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Olympics medal count: US women's soccer, Usain Bolt gather more gold Thursday

The US continues to lead the overall Olympic medal count, helped by efforts in women's water polo, decathlon, and women's boxing.

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Lefteris Pitarakis/AP
United States' Abby Wambach celebrates after winning the women's soccer gold medal match against Japan at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, in London.
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Rich Clabaugh/Staff
Top Olympic medal winners, as of Thursday, August 9th.
  • By Pat Murphy Staff

Thursday was another banner day for the US, as four Olympic gold medals were secured by Americans at the London Games.

The US women's soccer team edged Japan, 2-1, at Wembley Stadium in the gold medal match. The American ladies gained a measure of revenge for losing the 2011 Women's World Cup to the Japanese.

At the Olympic Stadium Thursday night, Usain Bolt of Jamaica became the first man to repeat as Olympic champion in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes when he ran to victory in the 200 meters. Yohan Blake and Warren Weir, Bolt's countrymen, took silver and bronze, respectively.

American Ashton Eaton won gold in the men's decathlon, with a total of 8,869 points. US teammate and world champion Trey Hardee took home the silver medal.

Another track and field gold-medal effort came from Christian Taylor of the US, who won the men's Olympic triple jump title. Teammate Will Claye was the silver medalist.

The United States won its first gold medal in women's water polo Thursday, defeating Spain 8-5, behind five goals from Maggie Steffens.

In women's boxing, Claressa Shields became the first US woman to capture a gold medal when she defeated Nadezda Torlopova of Russia in the middleweight title bout.

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