Olympic Trends: Missy Franklin, J. Bieber

July, 31, 2012
7/31/12
11:00
AM ET
By Bill Speros | Special to ESPN.com


Missy Franklin had a busy daily-double day Monday. The 17-year-old swimmer from Centennial, Colo., who trains and goes to school in nearby Aurora, qualified for the 200-meter freestyle final Monday less than 15 minutes before winning the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke final with a time of 59.12 seconds.

Franklin scored the ultimate social media gold with a follow and a mention by the king of Twitter himself, Justin Bieber:

She will be a senior at Regis Jesuit High School in the fall and can expect a warm welcome upon her return:



Here's a video of her victory courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and posted on You Tube:



Franklin called the feeling "indescribable." That's one word for it. Her twin-fins earned kudos from several gold-medal winners in and out the pool:



Ryan Lochte failed to medal in the 200-meter freestyle, finishing fourth. His game was off a bit on Twitter, as well:



And he got a bit philosophical:



The U.S. women's gymnastics team flips, vaults and leaps for the team all-around gold medal Tuesday.



According to NBC/Facebook, fans of all five American gymnasts -- Douglas, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber, Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney -- have one thing in common -- they all "Like" Nastia Liukin, as well. And fans of Douglas and Wieber are also big fans of Katy Perry. Not surprising, each gymnast has the most Facebook fans from her home state (Raisman -- Massachusetts, Douglas -- Virginia, Wieber -- Michigan and Ross/Maroney -- California). Tune into a computer near you to watch the action live streaming starting at 11:24 a.m. ET:


The U.S. women's basketball team continued its march toward gold, beating Angola 90-38. This member of the Minnesota Lynx had 13 points in the victory:



First-time beach volleyball Olympian April Ross and her partner Jennifer Kessy continue their quest for a medal Tuesday night.

From aprilylace via Instagram


Blogger and fitness instructor Cassey Ho (@blogilates) YouTube viewers on a jogger's-eye view past some of London's notable landmarks.





Do you win a silver medal or lose a gold? Depends on perspective. Winning a silver medal wasn't enough for American swimmer Rebecca Soni, who was upset by 15-year-old Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania in the 100-meter breaststroke Monday, losing by eight one-hundredths of a second (1:05.47 vs. 1:05.55).



Cheers.


If you see any offbeat and fresh Olympic-related links from your favorite sports site or catchy tweets that might be of interest to others, pass them along to me @billsperos or bsperos1@gmail.com.

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