China’s gold in the table tennis today makes it 100 gold medals won by the country since joining the Olympics in Los Angeles 20 years ago.
World number one Zhang Yining achieved the milestone with victory in the final of the women's singles table tennis tournament, giving her two golds for the Games following her doubles crown with Wang Nan on Friday.
Zhang's singles gold was the 20th of the Athens Olympics for China, adding to the 80 the Asian giant has won since 1984.
China began its Olympic career at the boycott-weakened Los Angeles Games with 15 gold medals, and followed up in Seoul four years later with just five.
But by 1992, China's now-famous production line system of producing sporting champions had begun to pay off, and the Asian giant won 16 medals in Barcelona, a feat repeated in Atlanta four years later.
Sydney saw China explode into the elite group of Olympic nations with 28 gold medals, placing it third on the gold and overall medal tally behind the United States and Russia.
Filed by Johnny Proby
