China won its 50th gold medal of the Beijing Olympic Games on Sunday when Zou Shiming won the men's light flyweight boxing final, defeating Mongolia's Serdamba Purevdorj. ( dpa )
China won its first Olympic gold medal ever in the 1984 Los Angeles Games. At the Athens Olympics the Chinese won 32 gold, and in Sydney in 2000 they won 28.
The host nation's gold tally, along with 20 silver and 28 bronze, sees it top the medal table but the United States, which has won 34 gold medals so far, will likely win more medals in total as it has currently 9 more after accumulating 37 silver and 36 bronze for a total of 107 with 10 events still to be decided.
It is only the seventh time that a country has achieved 50 or more gold medals.
In 1988, the Soviet Union won 55 gold medals and in 1972, they won 50. The huge total they won in 1980 (80) and the 83 the US won four years later are tainted because of huge boycotts of the games.
In 1908 Britain won 56 medals in London, but only 22 nations participated, while in 1904 in the US, only 12 nations competed as the hosts won 79 medals.