2012 Olympics: Nation Power Rankings, Day 5 Edition

Day 5 at the 2012 Summer Olympics was jampacked full of exciting action and surprising results, which really should surprise no one at this point. 

That's the way these Games have gone so far. One unexpected result after another.

Well, maybe not all the events ended unexpectedly, but many of them have. 

Many of the heavy-hitting countries showed up in a major way on this day. Countries like Germany and Great Britain blew up after getting off to slow starts in the early going, while China and the USA continued to dominate. 

With that in mind, let's take a look at which countries made the biggest impact on Day 5.

10. Russia

Total Medals: 3

The Russians had a good day. So far in these Games, they haven't been as dominant as they've been in years past, but there is still a long way to go before the 2012 Olympic Games are over.

One of the silver medals came in the men's three-meter synchronized springboard, where the Chinese and Mexicans were heavily favored to compete for the gold.

The Chinese duo of Luo Yutong and Qin Kai didn't disappoint, earning the gold. The Mexican duo of Yahel Castillo Huerta and Julian Sanchez Gallegos did disappoint, though, leaving the door wide open for the Russian team of Ilya Zakharov and Evgeny Kuznetsov to shine in their absence.

Sophia Velikaia earned a silver medal for her performance in the women's individual sabre, and Olga Zabelinskaya earned a bronze medal for her performance in the women's individual time trials bicycle race.

9. France

Total Medals: 2

France isn't particularly known for producing Olympic judo champions, but that's exactly what it did this year. 

Lucie Decosse dominated her opponents on her way to her first Olympic gold medal in the women's 70-kilogram division. Decosse is a three-time world champion, so this wasn't a huge surprise. That said, she won the silver medal in the 2008 Summer Games in the 63kg division, so this was a big step up for her and her country.

Also pitching in was the women's swimming team. It earned a bronze medal in the 4x200 freestyle race, finishing behind USA and Australia.

8. Ukraine

Total Medals: 3

The Ukrainian women rocked the Olympics on Day 5. 

They won the women's quadruple sculls race for rowing, beating out strong German and American teams in the process. 

Olga Kharlan surprised everyone in the women's individual sabre competition by beating two-time-gold-medal-winning American Mariel Zagunis to win the bronze medal—one of the biggest shockers of the day.

Finally, Olena Kostevych earned a bronze medal for her performance in the women's 25-meter pistol competition. 

Lesson of the day: You don't want to mess around with a Ukrainian woman armed with either a sabre or a pistol.

7. Japan

Total Medals: 4

One of the biggest stories from Day 5 comes from the men's all-around competition in gymnastics, where Kohei Uchimura beat Germany's Marcel Nguyen and America's Danell Leyva soundly for the gold medal. 

Uchimura was brilliant, and nobody else came close to matching his phenomenal performance.

Japan also earned three bronze medals.

Ryo Tateishi did well to come in one second behind Hungary's Daniel Gyurta, who broke a world record in the 200-meter breaststroke. 

Over on the women's side, Natsumi Hoshi won a bronze medal for her performance in the 200-meter butterfly. 

Finally, Masashi Nishiyama performed admirably in the men's middleweight judo competition, tying for third place with Greece's Ilias Iliadis to win the bronze medal.

6. Hungary

Total Medals: 1

Sometimes quality counts for more than quantity. This is one of those special cases.

Hungarian swimmer Daniel Gyurta broke a world record in the men's 200-meter breaststroke, beating the old record set by Australia's Christian Sprenger by three one-hundredths of a second, according to ESPN.com.

It's important to note that Sprenger set that mark wearing a now-banned polyurethane suit, which makes Gyurta's record all the more impressive.

He needed every bit of his record-setting time to fend off Great Britain's Michael Jamieson, the hometown hero who came in just 15-hundredths of a second behind him. 

5. Great Britain

Total Medals: 5

After four days, Great Britain had only compiled four total medals. The Brits came out in full force on Day 5 to wipe that memory from the psyche of their fellow countrymen.

Out of their five total medals, two of them were of the gold variety.

