Olympic 2016 Medal Count: Full Table of Updated Tally Before Final Games
The major medal contenders all increased their tallies during Saturday's Olympic action in Rio de Janeiro, with the U.S. once again leading the way in the table.
Gwen Jorgensen delivered gold in the women's triathlon, adding to the nation's huge lead heading into the final day of competition. China also struck gold, as men's badminton favourite Chen Long headlined another fine day for the country, and Great Britain's Nicola Adams successfully defended her flyweight title.
The three nations have a firm grasp on the top of the medal table, which currently looks like this:
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Jorgensen, the overwhelming favourite for the triathlon gold, became the first American athlete to actually win the event, beating defending champion Nicola Spirig of Switzerland and Great Britain's Vicky Holland.
The 30-year-old has been the dominant force on the International Triathlon Union scene for years, winning the last two world titles with ease, and she ran the perfect race on Saturday, staying with Spirig until the final sequence and then finishing solo.
USWNT star Carli Lloyd was one of many athletes to congratulate Jorgensen:
Per Mitch Phillips of Reuters, she knew she had a great chance of wining if she just stuck to her strengths:
"I knew if I kept doing what I've been doing, hopefully it would work out," Jorgensen said.
"I never think you have a perfect race, it was a fun race for sure. I knew they were going to try to break away from me. I didn't want to be in that situation where I had to claw back time."
Jorgensen normally loses ground in the cycling sequence and makes up for it with her incredible running skills, but on Saturday, that wasn't even necessary. Her swim was almost perfect, and she barely fell behind Spirig at all on the bike. The moment she changed into her running gear, the win seemed almost certain.
There were other dominant champions who lived up to their reputation on Saturday. Long, the two-time badminton world champion and losing semi-finalist in London four years ago, got his revenge on Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, winning in two games.
It marked Chong Wei's third straight silver medal in the Olympics, an incredible run that was perhaps somewhat unavoidable. Lin Dan, who failed to medal in this year's Games, took the gold in Beijing and London and is widely considered among the greatest players of all time, while Long has the talent to perhaps join him in that conversation one day.
And Adams also did exactly what was expected of her, beating France's Sarah Ourahmoune by points in a unanimous win. The two veterans have met on many an occasion, but Adams was clearly the superior fighter on Saturday, dominating the first and second round.
Ourahmoune was given the third despite a slip, and the final round was even and scrappy enough for Adams to secure the gold.
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