RIO DE JANEIRO -- On the day before these Olympics even began, U.S. swimming assistant coach Greg Meehan gathered the 22 women on his team on a patch of grass outside the American building in the Olympic village. He handed out a bunch of small American flags. He gave a brief history lesson about the Homestead Act of 1862 and how anyone could claim a particular patch of land.Then he instructed the two women who had qualified for each event to take turns sticking their flags into the Brazilian ground, claiming that event for the United States.The idea being it would be their property if they claimed it first, said Dave Marsh, the U.S. womens head coach.Around the same time, Michael Phelps, Anthony Ervin and Nathan Adrian stood in front of the 22 other members of the U.S. mens team and delivered an emotional yet stern plea. After a disappointing team performance at the world championships in Russia a year earlier, the three veterans spoke of the importance of getting off to a good start in Rio. Once the American medal haul began, they said, it couldnt be stopped.Now, through five days of the Rio swimming competition, it appears the Olympic veterans were right. And the Americans are claiming land everywhere you turn. Wednesday night was just another example, with the Americans adding three more medals to their tally of 18, including Josh Prenots silver in the 200 breaststroke, Adrians bronze in the 100 freestyle and, for the finale, gold in the womens 4x200 freestyle relay.Tack it on to the success from the first four nights of competition, and its a historic pace. Consider: U.S. swimmers have medaled in 18 of the 20 events held so far, and they finished fourth in the two events in which they didnt medal -- including the womens 200 butterfly Wednesday night.The Americans are on pace to win the most medals in a single Olympics since 1972, when they won 43. And that was a year when countries were allowed to enter three swimmers per event. Now the limit is two.The party began the first night of competition, when Chase Kalisz blasted his personal best in the 400 IM by more than two seconds to take silver, and then the womens 400 freestyle relay capped the night with a silver. The Americans havent stopped since.Its just gotten bigger and bigger as the ball has been rolling downhill, said Jacob Pebley, who finished third in the semifinal heat of the 200 backstroke and will go for his own medal Thursday night. And its kind of hard not to follow all that momentum and jump on.The coaches and athletes alike will tell you its more than just talent. They insist this team has a chemistry and bond that has proven critical to their success. It was forged in the two training camps that preceded the trip to Rio, one in San Antonio and one in Atlanta. There were late-night card games. Rookie skits. Inside jokes. The carpool karaoke music video. Cody Miller dressing up like a lobster. And the women playing a game where Marsh would hold a sheet between two swimmers, and when he dropped it they would have to say which event the other was competing in as quickly as possible.Coming together as a team -- it helps you swim fast, said Simone Manuel, the top seed in Thursday nights finals of the womens 100 freestyle. Its that X factor that we are a family, not just a team.Added Marsh: We have all kinds of personalities, but also people who are easily adaptable to a team setting within their own personal preparation.And they feed off one another. In the American area in the warm-up pool hangs four floor-to-ceiling banners signed by family, friends and complete strangers wishing the team good luck. When each swimmer leaves the warm-up area and heads to the pool to race, he or she is sent off with a cowbell, cheers and chants of USA, USA, USA.The cowbell, its been working pretty good at this meet, Prenot said. Im not sure if the other countries like it.Probably not. USA Swimming, after all, is the equivalent of the New York Yankees. Their 520 medals before competition began in Rio is almost three times as many as have been won by the second-most decorated team, Australia.The 2016 U.S. roster includes not only Phelps, but Katie Ledecky setting world records of her own. Ryan Lochte is the second-most decorated Olympic swimmer of all time behind Phelps, his longtime rival and friend.The American swimmers 21-medal haul so far exceeds the next two teams -- Australia (7) and Japan (5) -- combined. There have been big-name stars in Phelps and Ledecky and newcomers such as Ryan Murphy and Lilly King. And there has been three golds and a silver in the relays with only the mens and womens medley relays still to come.Its really good, mens coach Bob Bowman said. Its not just the medals. We are swimming well, a lot better than trials. And that means our plan worked.The Americans have their trials later than any other country in the world. Their performance at the Games shows they have perfected their tapers, knowing the exact pattern to rest their swimmers so they can make the team at trials but then get their bodies back up to compete for medals five weeks later at the Olympics.These Games also brought a unique concern -- finals starting each night at 10 p.m. Rio time, jolting the swimmers circadian rhythms. Its why the team held practices during both training camps at 11 p.m.The coaches did a great job there, Prenot said. I was a little concerned about that coming in, but everyone has done well. I havent heard one person complain about it or anything.Instead, the only ones complaining are the other countries -- about all that red, white and blue dominance. Tyler Johnson Lightning Jersey . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. http://www.lightninghockeystore.us/Mikhail-Sergachev-Jersey/ . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. Alex Killorn Jersey . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. Martin St. Louis Lightning Jersey . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. If you think training for the Olympics is tough, just wait until you hear how hard it is to feed all of the Olympic athletes. According to Bon Appetit, the dining hall in the Olympic Village spans the length of FOUR Olympic swimming pools. It feeds 18,000 people and serves 460,000 pounds of food a day.If your jaw hasnt hit the floor already, you need to read that last sentence again.Australian dietitian Fiona Pelly has been tasked with helping determine the menu for the past six Olympics, including Rio, and she shared her insight with Bon Appetit. Discussing the various considerations while serving athletes from vastly different sports from all over the globe, Pelly called it a pretty hard thing to get right.You really have to account for every different type of athletes nutritional needs. So cyclists and marathon runners, for example, need to eat a lot of carbs so theyre fueled up before their events. Rowers, wrestlers and boxers on the other hand have to make weight for their events, so they need foods with lower energy content like plain vegetables.With events like archery and shooting, you may not thiink that nutrition plays much of a role but it does because glucose levels have a serious impact on the brains ability to concentrate, and those types of sports require a lot of concentration over a long period of time.dddddddddddd Then theres the power sports like weightlifting and sprinting. The event might be over in 10 seconds but the athletes need a lot of fuel to get there. Eating is about keeping their strength up.The dietitian claims the attention to detail as one of the toughest aspects of the job, citing the example of yogurt and all the varieties needed (Fruit flavored! Fat free! Soy! Greek! Goat milk!). She says there are ultimately almost 10 choices for yogurt. So that sounds complicated.However, despite all the nutritional concerns, Pelly says the most popular items are -- of course -- pizza and pasta. Olympic athletes really are just like us.See something entertaining on social media that you think deserves to be shared? Let me know on Twitter, @darcymaine_espn. ' ' '