Bradley Wiggins followed up his Tour de France victory with a gold medal today in the men's time trials, defeating Germany's Tony Martin and his own teammate, Great Britain's Christopher Froome, who earned the bronze. 

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning teamed up to win the gold medal in the women's pairs rowing competition, earning the second gold of the day for Great Britain.

Michael Jamieson came in slightly slower than new world-record holder Daniel Gyurta in the men's 200-meter breaststroke competition, earning a silver medal.

Finally, the Great Britain rowing team won the bronze metal in the men's eight competition. 

All in all, it was a good day for the host country.

4. Germany

Total Medals: 7

The Germans hadn't gotten off to a good start after four days, much like Great Britain. Through four days, they had only won six total medals, after winning 41 total medals in 2008, but they more than made up for it on Day 5. 

The only reason they aren't further up on this list is because only one of their medals was gold. In total, the Germans won one gold medal, five silver medals and one bronze medal. 

Their lone gold came by way of the men's eight rowing team, which beat out Canada and Great Britain.

Judith Arndt came in second place behind American cyclist Kristin Armstrong in the women's time trials. 

Gymnast Marcel Nguyen came in second place in the men's individual all-around competition with a really solid performance. 

Kerstin Thiele was defeated in the gold-medal judo match by France's Lucie Décosse.

The German women's rowing team showed that the men aren't the only ones capable of putting on a show by earning a silver medal in the women's quadruple sculls competition.

Tony Martin came in second place in the men's time trials behind Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins.

Finally, Hannes Aigner won bronze in the men's kayak K-1 division.

3. Korean Republic (South Korea)

Total Medals: 4

The Korean Republic only won four medals, but three of them were pure gold. 

Kim Jiyeon dominated Russia's Sophia Velikaia in the women's individual sabre competition, completing an epic run for gold that nobody saw coming. American sabre specialist Mariel Zagunis was the two-time defending champ, and she didn't even finish on the podium.

Kim Jangmi won the gold medal in the women's 25-meter pistol competition, beating out China's Chen Ying by just one point.

Song Dae-Nam is the new Olympic judo champ in the 90-kilogram middleweight division after beating Cuba's Asley Gonzalez in a thrilling final match.

Finally, in the only non-gold-medal-winning finish for the Korean Republic, fencer Jung Jinsun finished with a bronze medal in the men's individual epee.

2. USA

Total Medals: 6

The Americans' strong showing at these Olympic Games continued on Day 5, as they won three gold medals and three bronze medals.

Nathan Adrian pulled off one of the biggest upsets since Spain lost its first two football matches by beating Australia's James Magnussen by one-hundredth of a second.

That's insane. 

The Americans weren't done dominating in the pool, either. Missy Franklin and the girls beat Australia and France by a mile in the women's 4x200 freestyle, setting an Olympic record in the process. 

Cyclist Kristin Armstrong (no relation to Lance) didn't fail to do what we all expected her to do, winning the women's time trial more than 15 seconds quicker than her next-best competitor. 

Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen did well to earn a bronze medal in the men's three-meter synchronized springboard diving competition.

Gymnast Danell Leyva disappointed a bit by only earning a bronze medal in the men's all-around. He was the top male gymnast through the qualifying stage, but failed to come up big when it mattered the most.

Finally, the U.S. women's rowing team did America proud by earning a bronze in the quadruple sculls.

1. China

Total Medals: 7

China continues to dominate the world at the Summer Olympic games. It did it back in 2008, and the Chinese are on pace to match their gaudy totals of four years ago.

Out of their seven total medals, four of them were gold. The other three were silver.

Lu Xiaojun set a new world record in the men's 77-kilogram weightlifting competition, earning gold, while teammate Lu Haojie came in second place, right behind him.

The Chinese women dominated the table-tennis competition, taking both the gold and silver medals in that discipline as well.

Jiao Liuyang set a new Olympic record in the women's 200-meter butterfly, winning the race by well over a second in front of Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia and Japan's Natsumi Hoshi.

Finally, Chen Ying came in second place in the women's 25-meter pistol competition. 

What a day!

Thanks for reading, and make sure to keep checking in with Bleacher Report for all your 2012 Olympic Games news, reaction and analysis.

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