Mormons in the 2012 Olympics, day 3: Larson is 6th in the breastroke and four more LDS Olympians

Mormon swimmer Breeja Larson placed sixth in the 100-meter breaststroke final on Monday.

Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte won gold, USA's Rebecca Soni took silver and Japan's Satomi Suzuki was third in the event. Larson's time was 1.49 seconds after Maeilutyte.

Larson, a 20-year-old Texas A&M student, initially appeared to have a false start, which would have meant disqualification, but the starting signal was tested and she was allowed to swim.

She is scheduled to swim in the 4x100-meter medley relay. The preliminary heats are Friday and the finals are Saturday.

Fencing

Venezuela's Maria Martinez, who is a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, competed in the women's individual epee on Monday. She lost her first round to German's Imke Duplitzer.

Happy birthday

Monday was BMX cyclist's Arielle Martin's 27th birthday. Her competition starts Aug. 8.

Beach volleyball

The beach volleyball tandem of Mormon Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal lost to a team from South Africa. They have one more game in the pool rounds on Aug. 1 against a duo from Latvia. The top teams from each of the six beach volleyball pools will advance to the brackets, which starts with a round of 16 on Aug. 3 and 4.

Water polo

The U.S. women's water polo team, including goalkeeper Tumau Anae, won its first match Monday, beating Hungary, 14-13. The match was the first of a three-match preliminary round. Its next match is against Spain on Aug. 1 and then against China on Aug. 3. The best of the two preliminary groups move on to the brackets on Aug. 5.

More Mormon Olympians

There are four more athletes to add to the list of members of the LDS Church competing in London, bringing the total to 21, and one more Paralympian, bring the total to five Mormon athletes.

UNITED STATES

Synchronized swimming: Oklahoma native Mary Killman is part of a duet with Mariya Koroleva. Killman was named the USA Synchro Athlete of the Year for the 2010 and 2011 seasons, according to her bio on NBCOlympics.com

When to watch: The qualification round for the technical routine is Aug. 5 and the free routine is Aug. 6 with the finals on Aug. 7.

ARGENTINA

Rowing: Lucia Palermo, of the Pacheco Ward, Buenos Aires Argentina Litoral Stake, competed in 2004 in Athens and is now in London. The 26-year-old raced twice on the Eton Dourney and has advanced to Tuesday's quarterfinals in the women's single sculls.

When to watch: Quarterfinals are Tuesday with the semifinals on Aug. 2 and the finals on Aug. 4

BRAZIL

Women's soccer: Bruna Beatriz Benites Soares, of the Amambaí Ward, Campo Grande Brazil Stake, is a defender for the Brazilian team. The 26-year-old was baptized in 2000, according to this blog's feature on her.

Brazil beat Cameroon 5-0 on July 25 and also won 1-0 against New Zealand on July 28. Its next game is Tuesday against Great Britain, who is also 2-0 in the preliminary group round.

When to watch: The teams are divided into groups and each plays all of the teams in their groups in the preliminary rounds, which go through July 31. The top teams then go on to the quarterfinals on Aug. 3, the semifinals on Aug. 6 and the medal matches on Aug. 9.

MONGOLIA

Swimming: Oyungerel Gantumur, 20, of the Erdenet 2nd Branch, Darkhan Mongolia District, also competed in the women's 100-meter breaststroke. She was 45th of 46 swimmers after the qualifying heats.

Paralympians

UNITED STATES

Archery: High school physics teacher and boys tennis coach Eric Bennett, of Surprise, Ariz., shot in the 2008 Games in Beijing in the compound bow division and finished ninth. The 38-year-old lost his right arm above the elbow in a car accident when he was 15. He is in the Cactus Lane Ward, Surprise Arizona Stake, and will compete in the standard recurve bow division in London.

Email: rappleye@desnews.com