Olympic 2016 Medal Count: Tuesday Updates on Medal Standings for Each Nation

Following a strong Day 3 of the 2016 Summer Olympics for the United States, competition continues Tuesday with the rest of the world chasing Team USA on Day 4 in Rio de Janeiro. 

While the United States entered Day 4 looking to pad its lead with medals in some of its top sports, such as swimming and women's gymnastics, there was definite room for progress for its pursuers in events like equestrian, weightlifting, canoe, diving, shooting and fencing.

Here is a live, updated look at the medal count with Team USA at the top, along with recaps of each medal event as they reach their conclusion.

Equestrian

Medal	Country	Score
Gold	France	169.00
Silver	Germany	172.80
Bronze	Australia	175.30

For the first time since 2004, France took Olympic gold in the equestrian team eventing Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro, with two-time reigning Olympic champion Germany taking silver and Australia winning bronze.

France was led by Karim Laghouag and Entebbe, Thibaut Vallette on Qing Du Briot, Mathieu Lemoine on Bart L and Astier Nicolas on Piaf De B'Neville.

After medaling in the event at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, Team USA failed to capture a medal in team eventing for the third straight Olympics, finishing a disappointing 12th out of 13 teams.

Despite the poor performance, all is not lost for the United States in equestrian, as Phillip Dutton qualified fourth in individual eventing and has a legitimate chance to get Team USA on the board.

Equestrian

Medal	Athlete	Horse	Country	Score
Gold	Michael Jung	Sam FBW	Germany	40.90
Silver	Astier Nicolas	Piaf De B'Neville	France	48.00
Bronze	Phillip Dutton	Mighty Nice	USA	51.80

Following Germany's near miss of a gold medal in team eventing, Michael Jung got one back for the Germans in individual eventing, as he and his horse, Sam FBW, scored a 40.90 to top the podium.

It is the fourth Olympic medal of Jung's career, including his second consecutive gold in individual eventing.

Jung beat out France's Nicolas, while Dutton of the United States made up for Team USA's poor showing in the team event by winning bronze.

According to Nick Zaccardi of NBC Olympic Talk, Dutton made some U.S. Olympic history in taking the bronze medal:

The 52-year-old Dutton previously won gold in team eventing at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Games, but this marked the first individual medal of his career.

He also ensured that for the fifth time in the past six Olympics, Team USA came away with a medal in individual eventing.

Men's Canoe Slalom

Medal	Athlete	Country	Time (Seconds)
Gold	Denis Gargaud Chanut	France	94.17
Silver	Matej Benus	Slovakia	95.02
Bronze	Takuya Haneda	Japan	97.44

France's dominance in the men's canoe slalom single event continued Tuesday, as Denis Gargaud Chanut took gold in Rio de Janeiro.

By virtue of his win, the French have now won the gold medal in that discipline in four of the past five Olympics.

Slovakia also has a long history of success in men's canoe slalom, which Matej Benus furthered by winning the silver. Prior to Benus' medal-winning performance, Slovakia's Michal Martikan had medaled in the event at five straight Summer Games.

While there is no end in sight to the stronghold France and Slovakia have over the sport, Takuya Haneda gave hope to some different nations being competitive moving forward, as he won the first-ever men's canoe slalom single medal for Japan by taking bronze.

Women's Shooting

Medal	Athlete	Country	Score
Gold	Anna Korakaki	Greece	8
Silver	Monika Karsch	Germany	6
Bronze	Heidi Deithelm Gerber	Switzerland	8 (in bronze medal match)

After taking bronze in the 10-meter air pistol, Greece's Anna Korakaki reached the top of the podium in the 25-meter pistol by defeating Germany's Monika Karsch 8-6 in the final.

Switzerland's Heidi Diethelm Gerber beat China's Jingjing Zhang 8-4 in the bronze-medal match, which ended China's string of two straight Olympics with a medal in the event.

Korakaki also made history by becoming the first Greek woman to win multiple medals in a single Olympic Games.

The 20-year-old is also the first Greek woman to ever win an Olympic medal in the 25-meter pistol.

Overall Picture

At this point, the Olympics belong to the Americans.

The United States holds a commanding lead in the overall medal race through Tuesday’s action with 26. China is the closest competitor with 17, while Japan (14) and Russia (12) are the only other nations in double figures in the early going.

Some of the biggest stars on the American team came through on Tuesday to add to that medal total. Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Katie Ledecky and the women’s gymnastics team all took home hardware for their country, as NBC Olympics shared:

Nobody has won more medals than Phelps in Olympic history, and he bolstered his collection on Tuesday with gold in the men’s 200-meter butterfly and the men’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Lochte was also part of that relay team that outlasted Great Britain, Japan and the rest of the field, but Phelps was the headliner, as NBC Olympics passed along:

Phelps wasn’t the only unbeatable force in the pool. Ledecky added her second gold and third overall medal at the Rio Games with a victory in the women’s 200-meter freestyle. She already won the 400-meter freestyle and took home silver as part of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team, but Tuesday’s showing was particularly impressive because she wasn’t considered the overwhelming favorite.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports suggested as much: “The 200 free was supposed to be[Ledecky's] weakest race. She just won a gold medal in it.”

Swimmer David Plummer underscored just how effective the United States has been in the pool:

It wasn’t just the swimmers who shined on Tuesday, as Simone Biles and the women’s gymnastics team also thrilled spectators with a nearly flawless performance.

They won gold in dominant fashion with a score of 184.897, per Rio2016.com, in a sport that is oftentimes decided by tenths of a point. However, the United States beat the silver medalist Russians (176.688) by more than eight whole points. By comparison, China won the bronze and was less than .7 points behind Russia at 176.003.

NBC Olympics highlighted Biles’ gold-medal clinching floor routine:

Elsewhere, China is still in second place in the overall medal race and won gold in the women’s synchronized 10-meter platform dive to go along with its bronze in women’s gymnastics, but the United States has controlled the early portion of these Olympics.

With Phelps, Biles and other household names still set to compete in other events, don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.