China's Shi Zhiyong does a backflip as he wins gold in the men's 62 kg event in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 16, 2004. (Agencies)

China took gold in diving, swimming, weightlifting and shooting to command the medals table at the Athens Olympics on Monday, well ahead of faltering main rivals the United States and Russia.

The first gymnastics gold went to Japan, who revived memories of their glorious gymnastics past when they upstaged favourites China and the United States to snatch the men's team title for the first time in 28 years.

A consistent performance on all six apparatus helped Japan to sneak ahead of early trailblazers the United States to take the title. Defending champions China paid the price for a stumbling start on the floor exercise and trailed in fifth place.

After three days of competition at the Games, China headed the medals table with 10 golds, four silvers and a bronze.

Powered by their swimmers, Australia followed with six golds, two silvers and five bronze. Japan were third with five golds, a silver and a bronze.

The Americans and Russians, who normally expect to top the overall table, trailed the pack. The US team had three golds and the Russians just one.

The Chinese won their third diving gold medal, with Lao Lishi and Li Ting winning the women's synchronised 10-metre platform.

Hopes of a Chinese diving sweep were dashed, however, when the final effort of men's synchronised 3-metre diving pair, Peng Bo and Wang Kenan, was declared a no-dive.

Luo Xuejuan took China's first pool title, winning the women's 100 metres breaststroke final in one minute 6.64 seconds -- just outside Australian Leisel Jones's world record.

Chen Yaqing won China's first weightlifting title of the Games, in the women's 58kg. Shi Zhiyong matched her feat in the men's 62kg, and Zhu Qinan won the men's 10-metre air rifle to give China their third shooting title in as many days.

The ebullient Chen, 25, set two Olympic records -- a total of 237kg and a snatch of 107.5kg -- in beating North Korea's Ri Song-hui. Ri, the Sydney silver medallist, took silver again to bring home her reclusive country's first medal in Athens.

"We came here with the reputation of being the 'Dream Team' and in order to live up to that reputation I had to get a gold," said Chen, a student from Suzhou.

South Korea got their first gold of the Games when Lee Won-hee beat Vitaliy Makarov of Russia with ippon in the men's 73kg judo final. The veteran Lee's nickname is "Mr Ippon".

The South Koreans have set a target of 13 golds, but were disappointed when two shooters failed to qualify and their mixed badminton pair were knocked out in the quarter-finals.

After a strong start in their national martial art, Japan lost chances on Monday to add to their three judo golds when both Masahiro Takamatsu and Kie Kusakabe failed to take medals in the men's and women's competitions.

Takamatsu fell to David Kevkhishvili of Georgia in his first match in the men's 73kg, while Kusakabe lost to Spain's Isabel Fernandez in the repecharge at the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall.

China have set a target of 20 golds at Athens and are looking to consolidate a base of performance that will allow their athletes to shine at home in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

(Agencies)

medals table : （獎牌榜）

upstage: to divert attention or praise from; force out of the spotlight（搶得風頭）

trailblazer: an innovative leader in a field; a pioneer（開拓者，文中指一路領先的美國隊）

no-dive: （文中指被裁判判定跳水動作失敗）

breaststroke: a swimming stroke in which a person lies face down in the water and extends the arms in front of the head, then sweeps them both back laterally under the surface of the water while performing a frog kick（蛙泳）

ebullient: zestfully enthusiastic（沸騰的, 熱情的）

snatch: to raise (a weight) in one quick, uninterrupted motion from the floor to a position over the lifter's head（抓舉）