London Olympics medal race tightens after Day 6 of competition

LONDON -- Updating the always-fascinating medal race at the Olympics:

Heading into Thursday’s action, China led the overall table with 17 golds and 30 medals while the United States was second with 12 golds and 29 overall.

And after Thursday?

Talk about a dead heat, in terms of gold. the Chinese picked up one gold and the Americans collected six, bringing the total for both to 18.

Overall, the United States leads, 37-34. Japan has 19 medals overall.

PHOTOS: 2012 London Olympics, Day 6

The gold ground the Americans picked up came from mostly expected sources, gymnastics and swimming. Gabby Douglas won the women’s all-around gymnastics title and swimmers were responsible for three more: Michael Phelps in the 200-meter individual medley, Tyler Clary in the 200-meter backstroke and Rebecca Soni in the 200-meter breaststroke.

The two other gold medals came from the women’s eight in rowing and Kayla Harrison, who made judo history by taking the 78-kilogram title. It was the first gold in judo for the United States.

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