Gator Nation Is At The 2012 Olympics, Day 10: Abby Wambach, Partner To Greatness

Abby Wambach, USWNT play on

The U.S. women's national soccer team has been on a roller-coaster ride that makes Hollywood screenwriters jealous over the last two years. Monday's thrilling 4-3 win over Canada in the 2012 Olympics women's soccer tournament semifinal is merely the highest high.

Abby Wambach was harassed all day within the box, roughed up by a Canadian defense intent on preventing her power game from working, and didn't score in the run of play. She also missed a difficult sliding goal that would have all but ended Canada's chances of prevailing. But Wambach converted coolly on a penalty kick that equalized the game late in regulation, helping the U.S. get to extra time.

And so she paved the way for this to happen.

Alex Morgan's goal in the 123rd minute was reminiscent of Wambach's in the 122nd minute against Brazil in the 2011 Women's World Cup, but came at the end of what may have been an even greater game — Megan Rapinoe put in two fantastic goals, and Canada's unstoppable Christine Sinclair earned a thoroughly impressive hat trick, and the U.S. led for about 30 seconds — and is thus probably the finest goal in American women's soccer history since Carli Lloyd's goal to beat Brazil in overtime at the 2008 Olympics.

Two other Gators were on rosters for the semifinal, but neither U.S. defender Heather Mitts nor Canadian Mel Booth entered the match. The USWNT will have a chance to win a gold medal on Thursday against Japan.

Clement last in 400m hurdles

Kerron Clement's chances of winning the 400 meters hurdles were not great. His chances of medaling, however, were decent. Finishing dead last in the final, then, is a bit of a frustrating fate.

Clement had the fastest reaction time in the field, but was quickly overtaken, and couldn't make up the difference at the end of the race. As noted in various other circumstances for Gators Olympians around these parts, being the eighth-fastest man in the world in a race isn't in any way something to be ashamed of — it's just not the same as winning a medal.

Joseph fails to advance in 800m

Moise Joseph, competing for Haiti, finished sixth in his heat in the 800 meters and did not advance to the semifinals of the event. Here is how fast Olympic half-milers run: Joseph's time was 1:48.46, and it was 36th overall.

Gator Nation Medal Count, Day 10

Total Medals: 9 (Ryan Lochte: 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze, one gold shared with Conor Dwyer; Elizabeth Beisel: 1 silver, 1 bronze; Will Claye: 1 bronze; Lisa Raymond, 1 bronze)

Total Medals For Individual Gators: 9 (Ryan Lochte: 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze; Conor Dwyer: 1 gold; Elizabeth Beisel: 1 silver, 1 bronze; Will Claye: 1 bronze; Lisa Raymond, 1 bronze)

Gold Medals: 2 (Lochte, men's 400 meters IM, and Lochte/Dwyer, men's 4 x 200 meters relay)

Silver Medals: 3 (Lochte, men's 4 x 100 meters relay and men's 200 meters IM ; Beisel, women's 400 meters IM)

Bronze Medals: 4 (Lochte, men's 200 meters backstroke, Beisel, women's 200 meters backstroke; Claye, men's long jump; Raymond, tennis mixed doubles)

Percentage of U.S. Gold Medals, Excluding Transfers: 6.9 percent (2 of 29)

Percentage of U.S. Gold Medals, Including Transfers: 17.2 percent (5 of 29)

Percentage of U.S. Medals, Excluding Transfers: 14.3 percent (9 of 63)

Percentage of U.S. Medals, Including Transfers: 19.0 percent (12 of 63)

For the purposes of our medal count, I'm counting 34 members of Olympic teams as Gators, by the same criteria as Only Gators. GatorZone counts Gators letterwinners, including three who transferred and finished their collegiate careers elsewhere, meaning that Dana Vollmer. I'll calculate stats for both here.

If the University of Florida were its own country, it would currently be in 22nd in the medal rankings, a spot ahead of Brazil, and tied for 13th with seven other nations, including Brazil, in the overall Olympic medal count. The former stat ranks teams with better medals first; the latter only includes total medals.

Gator Nation no longer leads Great Britain, but has twice as many medals as Jamaica. No, Usain Bolt, your medal does not count double or anything.