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China reclaims top of Olympic medal tally
Updated 6 August 2012, 11:37 AEST
Updated 6 August 2012, 11:37 AEST
China has leapfrogged the United States on the Olympic medal tally, as its shuttlers made a clean-sweep of the badminton titles, and its divers closed on a perfect Games.
Defending Champion Lin Dan sealed his status as a legend in men's badminton, after beating long time rival Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei in a gripping final.
Lin Dan came thorugh 21-19, in what was a heartbreaking loss of Lee, although he won his country first medal of the games.
"This gold again confirmed my hard work over the years, because I knew to get this again I'd have to work even harder," Lin said.
"A lot of good athletes want to have this medal. Today it's a positive for me, for my efforts and for my sacrifice."
The win made Lin the first man to defend an Olympic singles badminton title.
China's domination in badminton continued, when Cai Yun and Fu Hai-Feng won the men's doubles.
Tian Qing and Zhaou Yunlei took the gold in the women's competition, hoping to throw off the controversy which embroiled the event after their compatriots and top seedsYu Yang and Wang Xiaoli were among eight players disqualified in a match-throwing scandal.
Wins in the mixed-doubles and the women's singles saw China take all five badminton gold - the first time a country has done so since the sport was introduced.
Close to perfect
Chinese diver Wu Minxia sealed her legacy with a gold in the women's three-metre springboard, bringing her all-time Olympic medal tally to six.
Wu scored 414 points to beat out He Zi, with whom she won gold in the synchronised event, who finished with the silver on 379.2.
Wu's earlier victory prompted media controversy after it was revealed she wasn't informed her grandparents had died or her mother had cancer, for fears of disrupting her training.
China now have all five of the diving gold so far contested, and appear on track to take out all eight.
Heavy competition
China's Zhou Lulu won gold and set an overall world record in the women's super heavyweight Olympic weightlifting event, coming out on top after a record-breaking head-to-head battle with Russia's Tatiana Kashirina.
Kashirina drew first blood, completing a 151-kg snatch lift that surpassed her own previous world record by three kgs and gave her a five-kilogram lead at the halfway stage.
But Zhou overhauled her with a superior performance in the clean and jerk, where she lifted an Olympic record 187kg that also gave her the world record combined total of 333kgs.
Zou Kai was also crowned as China's most successful Olympic gymnast when he won his fifth gold medal, in the men's floor routine.
Shooting five
South Korean Jong-Oh Jin has taken gold ahead of countryman Young-Rae Choi in the 50m pistol at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London.
The gold completes an Olympic double for Jin, who also took gold in the 10m pistol.
The 32-year-old sharpshooter amassed 662 total points to lead a South Korean one-two ahead of Choi Young-Rae, who finished with 661.5 points.
Jin, who won gold in the 50m pistol at Beijing, took his tally of Olympic medals to five, with two silver medals from the 10m pistol at Beijing and 50m pistol at Athens in 2004.
