Medal Count 2016 Olympics: Twitter Reacts to Monday's Standings and Results

The United States pulled ahead in the early medal race at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and viewers back at home naturally had plenty to say about it on Twitter. 

The Americans were particularly impressive in the pool on Monday, as Conor Dwyer, Kathleen Baker, Ryan Murphy, David Plummer, Lilly King and Catherine Meili all medaled. The swimming prowess proved to be a major reason why the Americans won 19 medals through the first few days of competition:

While the swimmers demonstrated their overall dominance, Rodger Sherman of SB Nation put things into perspective:

Michael Phelps didn’t medal Monday seeing how he was only in the 200-meter butterfly semifinal, but he did make quite the impact on social media when he was unfazed by South Africa’s Chad le Clos’ pre-swim warm-ups, as NBC Olympics shared:

AP Sports harkened to another meme and called it the “Crying Jordan” of the Olympics, and there was plenty of amusing reaction online:

Phelps’ staredown made waves, but it was King who stole the show Monday with gold in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke. She outpaced everyone, including Russia’s Yulina Efimova, as NBC Olympics highlighted:

According to Karen Crouse of the New York Times, Efimova previously served a 16-month suspension for doping and failed a test for meldonium this year but had the result overturned on appeal. King did not approve of Efimova after qualifying, which set up the dramatic final, per NBC Olympics:

King didn’t bite her tongue after the win:

Other athletes such as Aaron Rodgers and Alex Morgan were quick to congratulate her, but ESPN’s Bill Barnwell offered a word of caution:

The Americans weren’t the only ones to win in swimming, as Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu took home gold in the women’s 100-meter backstroke. The effort made her husband and coach quite pleased, as NBC Olympics captured:

Baker won silver in the race and even got back an earring she lost in a previous swim, via NBC Olympics:

Swimming also turned heads on Twitter because of the red marks on some competitors from cupping, which helps with muscle pain. NBC Olympics did a demonstration on the broadcast, but actor Steve Martin had a different take:

While Americans will remember the dominance in the pool from Monday, the host nation of Brazil received its first gold when Rafaela Silva won the women’s 57-kilogram judo. NBC Olympics passed along the incredible celebratory scene:

Elsewhere, Japan won the men’s team gymnastics final, while Russia took silver and China won bronze. The United States didn’t finish on the podium, which seemed to impact the television time devoted to the event, as Andy Glockner of The Cauldron and Doug Gottlieb of CBS Sports indicated:

There was plenty of inspiration outside of just the medals in the women’s sabre individual fencing competition. The United States’ Ibtihaj Muhammad lost in the round of 16 but made history in the process, as CNN and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton shared:

While many of the headlines came in individual sports Monday, the United States men’s and women’s basketball teams were also in action. Both won with relative ease, with the men beating Venezuela 113-69 and the women handling Spain 103-63. However, the men’s side appeared to sleepwalk through the first quarter:

On the women’s side, Diana Taurasi scored 13 points and moved up the rankings in United States basketball history, as the team shared:

The United States will look to maintain its lead in the medal count in the coming days with impressive performances such as that, and Twitter will surely be there to react to every step.