Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps, and three other Team USA swimmers capped off an amazing Day 7 by adding to the Rio Olympics medal count
Perhaps the craziest stat of the 2016 Rio Olympics came from Day 7 on Saturday, August 12. On yet another busy night in swimming three members of Team USA won gold medals. Michael Phelps also raced on Saturday night, but he was not one of the three who won gold. However, he did earn himself another medal to his record total and helped add to the US’s lead in the Rio Olympics medal count.
The first medal in swimming handed out to end the night was in the Women’s 200m Backstroke. Despite Hungary’s Katinka Osszu dominating every event she’d been in, she only finished with silver. Hosszu was edged out on the final stroke by Team USA’s Maya Dirado, who won the gold medal. This was Dirado’s first and last Olympic Games and this was her fourth medal.
Michael Phelps hit the pool next as he came into the Men’s 100m Butterfly. However, it was written in the stars for Joseph Schooling of Singapore on Saturday, not Phelps. Instead, Phelps tied for silver with South Africa’s Chad Le Clos and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh behind Schooling. Schooling’s win gave him Singapore’s first-ever gold medal.
Katie Ledecky was in the pool next and what she did just wasn’t fair. The superstar 19-year-old broke the world record in the 800m Freestyle by over two seconds and won the gold medal by over 12 seconds. It was domination in the purest sense from Ledecky.
Possibly the biggest shocker of the night came in the Men’s 50m Freestyle. Anthony Ervin first won a gold medal in 2000 and had even stepped away from swimming. However, he returned in Rio on Friday night at 35 years old and miraculously won gold. Nathan Adrian also won bronze in the sprint.
All in all, there were numerous big-time swim races and much more on Day 7 from Rio 2016. It was an absolutely fantastic day and one that saw plenty of movement in the Rio Olympics medal count.
Here are the Rio Olympics medal count standings after Day 7:
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| United States | 18 | 13 | 16 | 47 |
| China | 13 | 10 | 14 | 37 |
| Great Britain | 7 | 9 | 6 | 22 |
| Japan | 7 | 3 | 14 | 24 |
| Republic of Korea | 6 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| Germany | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| Russia | 5 | 9 | 8 | 22 |
| France | 5 | 7 | 5 | 17 |
| Australia | 5 | 6 | 7 | 18 |
| Hungary | 5 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| Italy | 4 | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| Spain | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Canada | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Kazakhstan | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Thailand | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Switzerland | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Croatia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| DPR Korea | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Sweden | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Brazil | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Belgium | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Romania | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Colombia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Slovakia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Vietnam | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Chinese Taipei | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Poland | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Ethiopia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Argentina | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Fiji | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| India | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Iran | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kosovo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Singapore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| South Africa | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Denmark | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Cuba | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Ukraine | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Azerbaijan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Indonesia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Georgia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Belarus | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ireland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Kenya | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Malaysia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Mongolia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Philippines | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Turkey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Egypt | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Israel | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Norway | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Estonia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Portugal | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tunisia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
The big finish in swimming for USA really took them to new heights atop these standings. It now seems even less likely that China or anyone will catch them. However, you can never rule it out this early in the Games.