[Berman:] A big letdown in London. The favored U.S. men's gymnastics team falters.
[Sambolin:] Mitt Romney getting ready to speak in Poland. There's a lot on the line after what has been a tough trip overseas.
[Berman:] And just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a shark attacks on swimmers off of Cape Cod.
[Sambolin:] The guy's OK, though.
[Berman:] Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
[Sambolin:] And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. It is just about 6:00 a.m. in the east. Also coming up, Penn State students rallying for their embattled football program at this hour.
[Berman:] And also, we're going to be talking about the drought that's hitting the Midwest. Our Christine Romans goes back to her home state of Iowa. She's talking to farmers, small businessmen trying to deal with what is the worst drought in decades. But first, we're talking about the Olympics and a wild day in London. A disappointing one for men's gymnastics and historic one for swimmer, Missy Franklin, a controversial one for a 16-year-old Chinese swimmer who did one lap faster than Ryan Lochte. Maggie Gray who's here with us, she'll join us in a minute with the highlights. But up first, I want to Atika Shubert who is live in London. Let's talk about that U.S. men's gymnastics team and that incredible disappointment just one slip up after the other.
[Atika Shubert, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes, I mean, they did so well in the trials. They've placed first and there was a lot of confidence going in, but unfortunately for John Arosco, when he hit the vault and attempted to land, it just didn't work out. And that meant that the entire U.S. men's gymnastic's team was basically out of medal contention. China won the gold, Japan the silver after a little bit of debate there. But it was really disappointing for the men's gymnastics team because they had so much confidence going in. You could see it on Arosco's face, not just after his dismount from the vault, but when he actually sat down, you could see he was really just trying to contain his tears. But having said that, we are looking forward to women's gymnastics today, Jordyn Wieber who was expected to be the star of it didn't qualify. However, which means it will be depending on two of the other gymnast on the U.S. team to try and gain some more medals tonight.
[Berman:] All right, Atika, thank you so much there live in London.
[Zoraida Sambolin, Cnn Anchor:] So upsets and moments of inspiration in the pool as well so let's get right away to Maggie Gray. This is a tough one. We're talking about the Chinese swimmer. She's come under fire because from a U.S. coach who called her performance in the 400 individual medley suspicious. They're talking about the doping now and the possibility of that. What do you know about that?
[Maggie Gray, Anchor, Sports Illustrated Video:] We don't know whether or not she was doping or not at all. She will be tested just like every Olympian at the Olympics is. But I think one of the reasons why this story had legs because of what happened in 2008 in Beijing with the women's gymnastics team. Four of those gymnasts came under scrutiny for being too young. You have to be at least 16 years old to compete in the Olympics in gymnastics, after two investigations, the Chinese team was cleared of any wrong doing, but it does leave a little bit in the back of people's minds that maybe they are doing things that are a little bit unethical. But as far as we know, there's no reason to suspect this swimmer is doping.
[Sambolin:] OK, let's talk about the specifics here with five seconds faster than her record performance. She was also faster than Lochte was. So I want to first listen to what the IOC has to say about that this.
[Unidentified Male:] So the sudden rise in performance or surprise win be primarily suspected for being achieved, sport is a danger for sure because it partially ruins the charm of the competitive sport if a surprise win is surrounded by suspicions and question marks.
[Sambolin:] But there are a lot of suspicions and question marks. And before we get to that, let's also put up a statement that Lochte put out right after this as well. If we have that ready, that would be great. Do we have that?
[Gray:] He essentially was wowed.
[Sambolin:] There it is. It was pretty impressive and it was a female, she's fast. If is she was there with me, I don't know, she might have beat me.
[Gray:] Yes.
[Sambolin:] So, you know, how likely is something like that to happen?
[Gray:] You know, unfortunately in this day and age in sports, everything is suspicious. Any time that you put together a time or a race or performance that's better than anyone expected. People are going to look and maybe raise an eyebrow, shrug their shoulders and say it could be performance enhancing drugs. As of now though, we have no reason to suspect she could have just raced the race of her life.
[Sambolin:] And super duper athlete and beating out the guys as well.
[Berman:] But where there's smoke there's fire so often in sports these days. There's a history in this in Atlanta with an Irish swimmer. I mean, whenever you blow these records open by seconds and we're talking of big chunk, it definitely raises eyebrows.
[Gray:] Yes, and it will. And we'll know as soon as the drug test do come back. And they certainly will be tested along with the American athlete. Everyone is tested in the IOC in the world anti-doping agency does a fantastic job of trying to find out cheaters.
[Sambolin:] Wouldn't it be something if it all came back fine, right?
[Gray:] And that's part of why the Olympics is great because you have can have these amazing, record breaking mind-blowing races and hopefully it will be a good story.
