Olympic 2016 Medal Count: Wednesday Updates on Medal Standings for Each Nation
Team USA's medal dominance continued Tuesday at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and the Americans looked to carry that momentum over into Wednesday's action across a diverse array of competitions.
Medals were set to be handed out in sports such as cycling, weightlifting, shooting, canoeing, diving, gymnastics, judo, fencing, table tennis and swimming, which gave other nations a chance to potentially close the gap a bit.
With the United States continuing to pace the field, here is an updated look at the medal count and a recap of each of the events in which medals were awarded Wednesday.
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Women's Road Cycling
| Gold | Kristin Armstrong | United States | 44:26.42 |
| Silver | Olga Zabelinskaya | Russia | 44:31.97 |
| Bronze | Anna van der Breggen | Netherlands | 44:37.80 |
American Kristin Armstrong made it a three-peat Wednesday in the women's road cycling individual time trial, as she took gold in the event for the third consecutive Olympics.
Armstrong, who turns 43 Thursday, beat out Russia's Olga Zabelinskaya, who settled for silver four years after winning bronze in London.
As seen in this photo, courtesy of UCI Women Cycling, Armstrong got the job done on a wet and slick road in Rio:
She also pushed herself to the limit, as evidenced by this photo from Mark Johnson of KTVB:
Armstrong made history by becoming the first woman to win gold in the same road cycling event at three straight Summer Games.
Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands won bronze Wednesday, which was a fine addition to the gold medal she won in the road race earlier at the Rio Olympics.
By virtue of Armstrong's victory, however, Team USA continued to extend its lead in the medal count both in terms of overall medals and golds.
Men's Shooting
| Gold | Jin Jong-oh | South Korea | 193.7 |
| Silver | Hoang Xuan Vinh | Vietnam | 191.3 |
| Bronze | Kim Song Guk | North Korea | 172.8 |
Jin Jong-oh made Olympic history Wednesday by becoming the first men's shooter to ever win three consecutive gold medals in the same event when he topped the podium in the 50-meter pistol.
The South Korean now has four Olympic gold medals to his credit in total and six Olympic medals overall dating back to the 2004 Athens Games.
Jong-oh set a record for the highest score in an Olympic final, allowing him to edge out silver medalist Xuan Vinh Hoang of Vietnam.
Hoang already took gold in the 10-meter air pistol, and the first Vietnamese medalist in men's shooting added another medal to his haul.
They were joined by bronze medalist Kim Song Guk of North Korea, who became just the third North Korean to ever capture an Olympic medal in men's shooting.
Men's Road Cycling
| Gold | Fabian Cancellara | Switzerland | 1:12:15.42 |
| Silver | Tom Dumoulin | Netherlands | 1:13:02.83 |
| Bronze | Christopher Froome | Great Britain | 1:13:17.54 |
In what was his final Olympic ride, Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara went out on top with his second career gold medal in the road cycling individual time trial.
Cancellara previously won gold in the event at the 2008 Beijing Games, and following a disappointing finish off the podium in 2012, he made amends Wednesday.
The 35-year-old veteran received many congratulations on Twitter, including this message from cyclist Jens Voigt:
Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands took silver, while Great Britain's Christopher Froome was the bronze medalist in the event for the second consecutive Olympics.
It can be argued that Froome's result was somewhat disappointing as a three-time Tour de France winner, but he had a feeling Cancellara could have a special ride, according to Tom Cary of the Telegraph:
That is precisely what happened, but with Cancellara moving on, Froome may have his chance to make a run at the gold in Tokyo in 2020.
Overall Picture
The 2016 Olympics may be in South America, but it is the United States of America that is dominating the early medal count leaderboard. The Americans have 32 medals through Wednesday’s action, which places them nine ahead of second-place China and 14 ahead of third-place Japan.
One reason the United States has been so impressive is the effort of its swimmers, and superstar Katie Ledecky added more gold to her resume on Wednesday. Ledecky anchored the women’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay and made up a deficit in the last 200 meters on the way to the victory.
It was Ledecky’s third gold and fourth medal of the Games, and NBC Olympics shared her finishing kick:
She wasn’t the only household name to hit the pool on Wednesday, as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte both competed in the men’s 200-meter individual medley semifinal. They didn’t race for medals in the semi but finished Nos. 1 and 2 in their heat, respectively, and appear poised to add to the United States’ haul in the immediate future.
It wasn’t just the swimmers who helped the Americans on Wednesday. Fencer Daryl Homer captured silver in the men’s individual saber competition and turned around some recent team history in the process, via the national fencing team:
Hungary’s Aron Szilagyi beat Homer in the gold medal match.
The United States men’s and women’s basketball teams each played on Wednesday as well. The men struggled to pull away from an Australian squad that included Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova, but Carmelo Anthony’s 31 points helped it earn the 98-88 victory. He also made national team history with his performance:
As for the women’s team, it handled Serbia to the tune of 110-84 thanks to 25 points from Diana Taurasi.
The United States was not the only nation to bring home notable medals on Wednesday. Japan’s Kohei Uchimura won the men’s individual all-around gymnastics final and defended his gold medal in dramatic fashion, as NBC Olympics passed along:
Elsewhere, China added two medals when Ning Ding beat Xiaoxia Li in the women's singles table tennis gold medal match. Having two representatives on the podium in a sport is a surefire way to make some ground up on the United States in the medal race, but China and the rest of the world is still chasing the Americans after Wednesday’s action.
Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.
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