Olympics, 2012 Olympics | featured news

The Americans lived up to their considerable hype and then some Tuesday night, routing silver medalist Russia and everybody else on their way to their first Olympic title in women's gymnastics since 1996. Their score of 183.596 was a whopping five points ahead of Russia and made their final event, floor exercise, more like a coronation. Romania won the bronze.

The former Beatle could have commanded millions for his opening ceremony finale, but you'd be surprised at the size of his actual paycheck... McCartney was paid -- wait for it -- only one pound, or $1.57, for his performance at the Olympics opening ceremony, according to The Huffington Post, but even that wasn't anticipated.

Princes William and Harry have come out for a second day to cheer on Zara Phillips as Britain contends for a medal in equestrian eventing's final show jump competition.

Olympic spectators traveling to the Games in London faced delays Tuesday after a faulty train forced the closure of one of the busiest underground links to the Olympic Park.

Twitter has suspended the account of a Los Angeles-based reporter for a British newspaper who included the email address of the NBC Olympics president and asked his followers to write him to complain about the network's coverage....

The Nielsen company said 36 million people watched Sunday night's coverage, the biggest audience for the second night of a non-U.S. summer Olympics competition since TV began covering them in 1960. Counting the opening ceremonies on Friday, an average of 35.8 million people have tuned in for the three nights, well above the 30.6 million who watched the first three nights in Beijing in 2008 and considerably more than the 24 million who saw the first three nights of the Athens games of 2004.

The Colorado teenager Missy Franklin won the 100-meter backstroke to earn her first gold medal, outracing Emily Seebohm of Australia in a stirring duel that completed a wild 20 minutes at the London Aquatics Centre for her.

Here's what to watch for at the London Olympics on Monday: 1. SWIMMING: There are four finals, with Ryan Lochte going for a second gold in the men's 200 freestyle. The less successful Michael Phelps - a phrase many are unaccustomed to hearing - will also be in the pool elsewhere; 2. GYMNASTICS: The first gold medal will be awarded in the men's team final...

Police lost a set of keys at Wembley Stadium last week but security was not compromised at the London Olympic soccer venue, officials said Monday.

France earned an Olympic-sized upset in the 400 free relay Sunday, when 20-year-old Yannick Agnel chased down Ryan Lochte on the final lap to avenge the Americans' 2008 victory... The win is France's first in the history of the event. Not only that -- it's France's first relay victory of any kind, men or women, in the history of the Summer Olympics.