LONDON – Jordan Burroughs, the new Olympic champion, knew just how important his gold medal in freestyle wrestling was for the United States team.

Burroughs knew China edged the U.S. in medal count at the last two Summer Games.

So he downloaded a phone app to help track the daily score.

“That was something big for me,” Burroughs said Friday after winning the 74-kilogram division. “I wanted to be the guy that could help us out.”

After Burroughs’ win, the U.S. leds China 41-37 in the hunt for golds.

Burroughs, a charismatic 24-year-old who identifies himself on Twitter as @alliseeisgold, did just that by defeating Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi of Iran in the title bout.

“Even though China makes all our clothes, they can’t beat us at medals,” he said.

BRYSHON NELLUM, a silver medalist with the men’s 1,600-meter relay team, will carry the U.S. flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony.

Nellum was told by doctors that he might never be an elite athlete again after he was shot in the legs while leaving a restaurant near the campus of Southern California in 2008. Four years later he’s an Olympic medalist.

LIU XIANG’S representative said the Chinese hurdler should fully recover after surgery on his right Achilles tendon.

Jos Hermens said it was still unclear how long the 2004 Olympic 110-meter hurdles champion would have to spend in rehab before returning to competition.

MEXICO COACH Luis Fernando Tena thinks his team will need an “almost perfect” game to upset Brazil in the men’s soccer final Saturday.

Tena loudly praised the quality of the Brazilian team and said he expects Mexico to have a lot of difficulties in trying to win its first Olympic gold in soccer in the final at Wembley.

BY THE END of Friday, Paige McPherson had stars painted on the toes of one foot, stripes painted on the other foot, and a bronze medal around her neck.

McPherson finished third in the women’s under-67-kilogram division, giving the United States its second taekwondo medal of the tournament.

“I did them myself, actually,” McPherson said. “This is my first Olympics and I was so excited. And you know, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime moment. So I painted my nails stars-and-stripes and had a great time.”

WORLD CHAMPION Vasyl Lomachenko and four of his medal-winning teammates on Ukraine’s dominant boxing team signed with a new professional boxing venture — scheduled to start in the fall of 2013 — created by the governing body of the amateur sport.

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