RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Simone Manuel touched the wall to clinch a gold medal Saturday night, it was a moment 120 years in the making.The U.S. womens 4x100-meter medley relay team of Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer and Manuel -- winners at the Rio Games on Saturday night -- is being recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee as delivering the nations 1,000th gold medal in Summer Olympics history.By their count, anyway. Keeping count of the gold total is not as exact a science as one might think.The count accepted by the U.S. Olympic Committee coming into the Rio Games was 977 gold medals, and even that was adjusted a bit in recent weeks over a debated medal from the 1904 St. Louis Games. That means the gold medal in the womens eights on Saturday morning was the 21st for the Americans in Rio, and No. 998 overall. Some sites say theres a few more, some say a bit less. The USOC count is the accepted one.And the relay win was No. 23 in Rio, so by the USOCs count that made it official.A gold medal is like a newborn baby, said long jumper Jeff Henderson, who put the U.S. on the brink with gold No. 999 earlier Saturday night. Its just lovely.Lovely, 1,000 times over now for the Americans.A remarkable achievement made possible by the culture of sport that is the fabric and foundation of Team USA, USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said Saturday night.James Connolly won the first for the U.S. in 1896, and of course no one has added more to the total than Michael Phelps, a 23-time gold medalist. Illustrating how not-so-simple this medal-counting business is, the official info portal for the Rio Games even has a different number than the USOC, saying the one the Americans will recognize as No. 1,000 is really No. 1,001.Whatever the real number, the U.S. is the first to reach four figures -- in a landslide. The Soviet Union remains No. 2 on the all-time summer gold list, and no other nation has even reached 500.Heres the significance: The next four best nations had 1,004 gold medals coming into Rio, said Bill Mallon, an Olympic historian. You add up the next four and they barely have more than we do.At its current rate, China wouldnt reach 1,000 golds until 2100. Germany wouldnt get there until 2204.But there have been some very interesting story lines on the U.S. road to 1,000. Consider some of them:THE DEMONT CASEIf Rick DeMont had his way, gold medal No. 1,000 would really be identified as gold medal No. 1,001.Or maybe even No. 1,002.DeMont was 16 when he won gold in the 400-meter freestyle at the Munich Games in 1972. But he tested positive for ephedrine, which was part of his asthma medication, and stripped of the medal days later along with a chance to compete in a 1,500-meter event.His saga, however, doesnt stop there.DeMont tried for decades to get the medal back, saying he was wronged because the USOC did not properly disclose to Olympic officials that he was on medication -- and that if they had done so, his ephedrine level would not have led to his ban. In 2001, the USOC recognized DeMont for his achievements and said it was bringing him back into the Olympic family.But the International Olympic Committee -- in part out of concern for setting a precedent that could lead to enormous numbers of athletes contesting results -- declined later that year to consider restoring DeMonts gold over the USOC paperwork mix-up. So the gold remains awarded to Bradford Cooper of Australia. Cooper now owns a swimming school in his homeland while DeMont is the swimming coach at Arizona.It was so long ago that it almost seems like it happened to another person in another life, DeMont said Saturday. I dont carry it with me.THE ST. LOUIS GAMESNo matter how well the U.S. does in these Rio Games, the medal count this year wont come close to the St. Louis Games in 1904.Officially, heres the count from that Olympics for the U.S.: 79 golds (it had been 78 until recently, when one medal that was counted as being won by a mixed-nationality team was added to the U.S. total because five of the six members were Americans, along with one Austrian), 78 silver and 79 bronze -- 236 medals in all.Germany was second in the medals standings, with 13.There is no wrong or right, Mallon said. Its an interpretation.The Olympic website describes those St. Louis Games as being lost in chaos. They lasted nearly five months, had a marathoner disqualified for using a car on the route, saw gymnast George Eyser win six medals despite having a wooden leg and featured events such as dumbbells and tug-of-war.About half the official competitions in those games had only American entrants, and some historians have suggested that even some of the athletes who are listed as part of the U.S. team likely were newly arrived immigrants who either hadnt become citizens yet or never actually completed that process.THE 1906 GAMESYou might not know about them, since they dont count.Held in Athens, Greece, they were considered an Olympics at the time -- though arent now recognized by the IOC, so the medal counts appear in no official lists. Though unlike