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

The United States maintained its lead in the medal race at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and more headlining Tuesday's action with gold medals.

China, however, kept pace by taking gold in a handful of events and even pulling ahead of the United States in gold medals before the USA's big guns hit the pool.

Twitter had plenty to say on the topic.

Here's a look at the official standings after Tuesday, where the United States continues to hold China at an arm's length:

Phelps and Ledecky helped Team USA claw its way back into the fray against China in terms of gold medals.

The headline act was Phelps, of course, as he gunned for his second gold medal of the Rio Olympics and his staggering 20th overall by posting a final time of 1:53.36 in the men's 200-meter butterfly. 

SportsCenter and ESPN Stats & Info provided context to the historic moment:

Many of the reactions around the globe were priceless, but perhaps none were more telling or important than the ones by notables such as Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan, per NBC Olympics:

Alongside others, that's some of the best basketball talent in the world cheering on and recording gold medal No. 20 for Phelps.

Ledecky took another step toward a legendary legacy, going for gold in the women's 200-meter freestyle by way of a 1:53.73 final tally. A dominant performance made all the more impressive once taking into account a note by Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan:

Complex's Russ Bengtson offered an interesting comparison:

Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports had notable praise while saluting eventual silver medalist Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden:

Did anyone mention Phelps wasn't done?

Later Tuesday night as part of Team USA's efforts in the 4x200-meter relay, Phelps secured gold medal No. 21 while pulling the United States ahead of China in terms of gold medals. The team boasting Phelps, Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte posted a time of 7:00.66 to win.

A variety of Twitter personalities hit it out of the park to celebrate Phelps' epic 21st:

Before swimming changed the complexion of the gold-medal race, the United States and China went head-to-head Tuesday afternoon in women's gymnastics, though the outcome wasn't hard to predict after Team USA posted a dominant score of 185.238 to China's 175.279 after Sunday's qualifiers.

Tuesday, Team USA secured the gold with a score of 184.897, while China fell behind silver medalist Russia, settling for bronze. It was Aly Raisman who stole the show for the United States, helping her team build a lead with a wicked set, so much so former Olympian Shawn Johnson jumped on Twitter to offer praise:

Team USA even pulled out a rather surprising move to secure the gold, sending out 19-year-old Madison Kocian to attack its so-called weakest spot—the uneven bars.

SB Nation's Rodger Sherman hit the proverbial nail on the head:

China really made its medal headway in two events Tuesday—diving and weightlifting.

Diving wasn't much of a shock. Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia took home top honors in the women's synchronized 10-meter platform competition, giving China a third gold in three diving events in Rio. 

Alex Azzi of NBC Sports provided some staggering background on one-half of the winning duo:

Unfortunately for Ruolin, the pool itself seemed like the star of the show when all was said and done, as Matt Majendie of the London Evening Standard pointed out:

As for China's triumph in the weightlifting realm, Shi Zhiyong took home gold on the men's side of the 69-kilogram weightlifting, lifting a total of 352 kilograms. Deng Wei took gold for China in the women's 63-kilogram event, lifting a total of 262 kilograms.

While Zhiyong was impressive, it was Wei who broke world records, per the China Xinhua News:

Outside of looking at the gold race, Team USA got a boost—and a bit of history—when Phillip Dutton secured a bronze medal in the individual equestrian competition.

ESPN Stats & Info's Paul Carr explained:

Chronicle of the Horse provided Dutton's thoughts on his horse—one aptly named Mighty Nice:

Every little bit helps, especially before the United States' big fish hit the pool.

The battle for the top of the leaderboard and overall golds kicks back up in earnest Wednesday with more swimming medals on the line, as well as medals up for grabs in notable events such as weightlifting and fencing.

Stats and information courtesy of Rio2016.com.