Gong Jinjie (front) and Zhong Tianshi of China compete during the final of women's team sprint cycling track at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 12, 2016. China won the gold medal. (Photo: Xinhua/Li Ga)
Team China went back on right track as they wrapped up two golds at the Rio Olympics on Friday, highlighted by the first ever cycling gold medal in the women's team sprint. [Special coverage]
Gong Jinjie and Zhong Tianshi beat Daria Shmeleva and Anastasiia Voinova of Russia in the final to take the cycling gold and also set a world record of 31.928 seconds in the first round.
"This is a historic medal. It is the first time. We have worked so hard for this. We are like old warriors who have kept fighting. This medal is not just for the two of us, because there are many people behind us who have worked very hard," said Gong.
"We didn't want to think too much about winning or losing. We concentrated on making the best race possible. This is the first Chinese gold medal - we did it. Today we did not want to make any mistake. We stayed close together so we can make the last sprint as fast as possible," said Zhong.
Four years ago in London, Gong and then partner Guo Shuang picked up a silver medal in the women's cycling team sprint after being relegated from gold for making a lane change in the final.
"We just want to prove and show the world that how powerful Chinese cycling is! We won the gold that should be ours four years ago," added Gong.
With athletics competitions kicking off at the Olympic Stadium, China's Wang Zhen claimed the men's 20km race walk gold.
The 24-year-old finished in one hour 19 minutes and 14 seconds, falling just 28 seconds short of the Olympic record set by his countryman Chen Ding at the London 2012 Games.
His fellow Chinese Cai Zelin took the silver, 12 seconds behind Wang, with Australia's Dane Bird-Smith third in 1:19:37.
"I feel like I didn't have much of a plan about this race," Wang said. "I talked with my coach beforehand, but I just followed my heart. I picked up my pace with about three kilometres remaining, despite the fact my coach wanted me to wait until later."
Elsewhere, world's elite athletes continued to make history at other Olympic venues. In the Rio Olympic Shooting Center, the 37-year-old US veteran Kimberly Rhode won the bronze medal of the women's skeet, setting a legendary record of winning at least one medal in six consecutive Games.
"It has been a great journey," said Rhode after the competition.
"I was 16 years old when I went to the Olympics (in Atlanta 1996). I was very emotional out there, having competed for more than 20 years. Six for six, it's truly unbelievable."
Rhode is also the most decorated women Olympic shooter in the history of the sport, having won 3 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals between 1996 and 2016, in two different events (double trap and skeet).
"Hopefully I will see you back in Tokyo," added Rhode.
In tennis competition, Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez of Spain won the men's doubles title, beating Romania's Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau to secure Spain's third gold medal of the Rio Games.
Nadal and Lopez beat the Romanians 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, while American duo Steve Johnson and Jack Sock beat Canada's Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-4 to clinch bronze.
The doubles win sets up Nadal for a potential golden sweep in the men's tennis at the Games as he is still alive in the singles draw.
Nadal, who won the singles gold in Beijing and skipped the 2012 London Games due to a knee injury, will play Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in a semifinal clash on Saturday.
In the first gold medal event of athletics competitions, Ethiopian distance runner Almaz Ayana presented an awe-inspiring form to clock 29 minutes, 17.45 seconds for the women's 10,000m by breaking the former world record of 29:31.78 set by China's Wang Junxia in 1993.
In swimming, Joseph Schooling won the men's 100m butterfly to secure Singapore's first Olympic gold medal and deny Michael Phelps a 23rd gold of the American's extraordinary career.
"It doesn't matter where you are from. A lot of people believe that. Many people believe that Singapore has a lot of talent," said Schooling. "I hope this opens a new door, opens more doors for sports in our country and hopefully I set a precedent for a lot more guys to come up."
After Friday's finals, the United States keeps leading the medals table with 20 gold medals on back of their dominance in athletics and swimming. China sits second with 13 golds while two golds in rowing have lifted Britain to third place on seven golds.