[Sambolin:] OK, before we let you go, we got to talk about Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and what is expected of them. Are they just going
[Gray:] They're cruising through the field. I mean, they're going for a repeat in beach volleyball competition. They have not dropped a set. It is just looking like another dominant performance and people thought maybe this year they would not be the favorite. They have proven that teamwork and the chemistry they have together. There's just no match for it.
[Sambolin:] Now we had Misty May here and we told her to bring back the gold and bring it here so that we could see it live and in person.
[Gray:] They looked excited last night. They are doing good things.
[Sambolin:] All right, thank you so much for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.
[Gray:] Thanks for having me.
[Berman:] It would be great if they can retire on such a high note.
[Sambolin:] Absolutely. I think it's only Misty May that's retiring.
[Berman:] OK, well, at least Misty May. We're going to give you an update on the overall medal count right now. The U.S. is tied with China overall, 17 medals but we're trailing in gold 9-5. Japan is now in third with 11 medals.
[Sambolin:] And what to watch for today, Michael Phelps heads back to the pool looking for his first gold medal of this games. That's in the 200-meter butterfly. If he medals, he'll tie the career mark of 18 medals. Missy Franklin wins to her second in the 200-meter freestyle. And in gymnastics, the women try to win gold that is in the teen competition.
[Berman:] And coming up at 6:30 Eastern, we're going to talk to a U.S. gymnast, one on one, he's been there more than anybody. John Rufusberger, a three-time Olympic gymnast will join us and we're going to ask him what went wrong in London.
[Sambolin:] There's so much more ahead. Mitt Romney is in Warsaw, Poland this morning about to wrap up his three-nation tour with a speech about the values of liberty. But the presumptive GOP nominee continues to stumble on the world stage. Palestinian officials are labelling him racist for telling Israeli donors their culture allows them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians. The White House quick to jump on their opponent's latest stumble, senior strategist, David Axelrod, tweeting, is there anything about Romney's rolling ruckus that would inspire confidence in his ability to lead U.S. foreign policy? And in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, the former Massachusetts governor is backtracking on comments he made last March about Russia being America's number one foe. Here's what he had to say.
[Mitt Romney , Presidential Candidate:] The number one national security threat, of course, to our nation is a nuclear Iran. Russia is a geopolitical adversary, but it's not an enemy with missiles being fired at one another or things of that nature.
[Sambolin:] Romney also telling Wolf Blitzer that he believes the U.S. should keep a military option available in Iran.
[Berman:] Tens of thousands of people are leaving Syria's largest city this morning. The bloody struggle for control of Aleppo is intensifying overnight. Rebel forces trying to capture the last government checkpoint on the road to the Turkish border. Government troops stepping up their shelling of rebel-held positions with rockets, field artillery and helicopter gunships. CNN's Barbara Starr catching up with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on his five-day four-nation trip in North Africa. In the Middle East, Panetta sounding certain the Assad regime is on its last legs.
[Leon Panetta, Secretary Of Defense:] I'm sure that deep down Assad knows he's in trouble and it's just a matter of time before he has to go.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] What would you say to him?
[Panetta:] I would say if you want to be able to protect yourself and your family, you better get the hell out now.
[Berman:] His travels this week take him to Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and with Syria topping the agenda at each stop.
[Sambolin:] It's 7 minutes past the hour, a shark scare off the coast of Cape Cod. Witnesses say a man swimming off Massachusetts was bitten by a shark yesterday. Sunbathers say they did see a large dorsal fin come out of the water. And this video from the "Cape Cod Times" showing the man being carried off in a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. The man is said to be in stable condition. He had severe cuts on both legs, but the fire chief says he will not lose a limb. Several great white sharks have been spotted off the Cape Cod coast this summer.
[Berman:] These really are so rare, sharks scare, but every time it happens, it scares me.
[Sambolin:] It's always very scary. Aimee Copeland, the Georgia woman who lost parts of all her limbs to flesh eating bacteria has been fitted with three new prosthetics, two hooks for hands and a leg prosthetic. Asked when she might come home from rehab, here's what her father told CNN's Erin Burnett.
[Andy Copeland, Aimee Copeland's Father:] We're saying that she's going to be home by the 22nd. And essentially, I told her, I said great, when you come home, I want to have cameras there. Everybody, you know, seeing Aimee come home. And she goes, no, dad. I don't need that. I need let me come home. She said, I just need to come home. I feel like it was going to be a great big moment that we could record. She doesn't even want me to record it with a home video. And she said, you know, did you record me when I went off to college? I'm like no. She said, OK, when this is the same thing, don't make a big deal out of it.
[Berman:] Her father is so excited to have her back. Her father did say Aimee's injured left foot may require more surgery. Still her recovery is remarkable. Aimee contracted the bacteria after falling from a homemade zip line back in May.
[Sambolin:] Amazing competition that she have.
[Berman:] Her father was so great.
[Sambolin:] It's good moments. Opening statements today in the Drew Peterson case, prosecutors are facing some challenges, that's putting it mildly. A live report coming up.