Olympics: China stretch medal haul

Olympics: China stretch medal haul
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Summary China won three more gold to take their total to nine in the London Olympics.

China stretched their lead at the top of the Olympic medal table on Monday, bagging three more golds, as Games organisers moved to quell anger over empty seats.After a stellar opening weekend which saw them snaffle six titles, China scored wins in artistic gymnastics, diving and womens weightlifting to take their total to nine.Chinas mens gymnasts had endured a disastrous qualifying round but swept back to form to win the all-round team event and retain the gold medal won in Beijing four years ago.But the biggest cheers were reserved for Britains gymnasts, who finished with a bronze -- the hosts first medal of any colour in the team event since the 1912 Games in Stockholm.Britain had initially finished in the silver medal position before being relegated into bronze as Japan moved up to second after an appeal, with Ukraine dropping out of the medals altogether.Elsewhere, Li Xueying set two new Olympic records as she crushed her rivals on the way to clinching gold in the womens weightlifting -58kg class.The 22-year-old recorded a combined total of 246kg after snatching 108kg and registering a best in the clean and jerk of 138kg. Both the snatch and total were Olympic records.At the Aquatics Centre, Chinas Cao Yuan and Zhang Yanquan took advantage of a blunder by British duo Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield to win the 10m platform synchronised diving goldThe British duo had been on course for the host nations first gold until a messy dive from Waterfield let the Chinese teenagers back into the contest.The Chinese tallied 486.78 points ahead of Mexicos Ivan Navarro and German Sanchez, who took silver, and American bronze medallists David Boudia and Nicholas McCrory. Daley and Waterfield finished fourth.Chinas swimmers will look for more gold in the swimming pool later Monday with Sun Yang aiming to follow up his 400m freestyle gold in the 200m final, where he faces Ryan Lochte of the United States in a strong field.Chinese teenager Ye Shiwen was forced to defend herself against doping suspicions aired in the media following her world record-breaking gold medal in the 400m medley at the weekend.The 16-year-old insisted she was clean after Mondays 200m medley heats, where she outpaced the rest of the field by nearly two seconds.There is no problem with doping, the Chinese team has a firm policy so there is no problem with that, Ye said, when asked about her times.The International Olympic Committees medical commission chief Arne Ljungqvist also leapt to Yes defence, calling the speculation around the youngsters performances sad.For me, it is very sad that an unexpected performance is surrounded by suspicions, he told a briefing.
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