the St. Louis Games two years earlier, this had more of a normal Olympic program.There were 78 events and medals were awarded; there even was a true opening ceremony. The U.S. was second to France in the medal standings, winning 12 golds to their 15.So while little debates and differing counts will likely continue, the U.S. dominance isnt in question. And maybe it was fitting that Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever with 28 medals helped start the march toward the next milestone Saturday night, when the final swim of his career -- part of a win in a relay -- delivered gold No. 1,001.Its the Olympics, said U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky, a five-time winner of Olympic gold. Its the pinnacle of our sport ... and we feed off of each other.NMD R1 Sale Australia . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Cheap NMD Australia . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. http://www.nmdaustraliasale.com/nmd-cs1-shoes-australia.html . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. NMD Racer Australia .Y. - New Orleans forward Anthony Davis was chosen Friday to replace the injured Kobe Bryant in the NBA All-Star game that will be played in his home city. NMD Australia Sale .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend.With chaos ensuing in the college football world last week with half of the nations Top 10 -- including the Nos. 2, 3, and 4 teams -- all losing, No. 1 Alabama delivered a message as it emerged as the only undefeated team from a Power 5 conference.And that message?The message is when you win, you control your own destiny, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. When you dont, you allow someone else to determine what your fates going to be. We have all these teams that lost one game now.Somebody has to decide who gets to do what.Top-ranked Alabama (10-0) hosts Chattanooga (8-2) on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa.Almost, but not quite, overlooked as the upsets of No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Ohio State, No. 8 Texas A&M, and No. 9 Auburn rolled in during the afternoon and evening last weekend was that the Crimson Tide clinched the SEC West.The 52-3 rout of Mississippi State coupled with Auburns loss at Georgia left them with a two-game cushion in the standings with only one SEC game left on the card. No matter what happens now, Alabama is a lock to play in the SEC championship game in Atlanta on Dec. 3.Also, no matter how it fares against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, the Tide looks to be heavily favored to beat the East winner -- either Florida or Tennessee -- in the title game and likely advance to the College Football Playoff. But although the Tide has overcome a loss to capture three of its four national titles under Saban, the coach wants no slip-ups down the stretch.If you put yourself in that situation, you let somebody else decided what your fate is, Saban said. If you take care of your business and do things the way you need to do it, then maybe you can control your own destiny in the way you play.Thats certainly much more the way we would like for it to be from our perspective. Weve got lots of tough games we have to play between now and then. We want to take it one game at a timme and focus on improving.ddddddddddddAlabama is on a 22-game winning streak, the longest of Sabans tenure and the third-longest in program history.Thats something that we take and try and keep going, Alabama wide receiver ArDarius Stewart said. Coach talks about it every week, all week, that you cant get complacent and you have to do all the little things right. Thats something we take pride in and try to do every week.The Tide put up impressive numbers against Mississippi State. Freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts became the first quarterback in Alabama history to throw for 300 yards (347) and rush for 100 yards (100) in the same game as he accounted for 447 yards of total offense, third-best in school history.Stewart became only the sixth player in program history to have three touchdown receptions in one game, and tight end O.J. Howard caught six passes for a season-high 77 yards with four of receptions resulting in first downs.We made a lot of explosive plays on offense, and executed in the passing game more efficiently and effectively, Saban said. Defensively, we made stops when we needed to when they made plays.Meanwhile, Chattanooga was losing for only the second time this season, a 36-28 setback to Wofford that dropped the Mocs five spots to No. 12 in the STATS media poll.Chattanooga is looking forward to the trip to Tuscaloosa.Our guys will be excited to play, Mocs coach Russ Huesman said. I think everybody knows this is the best team in the country. Our players know they have tremendous players, and I know they have tremendous coaches, very smart people there.Watching film, theyre not only athletic, but they do things right in all phases of the game. Its going to be a tough test, and were looking forward to it.Alabama won all 12 meetings, including 49-0 in the last encounter in 2013. ' ' '