Olympics Trending: Bolt and Richards-Ross

August, 6, 2012
8/06/12
11:00
AM ET
By Bill Speros | Special to ESPN.com


Happy Jamaican Independence Day. It's been an incredibly fast 50 years. And while Tropical Storm Ernesto is expected to skirt the Caribbean island and soak it with rain, "Hurricane Bolt" reigned over London with a thunderous ferocity not seen in the Olympics since ... 2008. The Jamaican sprinter captured his second-straight gold medal in the 100-meter sprint with an Olympic-record time of 9.63 seconds. His countryman Yohan Blake tied his personal best (9.75) for silver. American Justin Gatlin got the bronze.



Here's the photo finish:

Bolt's celebration was infectious:

From "bobbies" in London:

From Honest Frank via TeitPic


To the Houses of Parliament:



Team USA basketball players have been making themselves visible at venues across London. Here, Kevin Love caught this photo of his teammates getting warmed up before Bolt's record run. You'll have to guess the winner of this would-be race. Kobe Bryant posted "The fellas giving the starting blocks a try lol. We def won't quit our day jobs!!" on Facebook.


From Kevin Love via Instagram


Meanwhile, James Harden shared the sentiments of billions:




Lightning struck for the Americans on track, as well.

From sanyarichiross via Instagram


Sanya Richards-Ross' victory in the 400-meter dash was the first for an American woman since 1984. Her husband, Jacksonville Jaguars and former New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross, traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to cheer on his wife in person.




And the cheers echoed at EverBank Field in Jacksonville about an hour after her victory. Ross' Jaguars teammates, who didn't know the result, and about a thousand fans who had turned out for practice watched a tape of the race on the stadium's video board about an hour after it was completed, thanks to the handiwork of Coach Mike Mularkey.



“It was really a classy thing to do,” Jaguars wide receiver Lee Evans told Jaguars.com. “Everyone wanted to see it, and it was good that he (Mularkey) was able to pull everybody together and do that. A lot of guys had interest in it. It was special. You don’t get an opportunity to do that very much.”

The cheers spread beyond Jacksonville:



Both Richards-Ross and her husband attended Texas. And here's what the Longhorns' coach wrote.



Andy Murray's victory over Roger Federer for the the gold medal in tennis at Centre Court in Wimbledon was the source of immense pride for the host nation, as our favorite Olympic commentator noted:



And one very special fan, who just happens to be his mom and coach.



Last week, Taylor Swift tweeted congratulations to several U.S. Olympians, including Missy Franklin and the women's gymnastics team. Sunday, it was her cat, Meredith, who caught Olympic fever in her very swanky TV room:

From taylorswift via Instagram


Washington Capitals All-Star Alexander Ovechkin left the Olympics with girlfriend Maria Kirilenko and her bronze medal in tow. Kirilenko and fellow Russian Nadia Petrova won their women's doubles tennis match against Americans Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber with Ovechkin watching from the VIP seats. It was time to "make party." And here was the picture to prove it:



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.
Tags:

Kobe Bryant, kevin love, James Harden, Usain Bolt, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Missy Franklin, Taylor Swift, Aaron Ross, Lennox Lewis, Sanya Richards-Ross, Mike Mularkey, Lee Evans, Alexander Ovechkin

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