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Cal had a lot of great performances at the Olympics but there were a few that really stood out. And since it is so hard to try and decide what the single best performance was we're asking you to choose. So pick the performance that you think should win and provide your rationale in the comments. You can read the full descriptions and see some video after the jump. GO GOLDEN BEARS!
By almost any measure, Dana had an epic Olympics. She set a won a gold medal and set a world record in the women's 100m butterfly with her time of 55.98. She followed that up by swimming the second leg of the 4x200 relay and won a second gold for the U.S. And then, to finish things off she swam the butterfly leg of the 4x100 relay where the U.S. team again captured gold and set another world record. 3 golds and 2 world record is not a bad performance at all.
US swimmer Dana Vollmer speaks after smashing the 100m butterfly record at London 2012 (via itnnews)
I think most Cal fans were pretty familiar with Alex before the Olympics. I suspect most followers of the USA Women's National Team knew who she was. But now, thanks to her heroics in the semifinal against Canada, I'm pretty sure that the whole world knows who Alex Morgan is.
Alex followed up that performance with an assist on the opening goal in the gold medal match (see below) and ended the Olympic tournament with 3 goals and 4 assists. An impressive tournament for sure.
Cal's swimming team is extremely deep and strong, but few Cal swimmers have ever had a week like Adrian did at the Olympics. He started out his Olympic medal haul with a silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay, swimming the lead-off leg. But what really made his performance at the Olympics incredible was his win in the 100m freestyle race where he won the gold by .01 seconds. And in winning that gold, he became the first American male to do so since fellow Golden Bear, Matt Biondi. He finished off his Olympics by swimming the freestyle anchor leg of the 4x100-meter medley relay, where the U.S. team brought home the gold, giving him 2 golds and a silver.
Cal Athletics: Nathan Adrian - 2012 London Olympics (via calathletics)
Having already earned a gold medal in Beijing in 2008, Erin came to London determined to defend the U.S. title in the Women's 8. And defend they did, winning the gold by nearly 2 seconds over Canada and extending the U.S. Women's 8 winning streak to 6 years. That's a long time without a loss. So Erin comes home with another dominant performance and another gold medal.
Women's 8 Celebrates Gold (via TeamUSA)