Queen Underwood was hoping to make Olympic history as the first American woman to win a boxing medal. That won't happen, but her name will go down in the record books nonetheless.

Underwood faced Great Britain's Natasha Jones at London's ExCel arena on Sunday in the first day of women's boxing in Olympic history. The 28-year-old lightweight from Seattle lost the bout 21-13 to the highly regarded Jones, and thus became the first American woman to lose a boxing match in the history of the Games.

Sunday was the first day of women's boxing at the London Games, and Jones showed why she's one of the favorites. Jones held a razor-thin margin of 14-12 heading into the fourth round.

Underwood came out quickly in the fourth, but soon looked tired and Jones took advantage, dominating the round 8-1.

Underwood won five national titles and a bronze medal at the 2010 world championships, but she was simply outmatched against Jones.

Thirty-six female boxers will compete in London this year, and the United States still has flyweight Marlen Esparza and middleweight Claressa Shields left to fight. Esparza and Shields will both have their first bout on Monday.

Photo: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

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It's not the first time remote-operated carriers have been used to retrieve track and field throwing implements at the Olympics. But as long as you're going to hold the Games in a country with as storied an automobile history as Great Britain's, you might as well model them after one of Britain's most iconic cars.

Yes, watching the throwing events at Olympic Stadium, you might see remote-controlled miniature Mini Coopers, zipping up and down the field, lugging javelins, shots, discuses, and hammers back to competitors. It's part of an effort to save time and exhaustion for officials.

Here are some of the specs of the R/C cars, which are being dubbed, you guessed it, "Mini Minis":

-Quarter scale of a full-sized Mini Cooper

-18-pound carrying capacity

-35 minutes of battery life

-80-minute charging time

-Functioning headlights. (You know, in case the power goes at Olympic Stadium and they decide to still throw sharp sticks and heavy metal balls in the dark.)

So why a Mini? Why not something more sexy and stylish, such as a Jaguar XK or an Aston Martin Vanquish? Or a Range Rover or a Bentley Continental? Why can't discuses or javelins travel in uber-luxury with a Rolls Royce Phantom?

It's probably because BMW, which owns Mini, has an official sponsorship deal with the Olympics. Yep, that explains it.

Jessica Ennis lived up to her country's massive expectations by taking gold in the women's heptathlon as part of Great Britain's golden night at the track on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Brit was slated to compete in the women's 100-meter hurdles, which is set to begin on Monday, but has decided to drop out of the event. Her time of 12.54 seconds in the heptathlon's 100-meter hurdles is a world best and could have easily won her gold in the individual event.

But, for Ennis, a gold in the heptathlon is all she could have asked for. And now she's going to escape the rigorous demands of her career as an athlete to live life and celebrate.

"I'm definitely going to relax, eat lots of rubbish food, have a few glasses of wine, and enjoy this moment for as long as possible," she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Sounds like she needs to hit up Bradley Wiggins and Ricky Berens.

Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

No British man has walked off Centre Court at Wimbledon a singles champion since 1936 — until today.

OK, so it wasn't the actual Championships at Wimbledon, but Brit Andy Murray walked away from tennis' most hallowed ground victorious after dismantling Swiss great Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Though it's not a Grand Slam, it's still a huge career breakthrough for Murray. He has finished on the wrong end of four Grand Slam finals in his career, with three of those losses coming to Federer.

It was more than unusual to see Federer looking so out of sorts against any player. Though he clearly wasn't going all badmintony on us, his performance in the first two sets made you question whether R-Fed had turned it up to the gear only he seems to possess. Of course, fatigue is the kind of thing that happens when you have to win the final set of the semifinal 19-17, as Federer did Friday.

There was no question he was himself in the third set, particularly on a brilliant drop shot he put down late in the match. But Murray was just that much better on this particular day. Buoyed by the crowd, the final two aces he served were absolutely hammered down the middle, seemingly returnable by no one who has ever played the game.

The crowd was undoubtedly a huge part in Murray's win. This was like a tennis version of Happy Gilmore, with the normally staid Wimbledon crowd replaced by a group so raucous that you would have expected a reincarnated Freddie Mercury to show up and play with Queen between sets.

In this scenario, the normally beloved R-Fed had no choice but to play the Shooter McGavin role. Being Federer, he was a lot more gracious than that, telling it like it was.

"He was much better than me today," he said afterwards. "Andy never looked like he doubted himself. He had a clear plan."

In getting gold, Murray proved he can no longer be beaten on sheer intimidation. And that may lead to him walking off a winner at Wimbledon a little more regularly.

PHOTO: Luis Acosta, AFP/Getty Images

Michael Phelps has been adamant that he is retiring from competitive swimming after the London Games. Phelps goes out with a record 22 medals and is recognized as one of the best Olympians of all time. Many have speculated that the decorated swimmer will miss the competition and return to the pool, but he says otherwise.

Phelps talked with NBC's Bob Costas on Saturday about his post-Olympics plans.

"No, I'm done," Phelps answered when asked if he would consider a comeback. "There are other things that I can do. Sure, I am very competitive in everything that I do. I'm not a very good golfer, so if I have a goal of dropping X amount of shots, or working on my short game or putting, those things are going to keep me motivated and fire me up and excite me.

"I think will be able to shift that competitiveness to anything I put my mind to," he said.

Not only does Phelps believe golf will satiate his need for competition, but he also has plans to dive with sharks after the Games.

