Olympic Gymnastics Standings: Complete Breakdown of Today's Action

The men's Olympic gymnastics competition opened in a great fashion as there were memorable moments, surprise performances, and new thoughts of which country could stand atop the medals podium.

With two of the three subdivisions already in the books, the standings for qualification are not even close to what was expected when the Games began.

Going into the finals, some countries will have to step it up and others will just be hoping to replicate stellar Day 1 performances.

Here are the top five ranked teams after the first two rounds of Day 1. 

5. France (265.759)

Not expected to contend for a medal, France actually put together a pretty solid day. They avoided any major or catastrophic falls and managed to finish third in their subdivision and fifth overall, so far.

It was a surprising finish for France, who as a team only finished eighth at the 2012 European Championships. There is still another subdivision to go in which teams such as Germany will probably bump France out of fifth place. Still, finishing third in group one will be good enough for France to qualify for the men's team final.

Led by Cyril Tommasone, who has posted several good scores at recent international competitions, France put on a performance to be proud of. They won't figure into the medal picture but they will make the finals. 

4. China (269.985)

In perhaps the most stunning finish of the day, China, the co-favorite to win gold, with one subdivision left to go, sits in fourth place. Not only did the defending world champion and gold-medal-winning team from Beijing fail to lead the U.S. and Japan, the other co-favorite, they also couldn't manage to win their subdivision.

It was a disappointing day all around for the Chinese gymnasts who were incredibly sloppy and inconsistent. Known less for their flare and more for their precision-like perfection, China was hurt when low execution scores were not overcome by high performance scores.

Normally, the precision shown by the squad makes up for this but today it just wasn't there. The two returning medalists from the Beijing Olympics, looked to for experience and leadership, faltered the most as Chen Yibing performed very poorly on his bars routine and Zou Kai did not do much better on the high bar. The reigning gold medalist in the event does not even look like he will make the event final, let alone figure into the medal picture.

Another two falls on pommel horse forced the Chinese team to count two scores below 14 on this event, ultimately sinking them on the day. With the high level of competition unlike any China has seen before, they will really have to step it up if they want to defend their gold medal and continue to be the world's preeminent gymnastic power.

3. Japan (270.503)

In yet another surprising and shocking performance, Japan, one of the co-favorites to take home the gold medal, faltered uncharacteristically. At the end of Day 1, they found themselves sitting in third place after two rounds of qualifying.

Some much was expected for Japan who really gave China all they could handle in the world championships. Led by Kohei Uchimura, who is undisputedly the best male gymnast in the world right now, the team is expected to contend for gold.

The problem for Japan, however, was that Uchimura looked quite pedestrian after the first round of competition. He suffered a bad fall on the high bar, not even getting close to it when completing his release move. He also made a huge mistake, just coming off of the pommel horse.

Needless to say his scores were very poor and the rest of the Japanese team, who really feeds off of him, let it and the pressure of beating China get to them. Kazuhito Tanaka, normally very clean and precise, had perhaps the worst day of all, falling four times in his first three events.

It was not a gold medal performance for Japan. It was just barely good enough to make the podium. Both the team and Uchimura are going to have to do much better at tomorrow's finals if they want to win the team and if he wants to win the all-around gold medal. 

2. Great Britain (272.420)

Adding to the day full of surprises was Great Britain. Not only did they finish ahead of China in their qualifying subdivision, but they also passed over Japan to garner the second-overall standing after the first two rounds of subdivisions.

Great Britain has not been a bad team all season long but they surprised with their performance on Day 1. After posting a gold medal winning 266.296 at the 2012 World European Championships, the team came into London as one of the top five. Although they were not expected to figure into the medal picture, their performance on Day 1 could change all of that.

The qualifications do not carry over to the finals but if they are any indication of how Britain will perform at the finals, then things are looking very good. 

Their two best gymnasts performed wonderfully with Kristian Thomas nailing his performances and Louis Smith proving that he is a pommel horse master. Both men posted good overall scores throughout the day and helped lead a surprise British club to a second-place finish.

Although they will have to replicate this performance at the finals to land on the podium, there is something to be said about home-field advantage.

1. United States (275.342)

If you were to ask the American gymnastics team if they were surprised by their performance on Day 1, they would tell you no. The team, that is one of the best the U.S. has fielded in years, has known they have the capability to succeed. They know they have the skill and the discipline to beat China and Japan and they showed it.

After two subdivisions of qualifying, it was the United States, not China and not Japan, that finished at the top of the ranks. Yes, they were aided by uncharacteristic performances by those two nations, but on their own, the U.S. men had a spectacular day.

After an early fall by Jonathan Horton, the U.S. never looked back. They were able to cover for Horton's fall and because of the format were not forced to count a single fall in their final total. In the high bar, Danell Leyva dazzled as was to be expected and on the floor exercise, the U.S. posted the highest overall scores.

Evidence of how dominant the U.S. was on Day 1 was shown by their work on the pommel horse. Considered the country's weakest event, the three counted scores of Leyva, Sam Mikulak and John Orozco were all respectable, especially considering none are pommel horse specialists.

The U.S. only had three falls on the day and only had to count four scores below 15. All five of the members of the team also are in the running to make at least one final with Leyva (91.265) and Orozco (90.597) sitting one and two in the overall standings. Considered an outside hope to make the podium, Leyva is in good position to finish with at least one individual medal.

Unfortunately for the U.S., scores do not carry over to the finals and everyone will get a do-over. Still, the U.S. showed that if they can post scores like they did today, that they are a real threat to unseed China and shock everyone but themselves by bringing home Olympic gold.