More than half of the 11 gold medals to be handed out at the Beijing Olympics Wednesday have been awarded to athletes in the water and on the mats.
Ilchenko wins 10k marathon swim
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| Athletes swim in the Women´s 10km Marathon, 19 Aug 2008 |
In the first medal event of the day, Russia's Larisa Ilchenko won the gold in the women's 10-kilometer marathon swim at Shunyi-Rowing Canoe Park. Ilchenko stayed behind two British swimmers for most of the race, before passing them and sprinting to a first-place finish in a time of one hour, 59 minutes, 27 and seven-tenths seconds. In another race on the water, Yin Jian won China's first sailing gold medal in the women's windsurfer RS:X finals at the sailing venue in Qingdao. New Zealand windsurfer Tom Ashley won gold in the men's windsurfer RS:X class.
Russia aces synchronized swimming event
And Russians Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova repeated as Olympic champions by winning the duet free routine final in synchronized swimming. They won with a combined 99.251 points at the Water Cube.
On the wrestling mat, Turkey's Ramazan Sahin won the men's 66-kilogram freestyle to earn Turkey its first gold medal in the Beijing Olympics, while Russia's Buvaysa Saytiev won his record-tying third Olympic freestyle gold medal in the 74-kilogram division.
Mexico captures taekwondo gold
In taekwondo, Mexico's Guillermo Perez captured the gold medal in the men's under 58-kilogram class, winning an overtime decision over Dominica's Yulis Gabriel Mercedes. Reigning world champion Wu Jingyu won the gold medal in the women's under 49-kilo division.
At the Bird's Nest stadium, Aksana Miankova of Belarus set an Olympic record of 76.34 meters as she won gold in the women's hammer throw.
Later, gold medals will be awarded in the men's 200-meter race and the women's 400-meter hurdles.
Bolt eyes gold in 200m finals
World record holder and newly crowned men's 100-meters champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica competes in the men's 200-meter finals. Bolt won the gold medal in the 100 with a new world record of 9.69 seconds. Walter Dix of the United States, who won the bronze medal in the 100-meter finals, also will compete in the 200-meters.
The United States and China are now tied in the overall medal count with 79 each. But China leads the U.S. in gold medals, 45 - 26.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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