Olympics

Winning an Olympic gold medal marks the culmination of years of hard work, often in obscurity. So when an athlete finishes first in an Olympic event one does expect a pretty emotional response to the achievement. German discus thrower Robert Harting took that emotion to the next level Tuesday at the London Games.

After his stunning win in the 100-meter dash at the London Olympics, there's no denying that Usain Bolt of Jamaica is the fastest man alive. But this fascinating video infographic from the New York Times shows just how fast he is when compared to sprinters dating all the way back to the 1896 Summer Games in Athens.

We've always thought that members of the Queen's Guard weren't supposed to move or talk, but this guy breaks convention when he screams at a little kid who gets too close. Maybe all the extra security for the Olympics has him a little tense?

Winning a medal at the Olympics must be an exciting moment for an athlete. But despite what viewers saw yesterday, American rower Henrik Rummel insists he was not sporting an, um, inappropriate bulge while he and his team accepted the bronze medal. Er, good to know?

The metal ball that is used in Olympic shot put events weighs 16.1 pounds for the men and 8.8 pounds for the women. Amazingly, Olympic competitors are able to toss that ball around 70 feet. To do so requires the exertion of a lot of energy. Thanks to high speed cameras we can see exactly how much energy shot putters have to summon, because it is written right on their faces.

When Hungarian swimmer Daniel Gyurta won the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke during the London Olympics it just didn't feel right. That's because rival and good friend Dale Oen wasn't there to compete against him.

To help fuel his way to a record Olympic 18 gold medals,  swimmer Michael Phelps eats over 12,000 calories a day while training and competing. Presumably, Phelps doesn't wolf down all of these calories in one sitting. Furious Pete, a competitive eater and YouTube personality, most certainly did consume over 12,000 calories in one giant meal.

What better topic for a meme than the 2012 Summer Olympics? Not only is the Queen of England herself being turned into a meme, but it seems that all of our favorite memes are getting in on the action.

2012 Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius from South Africa is breaking barriers this year in London. Just this Saturday, the man known as "Blade Runner" competed in the 400-meter run and finished in second to move on to the semifinals this Sunday. And he did all this with two prosthetic racing legs.

When it comes to the 2012 Olympics, British bookshop owner David Mitchell said it best, "Performance levels have become so much higher that it's so hard now to get a medal." Just think about Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, both of whom have won medals by mere seconds ahead of their competitors. But does that make those Olympians who came just shy of placing any less athletic?

As always, we have the best gifs to sum up your week. If you're anything like us, you're all over the Olympic coverage. So we've got some special Olympics gifs just for you. If you missed it, we have gifs of the London Games here and we also have reaction gifs - how you possibly felt while watching those memorable Olympic moments. Take a look at all the best gifs of the week below.

Recently, we brought you the funny faces of Olympic divers. We found ourselves wondering: Is there any other event that can make you look quite so ridiculous? Oh you bet there is. Welcome to the wonderful world of the Olympic Trampoline.

With the world wrapped up in Olympic fever, we've seen a lot of inspirational athletic achievements over the past few days. What we haven't been getting a whole lot of from the London Games, however, is comedy. So to remedy the lack of laughs that often occurs during an Olympic season we present a video of a man dressed as a woman doing an Olympic-style gymnastics routine.

Gabby Douglas delivered the performance of a lifetime yesterday, winning the gold in individual all-around gymnastics. She became the first American to win both team and all-around gold at the same Olympics, and the first African-American woman to win gold in the all-around. It was a great moment for America. And then, for some, NBC completely ruined it.

Last Sunday, Chinese diver Wu Minxia took home gold in the 3m synchronized springboard and became the first woman in history to win three consecutive Olympic golds. But her remarkable accomplishment was marred somewhat when it was revealed that her family intentionally hid devastating secrets as she pursued her career.