China has taken a giant a leap on the medal table claiming an impressive 13 gold medals in all.
They are closely followed by the United States of America who have 9 gold medals at the close of the 5th day of the olympic games.
Both countries are however tied at 23 on the total number of medals attained, the Chinese are however leading due to their superior number of gold medals. They are followed in third place by the French who have gained 11 medals in all, with 4 gold medals.
South Africa are leading the african table with 2 gold medals followed by Egypt with 1 silver medal. The africans at the end of the fifth day are not faring very favourably.
China, are still benefiting from the major infracturactutral development in the areas of sports when they hosted the last games. They won a 51 gold medals, 100 medals in all, the United States trailed them immediately with 36 gold medals.
After a stellar opening weekend which saw them snaffle six titles, China scored wins in artistic gymnastics, diving and women’s weightlifting to take their total to nine.
China’s men’s 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.
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 yesterday’s 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 Committee’s medical commission chief Arne Ljungqvist also leapt to Ye’s defence, calling the speculation around the youngster’s performances “sad”.
“For me, it is very sad that an unexpected performance is surrounded by suspicions,” he told a briefing.
The teenager put up another stellar performance to claim another gold medal yesterday in the womens 200m making an impressive 2 munites 7 seconds.
