BEIJING - Skies are blue. Security is tight. Protests are minimal.

The Olympics are going great, but Colorado Springs is missing a gold medal.

At the midpoint of the Beijing Games, five Olympic Training Center residents have won medals - a silver and four bronzes by three shooters, a wrestler and a gymnast - as the chances for hardware continue to dwindle.

The lack of golds isn't a shock, considering the U.S. trails China 27-16 in the gold medal count with eight competition days in the books and eight remaining. The Americans lead the total medal count 54-47 over China.

Colorado Springs got its silver from shooter Matt Emmons, who finished second in 50-meter rifle prone, failing to repeat as Olympic champion. Emmons will compete today in rifle 3-position, the final shooting event.

Shooter Corey Cogdell won a bronze in trap by prevailing in a sudden-death playoff, and the International Olympic Committee gave shooter Jason Turner a bronze in 10-meter air pistol after a North Korean tested positive for a banned substance.

The other bronzes came from gymnast Joseph Hagerty, part of an unheralded U.S. men's squad that shocked the world in the team competition, and Greco-Roman wrestler Adam Wheeler, a 24 Hour Fitness trainer who upset OTC resident Justin Ruiz at the U.S. Olympic trials, then went 3-1 in Beijing.

"I feel I'm in better condition with the way we train," Wheeler said, referring to the high altitude in Colorado Springs. "If I'm not going to beat you technically, I'm going to beat you physically."

Medals are possible for Henry Cejudo, Randi Miller and Steve Mocco in wrestling; Eli Bremer, Margaux Isaksen and Sam Sacksen in modern pentathlon; Sarah Haskins Kortuem and Hunter Kemper in triathlon; Demetrius Andrade and Deontay Wilder in boxing; and Lopez Lomong in track and field.

"Maybe I'm the favorite," Andrade said. "I really don't know. I don't pay attention to that. I go in there with my mind clear of things. I want no negativity."

Colorado Springs Sky Sox second baseman Jayson Nix could claim a medal, although he won't play again in the Olympics after bunting a ball into his face Friday during a preliminary round game. He underwent microsurgery for a laceration on his left eyebrow.

The OTC-based U.S. women's indoor volleyball team, coached by Beijing native "Jenny" Lang Ping, has high hopes for its first gold and its first medal since the 1992 Barcelona Games. It has qualified for Tuesday's quarterfinals.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at gazetteolympics.freedomblogging.com