LONDON, July 30, (AFP): China stretched their lead at the top of the Olympic medal table on Monday as American swimming sensation Missy Franklin lived up to the hype with her first gold of the Games.
After a stellar opening weekend which saw them bag six titles, China scored wins in artistic gymnastics, diving and women’s weightlifting to take their total to nine on a day marred by officiating controversies.
China’s men’s gymnasts endured a disastrous qualifying round but swept back to form to win the all-round team event and retain the gold won in Beijing four years ago.
But the biggest cheers were reserved for Britain’s men, who finished with a bronze — the hosts’ first medal of any colour in the team gymnastics event since Stockholm 1912.

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, China’s Li Xueying set two new Olympic records as she crushed her rivals on the way to clinching gold in the women’s weightlifting -58kg class.
At the Aquatics Centre, China’s 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 gold.
With four titles up for grabs in the swimming pool on Monday it was US swimmers who cashed in with two golds, although there was disappointment for American star Ryan Lochte, who was bumped out of a podim place in the 200m freestyle won by France’s Yannick Agnel.
With Lochte struggling, it was left to the 17-year-old Franklin to sprinkle stardust on the occasion, and the youngster from Colorado did not disappoint with a win in the 100m backstroke.
“I couldn’t be happier right now. I’ve just won an Olympic gold medal, so I am not thinking straight right now,” Franklin said.

“It is exceeding the expectations a hundred billion times more than I think it could be like.”
Franklin’s achievement was trumped by 15-year-old Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte who edged out American world champion Rebecca Soni for the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke.
Meilutyte led all the way to post a brilliant win over Soni in one minute 05.47 seconds, becoming the first swimmer from Lithuania to win a gold medal.
Away from the pool, the Olympics lived up to its tradition of providing abundant drama in sports which rarely enjoy a global spotlight, with amazing scenes in the fencing competition at the Excel Centre.
South Korean fencer Shin A-Lam staged a dramatic, lonely sit-down protest for more than one hour after losing her epee semi-final against Germany’s Britta Heidemann, convinced she had been the victim of an officiating blunder.
Shin sat sobbing disconsolately on the piste as her coach protested her defeat to no avail. She eventually returned to lose her bronze medal match.
Charismatic North Korean Kim Un-Guk and China’s Li Xueying broke a raft of records as they handed out two masterclasses in weightlifting.
Kim set a world record in the total thanks to equalling another in the snatch that was the basis for an emphatic victory in the men’s -62kg class.

Li broke two new Olympic records as she crushed her rivals on the way to claiming gold in the women’s -58kg class in a third day of enthralling action at a packed ExCel arena.
While Li was understated in her performance, Kim was anything but as he whipped the 6,000-capacity stadium into a frenzy with his flamboyant showmanship at the barbell.
Kim snatched 153kg, also a new Olympic record, to match Chinese lifter Shi Zhiyong’s world record, and then went on to clean and jerk 174kg for a combined total of 327kg, beating the previous record held by China’s Zhang Jie by 1kg.
Colombian Oscar Figueroa claimed a shock silver with a total of 317kg (140, 177), his clean and jerk a new Olympic record, while Indonesia’s Irawan Eko Yuli took bronze with 317kg (145, 172) on the bodyweight rule.
Each time he set foot on the podium, Kim grinned at the cheering crowd, a roar as he approached the barbell eliciting similar grunts in reply from the delighted spectators.
Kim’s reaction after each successful lift was one of unmitigated joy, prompting him to scream, shake his right fist over the bar and jump in the air before rapidly skipping off the platform. The crowd, quite simply, adored it.

His superiority in the snatch saw him take a massive 13kg lead over Zhang, the favourite for the event, into the clean and jerk. The Asiad champion failed with his third clean and jerk and missed a podium place by 3kg.
In the women’s competition, Asian Games champion Li, also the current world silver medallist, produced a stunning performance, recording 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.
She narrowly missed a final clean and jerk at 144kg which would have given her the world record.
“I didn’t do well last year at the world champs and that was a hard lesson to learn,” said Li, playing down her superiority over the rest of the field.
“In every competition, I try my best. I don’t pay attention to my rivals, strong or not.
“I was a little nervous because it’s my first Olympic Games. I was a bit hasty on my first snatch, I wasn’t quite as calm as normal.”

Thailand’s Pimsiri Sirikaew took silver with a total of 236kg (100, 136), with Ukraine’s Yuliya Kalina claiming bronze with 235kg (106, 129).
Meanwhile Switzerland footballer Michel Morganella became the second competitor to be sent home for posting racist abuse on Twitter after insulting South Korea’s players on the micro-blogging site.
“Michel Morganella has discriminated against, insulted and violated the dignity of the South Korean football team, as well as the South Korean people,” said Switzerland Olympic team chef de mission Gian Gilli.
Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was kicked out of the Olympics last week for a comment which poked fun at Africans living in the country.
Under-fire London Olympic organisers (LOCOG) continued to face criticism over the banks of empty seats which have been seen across various venues since the Games got under way.
Some 3,000 tickets from international sports federations were “put back in the pot” and sold to the public Sunday, LOCOG said amid growing public anger over empty seats.