Sochi Olympics gold medal count: Germany leads

The US and Russia are tied for the total medal count with 18 each at Sochi. But Germany leads the gold medal tally.

Germany added to its gold medal tally at Sochi Monday with a win in the team ski jumping competition. Germany already won four of its eight gold medals in the luge. It also took home gold in women's ski jumping, women's alpine skiing, and men's cross-country skiing.

Behind Germany, the US, Russia, Norway, and The Netherlands have five gold medals each at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

In the overall medal count, Russia and the United States are tied for the lead at 18 medals.

The US brought its gold medal tally to five on Monday with the country's first ever gold in ice dancing. Meryl Davis and Charlie White started skating together in 1997 in Michigan. This is the second medal for the pair. Davis and White won a bronze medal as part of the US team figure skating competition. In that event, the US finished behind Russia and Canada respectively. 

But on Monday in the ice dancing event, Canada took silver and Russia took the bronze.

As expected Russia took the gold medal in the two-man bobsled competition Monday. The US team of Steven Holcomb and Steven Langton won the bronze medal. That is the first time the US has won any medal in two-man bobsledding since 1952.

Holcomb is also the defending Olympic champion in the four-man bobsled event. That competition will be held on Saturday. 

Four years ago in Vancouver, the Americans had 24 medals, including seven golds, at this point of the Games, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon. The US finished with 37 medals in Vancouver. But US Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun says that's not likely to be repeated, he told USA Today.

"Vancouver was a once-in-a-lifetime performance by our team. While that's a good benchmark from an aspirational standpoint, it's not a realistic expectation every time we compete because it was just so special. It was like competing on home soil, our time zone, our culture, our food — it was that combined with the fact that our athletes had a lot of lifetime best performances."

Snow fog forced the postponement of two of Monday's scheduled events: men’s Olympic snowboard cross and men’s biathlon mass-start race.