Olympics | Day 12: Chinese weightlifters retain Olympic golds, artistic swimming team make history

Li Fabin of China competes during the men's 61kg weightlifting at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)

China claimed the first two weightlifting golds of Paris 2024 and seized its first ever Olympic gold in artistic swimming on August 7, day 12 of these Olympics.

PARIS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese weightlifters Li Fabin and Hou Zhihui, both reigning Olympic champions, retained their titles at Paris 2024, while China also clinched its first ever gold in artistic swimming on Wednesday.

After Day 12, the United States top the medal tally with 27 golds, while China remain in second place with 25.

31-year-old Li set an Olympic record of 143kg in the snatch and lifted 167kg in the clean and jerk, totaling 310kg to defend his Olympic title in the men's 61kg weightlifting division in the first weightlifting event of these Olympics.

"I would rate my performance 9 out of 10, the only downside is that my clean and jerk result was not very good," said Li, acknowledging the challenges of achieving perfection at the Olympic Games.

"I had thought about retiring, but the enthusiasm of the crowd today made me hesitant to step away. Even though I'm getting older, I will probably keep pushing forward," he added.

Hou Zhihui of China celebrates after winning the women's 49kg weightlifting at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)

China retained another weightlifting gold medal hours later when Hou Zhihui triumphed in the women's 49kg category. The 27-year-old defending champion lifted 89kg in the snatch and set an Olympic clean and jerk record at 117kg for a total of 206kg, narrowly edging out silver medalist Mihaela Cambei of Romania by 1kg.

In a historic moment for China, the nation secured its first ever Olympic gold medal in artistic swimming. Leading from the first two routines in the team event, China dominated the acrobatic routine with 283.6934 points, ending up with a total of 996.1389 points to win gold.

Team China compete during the team acrobatic routine of artistic swimming at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Xia Yifang)

"It is a great honor that we took Olympic glory for the first time. It was a great honor to make history for our country," said China's head coach Zhang Xiaohuan. "Our girls did a much better job during the three team routines. We were extremely excited to show our best to the world."

Breakthrough moments also unfolded on the athletics track. Nina Kennedy won Australia's first ever Olympic gold medal in women's pole vault, as the 27-year-old became the only vaulter to clear 4.90m after defending champion Katie Moon failed her attempts at 4.95m. The American took silver on countback at 4.85m with Canada's Alysha Newman settling for a bronze.

Jamaica's Roje Stona produced a shock win in men's discus with a throw of 70.00m, breaking world record holder Mykolas Alekna's briefly held Olympic record of 69.97m with his second throw. Team USA's Quincy Hall posted a time of 43.40 seconds to claim the men's 400m title, while Wednesday's last final at the Stade de France saw defending champion Soufiane Bakkali of Morocco retain his Olympic gold in the men's 3,000m steeplechase.

Alvaro Martin (R) and Maria Perez of Spain celebrate after the mixed marathon race walk relay at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

In the debut of the mixed marathon race walk relay, Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez claimed Spain's first athletics gold medal in Paris by winning the event in two hours, 50.31 minutes, ahead of Ecuador's Brian Pintado and Glenda Morejon, who took silver in 2:51:22.

Aleksandra Miroslaw of Poland bested China's Deng Lijuan in the big final to win sport climbing women's speed gold in this event's Olympic debut, bringing the first gold to her country at the Games.

The two-time world champion, fresh from setting a new world record of 6.06 seconds on Monday, clocked 6.10 to beat Zhou's personal best of 6.18.

Deng's silver is the first Olympic sport climbing medal for China, but she didn't appear to be overwhelmed by the occasion. "I think I haven't realized yet what I have achieved. I am a bit at loss at the moment," said the 24-year-old.

Deng edged reigning world champion Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi of Indonesia by a slim 0.006 seconds in the quarterfinals in the closest duel of the day, and had a solid performance to prevail in the semifinal clash against another Indonesian, Rajiah Sallsabillah.

Guo Qing (R) of China reacts during the women's 49kg final of taekwondo against Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 7, 2024. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

The first taekwondo gold medal of the Games went to Thailand's Panipak Wongpattanakit, as the defending champion in the women's 49kg category beat China's Guo Qing in the final for a 2-1 win.

China successfully advanced into the final of women's hockey after edging world No. 3 Belgium 3-2 in a shootout. This marks the second time China has reached the Olympic women's hockey final since Beijing 2008. China will face the Netherlands in Friday's final.

Highlights of Thursday's competitions will include Noah Lyles chasing the men's 200m gold, the men's 110m hurdles final, and China's continued quest for gold in weightlifting and diving. The star-studded men's basketball semifinals are also highly anticipated.