"I've always wanted to dive with great whites," said Phelps. "Sharks are one of my favorite animals in the world. A buddy of mine went (diving with sharks) in South Africa and he said that it was awesome.

"That's something I've always wanted to do, and Chad (Le Clos) and I were talking, and Chad said 'why don't you come to South Africa?' So I said 'let's dive with great whites together.' And he said 'OK, let's set it up.'

"Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch and I'll be able to get down there sometime this year and we can go out and dive."

Phelps seems completely at peace with his decision to retire. He reflected on his career with confidence.

"I can look back on my career and hang my suit up and say 'I've done everything I wanted to do.' And that is the only thing I wanted to be able to say when I retire."

How many of us wish we could say the same thing? Not only is Phelps an inspiration, but he's also becoming a model for going out on top.

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Photo Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY

NBC has apologized for the timing of one of its commercials that featured a monkey on the Olympic rings. The commercial was promoting NBC's upcoming sitcom "Animal Practice" and it aired immediately after Bob Costas discussed Gabby Douglas' gold-medal winning effort in the women's all-around gymnastics. You can see the awkward segue below:

The poorly-timed commercial received plenty of attention online, and NBC has apologized for it.

"Gabby Douglas' gold medal performance last night was a historic and inspiring achievement," NBC said in a statement to the Daily Mail on Friday.

"This spot promoting 'Animal Practice,’ which has run three times previously, is one in a series with an Olympic theme which have been scheduled for maximum exposure. Certainly no offense was intended."

It's rather silly that NBC actually had to apologize for this. The commercial is for a show called ANIMAL PRACTICE and has been running throughout the Olympics. It's a pure coincidence it aired at that moment and I don't fault NBC at all. The network has made some mistakes for which they should be blamed, but this was not one of them.

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Serena Williams won the gold medal in women’s Olympic tennis on Saturday. Williams, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, defeated No. 3-seeded Maria Sharapova in a match that took only 45 minutes. It was the most lopsided woman’s final in Olympic history, as Serena won 6-0, 6-1 to complete her career Golden Slam.

In fact, Williams’ win was so easy that it went more smoothly than the medal presentation itself. As you can see from the video above, the United States flag blew off its pole midway through the National Anthem and fell to the ground.

“It was probably flying to come hug me because the flag was so happy,” Williams said after the match.

We don’t know if the flag was happy, but Serena certainly was as evidenced by the terrific dance routine she busted out after the win. One thing’s for sure: it’s much easier to see Serena in this condition than it is when she looks like this.

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There are hundreds of amazing images in London during the 17 days of the Olympics. From the agony and ecstasy of the athletes, to the amazing architecture around every corner and the colorful fans and their outfits around Olympic Park, photography buffs are in heaven.

Friday night saw another opportunity to polish the lenses and break out new memory sticks. Residents and visitors alike were treated to a never-before-seen sight after the sun went down: A full moon as the sixth ring of the Olympic logo that hangs from Tower Bridge.

Images by Luke MacGregor/Reuters

For American Olympic fans, it was deja vu. A photo finish. An apparent dead heat between two runners at the finish line with so much at stake.

But while the much-discussed photo finish between Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month was shrouded in controversy, the photo finish to determine gold in the women's triathlon on Saturday was decided with relative ease.

Judges used the above photo declare Switzerland's Nicola Spirig (pictured back) the gold medalist of the grueling two-hour race, which includes swimming, biking and running, after she seemingly crossed the finish line simultaneously with Sweden's Lisa Norden, who made a late push that fell microscopically short.

The decision came several tense minutes after the women broke the tape. This is Switzerland's first medal at these Olympics.

"Crossing the finish line I had a feeling that I had won but I wasn't sure," Spirig told the AP. "I really needed an official to tell me and it took a few minutes."

We're glad to see a photo finish settled without a big stink being made by third-party observers. Although, Justin Gatlin is probably disappointed they still don't settle these things with Jell-O wrestling matches.

Photo: Handout/Getty Images

Based on his expectations heading into the London Olympics, Ryan Lochte fell short of his goals. There is nothing wrong with five overall medals including two golds, but Lochte made it clear before the Games that he was aiming to sweep his events and beat Michael Phelps in their two head-to-head swims — the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys. Instead, he took gold in one with Phelps winning the other.

By the end of the first week in London, it seemed evident that the long week of swimming had taken its toll on Lochte. He finished third in the 200-meter backstroke — an event he won in Beijing in 2008 — and second behind Phelps in the 200-meter individual medley to wrap things up. On Thursday night after he was finished, Lochte wondered if he may have trained too hard.

“I’ll tell you this, I’m definitely gonna be training differently,” he said according to NBC Olympics. “All those brutal workouts that I did, I’m getting older. I think it’s time to change my training a little. Take it down a notch.”

Lochte celebrated his 28th birthday on Friday, so he certainly isn’t young by Olympic standards. NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines also felt that the workload took its toll on Lochte.

“He’s a big boy,” Gaines said. “And those big boys need a lot of rest. I’m not saying he wasn’t rested enough, I think my point is that’s hard to swim so many events when you’re that big. It’s hard on the muscles. You need more recovery. You have a lot more weight pulling around the pool.”

Whether he prepared too hard or not hard enough, the bottom line is a week’s worth of swimming against the best competition in the world would take its toll on anyone not named the 2008 version of Michael Phelps. Lochte may not be happy with only two gold medals this year, but at least now he gets to focus on his one-night stands and guarding his medals rather than storing them in this safe spot.

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Photo credit: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/GettyImages