Matt Anderson scored 18 points Sunday as the defending champion U.S. men's volleyball team opened Olympic play by sweeping Serbia.
Cameron van der Burgh hit the wall, turned around and checked the scoreboard. He had just become the first South African man to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming.
The Netherlands took its first step toward retaining the Olympic women's field hockey gold, beating newcomer Belgium 3-0 Sunday. Argentina lived up to its reputation as one of the tournament favorites by thrashing South Africa 7-1.
Novak Djokovic waited out a 3½-hour rain delay Sunday, and when his Olympic match resumed, he paid a heavy price for losing the first two points.
Supporters of the US Olympic Dream Team should forgive the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and their supporters for being excited about Russia's 95-75 rout of Britain on Sunday in their Olympic opener.
| POS | COUNTRY | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| 1 | United States | 46 | 29 | 29 | 104 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 27 | 23 | 88 |
| 3 | Great Britain | 29 | 17 | 19 | 65 |
| 4 | Russia | 24 | 26 | 32 | 82 |
| 5 | South Korea | 13 | 8 | 7 | 28 |
| 6 | Germany | 11 | 19 | 14 | 44 |
| 7 | France | 11 | 11 | 12 | 34 |
| 8 | Italy | 8 | 9 | 11 | 28 |
| 9 | Hungary | 8 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| 10 | Australia | 7 | 16 | 12 | 35 |
Teofilo Yldefonso is the first Filipino to win a medal and the only one to take home multiple medals. He finished third both in the Men's 200 meter breastroke during the 1928 and 1932 Olympics.
Harry Tañamor, the only Filipino predicted to win by the Sports Illustrated in its Olympic Preview edition, bows out in the first match up in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
John Baylon, a nine-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, and Jerry Diño were the last Filipino Olympic qualifiers in the discipline Judo, having vied in the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, though not competing, carries the Philippine flag at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Mary Antoinette Rivero's tie for fifth place in Taekwondo is the closest any Filipino athlete came to a medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The Philippines holds the record for winning the most medals without a gold haul with seven bronze and two silvers for a total of nine.
1972 was the last year the Philippine men's basketball team, which then paraded William 'Bogs' Adornado, Danny Florencio and Yoyong Martirez among others in its line up, has qualified for the Olympics.
The Philippines has not won a medal since Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco settled for silver in boxing via a controversial decision during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
The Philippines is the first country to compete and win an Olympic medal among Southeast Asian countries.
Arianne Cerdena won a gold in bowling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but Cerdena's gold was not included in the medal tally since bowling was considered only as a demonstration sport.
The Philippines participated in the Winter Olympics three times, in 1972 (Juan Cipriano and Ben Nanasca, alpine skiing), in 1988 (Raymund Ocampo, luge) and in 1992 (Michael Teruel, alpine skiing).
The largest delegation the Philippines has ever sent to the Games was 53 in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Philippines has only won medals in three events since joining the Olympics in 1924.
The Philippines will shoot for its first gold medal in six of the following events in the 2012 London Olympics: Athletics, BMX, Boxing, Cycling, Shooting and Swimming.
The men's Philippine Basketball team is the first country to ever score 100 or more points in the 1948 Olympics after clobbering Iraq,102-30.
The Philippines is the first nation in the tropics to ever participate in the Winter Olympic Games.
Men's boxing has for medals in the Olympics with Anthony Villanueva, silver in the Featherweight Division of the 1964 Games in Tokyo; Leopoldo Serantes, third in 1988 Seoul; Roel Velasco, third in Barcelona; and his brother Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco, second in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
The Philippine basketball team wound up fifth place—best finish for an Asian country in the Olympics to date—in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the first time basketball was played as an Olympic sport.
The Philippines last reached the final round swimming 80 years ago when Jikirum Adjaluddin and Teofilo Yldefonso ended up in the final six in the 1932 Los Angeles Games.
With only eight athletes in six sporting events for the London Games, this will be PH's smallest delegation since 1996.
