The 2012 Summer Olympics are just a little over 90 days from beginning.  They open July 27 in London.  Can't wait!  My entire family is junkie Olympians; but Holly and I are the most addicted. 

We anxiously await them every two years; and we will watch ANYTHING, from water polo to equestrian events to the "glamor" venues, such as swimming, diving, and gymnastics. 

We get nearly as excited when the U.S. is doing well in an event as we do watching an OU football game.  Notice I said "nearly as excited"; but that is saying a lot, given how revved up she and I get when OU is playing.

There's a fellow named Don Johnson, an economist who lives in Colorado, who has been predicting for years who will win the most medals at the Olympics. 

He utilizes  a model that uses metrics like population count, income per capita, and home-country advantage. In the past six Olympics, his model has a correlation of 93 percent between predictions and actual medal counts, and 85 percent for gold medals.
For the Games in London this summer, Johnson predicts that the U.S. will be the top medal winner, followed by China, Russia, then Britain —the same order they finished in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

World Champions: Anna Li, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney, Sabrina Vega, Alexandra Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas celebrate after winning the world title.
I did a little research on my own, and I'm excited with what I discovered. The U.S.women's gymnastics team will arrive in London as the favorites to take the team gold after sweeping to victory in Japan last year in the World competition by an enormous four-point margin.  This will be Holly's favorite event by far.
These unknowns could very well fly back from the Olympics as celebrities in the tradition of Shannon Miller,  Nastia Lukin, Mary Lou Rettin, and so many others.
This is a brand new team who won World without their best gymnast.  The U.S. lost veteran team leader Alicia Sacramone when she tore her Achilles tendon in Tokyo doing a floor routine in the training gym.
Sacramone, who flew back to the U.S. for surgery  was not in Tokyo to accept her 10th world medal, which she will receive as a member of the U.S. team, even though she wasn't able to compete.

This gold sets an American record for the most world medals;  Sacramone had been tied with Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin, with nine.
Sacramone, the only veteran from the 2008 team, says she will be ready to compete in June in the U.S. championships, which will determine who will be on the Olympic team. 

It will likely be her first competition since tearing her ACL in 2011 at World. 
She states this year's gymnastic talent is so deep that, if rules allowed, the U.S. could actually send two teams to the Olympics and both would probably do exceptionally well.
Tomorrow:  A Look At Swimming and Diving

Sources: https://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ycn-10961690
https://www.freakonomics.com/2012/03/16/who-will-win- the-most-medals-in-the-2012-summer-olympics/