The USA is no stranger to taking first place when it comes to the medal table. Rio 2016 was the 17th of 28 Olympic Games in which the country won the most medals, claiming 122 in total (47 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze). A good proportion of this was due to the success of three athletes: swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky and gymnast Simone Biles.

Together, they accounted for 13 gold medals, two silvers and a bronze. If they were a country of their own, they would have finished in sixth place, ahead of Japan, itself a potent sporting power and host of the next edition of the Olympic Games. With five golds and a silver, Michael Phelps increased his lead as the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals in total, 23 of which are gold.

America’s sweetheart: Simone Biles won four golds and a bronze (Photo: Getty Images/Alex Livesey)Great Britain confirmed its place as a rising power, at these Games -  from tenth at Athens 2004, the country rose to fourth place at Beijing 2008, was third at London 2012, and finished second at Rio 2016 with 67 medals, 27 of which were gold. The result is Great Britain’s best since 1908, when it hosted the Games for the first time, and topped the table with 144 medals (56 of which were gold). Kenny and Trott will be taking five medals home with them (Photo: Getty Images/Bryn Lennon)

British couple Jason Kenny and Laura Trott won five of their country’s medals in track cycling, an event in which their nation excels. The strong British result was bolstered by unexpected contributions from sports such as hockey, in which the country was considered to be the underdog going into the women’s final against the Netherlands.

The British women's hockey team delivered an unexpected gold (Photo: Getty Images/Clive Rose)

China finished top at Beijing 2008, fell to second at London 2012 (having been overtaken by the USA) and ended in third place at Rio 2016. The country dominated in diving, however, winning seven of the eight golds on offer.

Chinese one-two: Tingmao Shi and Zi He won the gold and silver in the 3m trampoline (Photo: Getty Images/Clive Rose)

Brazil recorded its best-ever result in 13th place, with 19 medals (two more than at London 2012, the previous best performance), seven of which were gold (two more than at Athens 2004). Canoeist Isaquias Queiroz become the first Brazilian athlete to win three medals at one Games, claiming two silvers and a bronze. It was also the first time that Brazil finished on the podium in canoe sprint. The sport has developed in the country since the hiring of Spanish trainer Jesús Morlán, who set up a training centre in Lagoa Santa, in Minas Gerais state.

Rio 2016 also featured the first Brazilian gold in the pole vault, while Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt recovered the country’s title in beach volleyball after 12 years. It was the same situation in the men’s volleyball, which last saw Brazil win at Athens 2004. Football, a sport in which the five-time World Cup-winning country has a great tradition, was won by Brazil for the first time, much to the delight of the nation’s public.

Neymar was one of the heroes of Brazil’s football campaign (Photo: Getty Images/Laurence Griffiths)

Other countries with great cause for celebration were those who won their first-ever medal at Rio 2016: Fiji, Jordan and Kosovo all claimed gold. Five other nations had won medals in the past, but this edition of the Games was the first to see them reach the top of the podium: Bahrain, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Vietnam and Tajikistan.

Rio 2016 also had the highest-ever number of delegations taking part, at 207, including the Refugee Olympic Team and the team representing independent athletes.

Fiji’s rugby sevens team made sporting history (Photo: Getty Images/David Rogers)

See the Rio 2016 medal table here