USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams which officially represent the United States, as well as the overall organization and operation of the sport within the country, in accordance with the Amateur Sports Act. The national headquarters is located at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The motto of these sport in USA is: "Build the base, promote the sport, achieve competitive success"

If you are interested in history of swimming of USA, click there:

http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewMiscArticle.aspx?TabId=1599&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&mid=7128&ItemId=3511

There are several parts and levels that make up USA Swimming. There is the National governing body (national) level, the Zone (regional) level, and the Local Swimming Committee (local/state) level.

Michael Phelp is considered to be the world's best swimmer.

It was really interesting for me to learn about his proffecional life, you can also find this information on this site:

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-27-2004-58516.asp

All time top 100 in USA

http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1487&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net.
Since 1992, badminton has been an Olympic sport with five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, in which each pair consists of a man and a woman. At high levels of play, especially in singles, the spor
t demands excellent fitness: players require aerobic stamina, agility, explosive strength, speed and precision. It is also a technical sport, requiring good motor coordination and the development of sophisticated racquet movements.

I am not a professional player, but I do like this game. It was just really exciting for me to discover, that the beginnings of Badminton can be traced to mid-18th century British India, where it was created by British military officers stationed there.
If you are interested in its history, click there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton#History_and_development

As every other sport, badminton has its own rules. Interesting? You can find them there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton#Rules 



Some outstanding participants from England: 

Emma Jackson, Jenny Meadows, Marilyn Okoro, Jemma Simpson. If you want to see the list of all  participants, click there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics
And, of course, our own pride and hope:
 Vasyl Lomachenko, Denys Berinchyk, Taras Shelestyuk, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Oleksandr Usyk.
For more information, you can visit this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics