverage. So we’ve got some special Olympics gifs just for you. If you missed it, we have gifs of the London Games here and we also have reaction gifs – how you possibly felt while watching those memorable Olympic moments. Take a look at all the best gifs of the week below.

US swimmers Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin added to their impressive medal collections on Friday at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Here’s a recap of the day’s action from the London Games: