Michael Phelps Vindicated, Jordyn Wieber Devastated

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In a lookback at last night's Olympics competitions, the two that top my mind are the Men's 4x100M Freestyle Relay and the Women's Gynastics Qualifying. In both sports we saw many of our talented athletes overcome quite an ordeal.

In swimming, Michael Phelps was vinidcated from his fourth place completion in Saturday's race. He and the rest of the relay team worked hard to try to repeat their celebratory victory of the 2008 games. But at the last second, just as the US team did four years ago, France came out of second place to take the gold. Although it provided a shocking end for our team, they came out of it with a silver medal, winning another one for Team USA.

Over in the stadium, Jordyn Wieber led Team USA in the Ladies Gymnastics Qualifying, where the girls looked good in their individual sports, and earned a spot in the team competition. But with the ruling that only the top two gymnasts of each country can qualify for the All-Around, Wieber faced a devastating ending to Qualifications when she came in third place on her team, just miliseconds behind her teammate. It was heartbreaking to watch Wieber's reaction, but she pulled herself together enough to talk about how proud she is of her team, and looking forward to participating in the  team event later this week.

After the event, Bob Costas interviewed infamous Women's Gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi about his feelings on the ruling to take the top two qualifiers from each country to the All-Around. Karolyi said in no-uncertain terms that the ruling was wrong. The All-Around should feature the top 25 gymnasts, period. If this were the ruling, as I believe it should be, then Wieber, who is currently the World Champion, would have had her shot at her dream: to compete in the All-Around at this year's Olympics.

There is one more event from yesterday that definitely deserves a mention: US swimmer Dana Vollmer set the World Record when she won Gold in yesterday's 100m Butterfly. Go Dana!

So, there you have it: The good and the bad of last night's round of competitions in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. What events are you watching? What athletes are you following? Feel free to share with us!