Russia Ties China as Second in Gold TallyRussia tied China in second place of the Olympic gold tally after it beat Sweden 28-26 to win the men's handball final on Saturday.Russia won eight golds on the penultimate day of the Games -- men's handball, women's high jump, group rhythmic gymnastics, pentathlon, cycling time trial, one boxing category and two freestyle wrestling classes. Russia and China both won 28 gold medals but Russia took more silver and bronze medals. The United States topped the gold table with 38 gold medals, with host Australia in fourth place with 16 golds and Germany fifth in 13. Tian Liang completed China's golden run with a victory at the men's 10m platform diving final. Tian garnered 724.53 points to win China's fifth diving gold, beating his teammate Hu Jia by 10.98 points. Russian Dmitri Saoutine was third with 679.26 points. Minutes before Tian Liang's victory, Chen Zhong snatched China's first taekwondo title. Chen, 17, overwhelmed Russian Natalia Ivanova 8-3 to win the women's taekwondo over-67kg heavyweight title. The 1999 world silver medalist steadily piled up points with sharp kicks to beat the veteran 29-year-old Russian, who added the Olympic silver to her haul of two silvers from the World Cup and the world championships in 1997. |
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