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

The gold-medal race between the United States and China at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro continued Wednesday.

There, China once again kept pace with the United States, drawing even in the gold-medal department thanks to some expected dominance in familiar settings.

As always, Twitter had plenty to say about the lengthy string of tense medal affairs and the two-country race for gold and overall medals.

Here's a look at the official standings after Wednesday, where the United States once again fended away China:

Unlike Tuesday, where Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky did some late-night swimming (by Eastern timezone standards) to pull the United States away from China when it comes to golds, Wednesday didn't deliver the same late show. 

It did, though, give the United States the lead to close the day's schedule. Ledecky and her team wound up besting Australia and Canada in the women's 200-meter freestyle relay.

Sounds routine, but Ledecky put on a show for the ages, compensating for her team as the anchor to epic results. ESPN Stats & Info provided the numbers:

The internet rightfully exploded after the epic performance:

The pool wasn't fully kind to the rest of the Americans Wednesday night, with Josh Prenot settling for silver in the men's 200-meter breaststroke final and Nathan Adrian taking bronze in the men's 100-meter freestyle final.

As NBC Olympics shared, though, Prenot's medal was still a monumental moment for Team USA:

The United States did get on the board with a gold medal Wednesday thanks to Kristin Armstrong besting the rest of the field in the women's road cycling time trial.

BBC Sport captured an epic moment from the rainy victory, while ESPN Stats & Info provided the necessary context: 

Armstrong, 43 years old on Thursday, acted as a source of inspiration for many after the win, including a notable such as Ray Lewis:

Not to be outdone in the gold department, China once again fired a shot of its own by looking triumphant in—surprise—weightlifting. A day after the male-female duo of Shi Zhiyong and Deng Wei took golds, Xiang Yanmei followed suit in the women’s 69kg final.

Unfortunately for China, Lyu Xiaojun couldn't uphold his end of the bargain in the men's 77kg final, though in the process of losing gold to Kazakhstan's Nijat Rahimov, he set a new snatch world record.

Alex Collier, a team Great Britain lifter, offered praise:

China was able to snag another gold late in the day to pull even with the United States thanks to Ding Ning taking down fellow countrywoman Li Xiaoxia in the women's table tennis final.

The fact China had two representatives in the final wasn't a shock in any way. CCTVNEWS explained:

This wasn't any ordinary match, either, not with it going to an epic seventh game, as USA Table Tennis pointed out while praising the match:

Though the spotlight rested on the duel between the United States and China, Wednesday proved much more diverse than Tuesday. 

For instance, Great Britain's Joe Clarke scored a gold medal for his country in the men's kayak K1 slalom final. Not to be out done, Great Britain picked up a second gold on the day thanks to the duo of Jack Laugher and Chris Mears after their triumph in the men's 3-meter synchronized final.

Laugher and Mears' triumph was much more surprising because they bested notables such as the United States' Sam Dorman and Michael Hixon (silver) and China's Cao Yuan and Qin Kai (bronze).

Julian Druker of ITN offered high praise after the triumph:

Once again, the pool itself threatened to steal the spotlight, though, as a picture from journalist Rod Gilmour revealed:

Elsewhere, Switzerland picked up its first gold medal of the Olympics when legend Fabian Cancellara won the men's road time trial. Jin Jongoh of South Korea captured gold for his country in the men's 50-meter pistol shooting event.

Jin's win was not only an epic come-from-behind moment; it was his third gold medal in a row at the event, per John Marshall of the Associated Press:

Of the other notables, Japan grabbed a fourth gold medal to stick close behind China in that regard, with the well-known Kohei Uchimura grabbing gold in the individual all-around gymnastics event.

Twitter user Gracia captured an epic moment between Uchimura and silver medalist Oleg Verniaiev that captured the spirit of the Olympics quite well:

Japan inched even closer thanks to judo medal events, where Mashu Baker took top honors in the men's 90kg field and Haruka Tachimoto topped the women's 70kg event.

Not that either outcome was much of a shocker. Shawn Smith of NBC Sports provided the staggering dominance put on by Team Japan in Rio:

It's exactly what a country needed to remain a somewhat close third in an Olympics quickly becoming a two-country party.

The duel between the United States and China rages onward Thursday, with medals set to be handed out in critical events such as gymnastics, judo, cycling, rugby and swimming.

Stats and information courtesy of Rio2016.com.