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Team USA Wins First Medals Of London 2012 Games; More Results From Saturday

Silver medalists Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie of the United States, gold medalists Michele Frangilli, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli of Italy, and bronze medalists Kim Bub-min, Im Dong-hyun and Oh Jin-hyek of South Korea stand with their medals after the men's team archery event.
Paul Gilham
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Getty Images
Silver medalists Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie of the United States, gold medalists Michele Frangilli, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli of Italy, and bronze medalists Kim Bub-min, Im Dong-hyun and Oh Jin-hyek of South Korea stand with their medals after the men's team archery event.

On the first day of full competition in the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Team USA won its first medal of the games, as the men's archery team took silver in a tense final against Italy. The Americans reached the final after stunning the highly regarded South Korean team in a comeback win earlier in the day.

Italy won on its last arrow, when a score of eight would have meant a loss and a ten a gold. The arrow hit the line between the 9 and 10 — and in archery, that meant 10 points, and the gold medal.

Led by world No. 1 Brady Ellison, 23, the three-man American team includes Jake Kaminski, 23, and Jacob Wukie, 26. U.S. archery last won a team gold medal in 1996.

Here's a roundup of more of Saturday's results, below. We'll be updating this post as competitions finish. And you can always check our results and schedule pages to follow the action.

Swimming: Ryan Lochte won the men's 400-meter individual medley Saturday, handily beating U.S. rival Michael Phelps and the rest of a talented field. Phelps came in fourth.

Update at 3:58 p.m. EDT: Australia won the gold medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, setting an Olympic record of 3:33.15. The U.S. team of Lia Neal, Amanda Weir, Natalie Coughlin and anchor Allison Schmitt won the bronze medal, finishing behind the Netherlands team.

Update at 3:25 p.m. EDT: In the women's 400m IM, American Elizabeth Beisel won silver, with a time of 4:31.27. Ye Shiwen of China won at 4:28.43, which I believe is a new world record. Stephanie Rice of Australia was sixth.

Update at 3:05 p.m. EDT: American Peter Vanderkaay has won bronze in the men's 400m freestyle. China's Yang Sun won by setting a new Olympic record, at 3:40:14

Gymnastics: In the 02 Arena, the U.S. men's gymnastics team surprised the field with a strong performance in the qualifying round. With a final score of 275.342, the Americans lead Britain by nearly three points. China and Japan round out the top four.

Update at 4:50 p.m. EDT: At the end of qualifying, the U.S. remains in the lead, followed by Russia and then Great Britain.

Tennis: The American Serena Williams and the Swiss Roger Federer advanced to the second round. Also advancing in the singles bracket were Christina McHale and John Isner of the U.S. In men's doubles, the Bryan twins and the team of Isner and Andy Roddick also advanced.

Soccer: Megan Rapinoe scored to help the U.S. women beat Colombia, 3-0. After her shot from outside the box found the net, Rapinoe and her teammates celebrated — and the midfielder pulled a written note out of her pocket, wishing U.S. defender Ali Krieger a happy birthday. Krieger, who injured her leg earlier this year, is not with the team.

Basketball: The U.S. women topped Croatia, 81-56, after leading by only 3 points at the half. Angel McCoughtry scored 13 points in just over 11 minutes.

Boxing: American Joseph Diaz Jr. won his Round of 32 bout in the bantam division. He moves on to face Alvarez Estrada Lazaro of Cuba on Wednesday.

Cycling: Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan won the gold medal in the men's road race. Favorite Mark Cavendish of Britain was not a factor. American Taylor Phinney narrowly missed a bronze medal.

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Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.