Sports

Oscar Pistorius, who made history last weekend when he became the first amputee to run in an Olympic race, saw his London 2012 experience come to an abrupt end Thursday — before a successful appeal put his South African 4x400m relay team back in business.

Pistorius never got a chance to run in the relay's qualifying heat, as he awaited the baton handoff from teammate Ofentse Mogawane. But Mogawane, who was running the second leg of the race, slammed into the back of a Kenyan runner who had drifted into his lane.

Two big gold medal matches of the Olympics are set Thursday in London, and both involve American women's teams. In water polo, the U.S. women seek to end 12 years of frustration with their first gold medal. And in soccer, the Americans have a chance at redemption. They play Japan which beat them in the World Cup final last year.

More than 20 percent of online retailers have referred to the Olympics in their promotional materials in recent weeks. But unless they're official sponsors, they can't directly use trademarked Olympic symbols or even the word Olympics. So many have had to get creative, using language such as "go for the gold," "podium" or "world-class" to catch the attention of fans.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

At the London Summer Olympics, it's one star-studded 200-meter race down and one to go - today. American Allyson Felix won the women's 200 last night and was part of a U.S. track and field medal-winning binge. The Americans took seven medals at Olympic Stadium, helping push the Americans past arch-medal rival China in the overall race.

Not that anyone's counting, right, Tom Goldman?

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

NBC's coverage of the London Olympics is a ratings hit, which can present a problem for other networks looking to lure viewers, especially those dedicated to broadcasting sports.

John Ourand is a media reporter for Sports Business Daily and he's been checking to see what else is on.

U.S. gymnast McKayla Maroney was disappointed when she took silver in the Olympic vault competition. A photographer snapped her wearing the medal around her neck and a big scowl on her face. That photo has now been Photoshopped on to all sorts of other pictures on the Internet.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings have won an unprecedented Olympic three-peat in women's beach volleyball, as they defeated their fellow Americans, the team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, in the gold medal match.

The match lasted just 36 minutes, as May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings won the first and second sets by the same score: 21-16. On the final point, Ross' serve floated long, and the celebration was on. May-Treanor started dancing on the sand, and the players ran to the stands to hug their loved ones.

Mike Pesca talks to Audie Cornish about the Olympic news of the day. They discuss the women's 200m race, women's beach volleyball and handball.

Great Britain has been raking in the medals at this summer's Olympics. Researcher Nigel Balmer of University College London says that's no coincidence. Balmer and his colleagues tracked Olympic medal counts going back to World War II and found that the host country routinely experiences a spike in the number of gold, silver and bronze medals its athletes take home. Audie Cornish talks to him about why that is.

It's not easy to find video of the London 2012 Olympics on the Internet — even on YouTube. And that's inspiring people to "interpret" the Summer Games for themselves. For instance, you can see puppet shows, 8-bit video, and Taiwanese animation, all related to the Olympics... or, at least sort of related.

Here are some of my favorites — feel free to put yours into the comment section below: