China is back on track in its hunt for Olympic gold on the fifth day of the Athens Games with weightlifter Zhang Guozheng breaking a 40-hour gold medal drought.

Chinese athletes also collected medals in swimming, shooting and judo during the day. But China's badminton and table tennis players - traditionally strong Chinese sports - have suffered major setbacks.

CRI correspondent Yang Binyuan files the report from Athens.

China took its third gold medal in weightlifting when 29-year-old Zhang Guozheng won the men's 69kg class on Wednesday night, more than 40 hours after China claimed its last gold medal at the Games.

World champion for the past two years, Zhang Guozheng left the stage in agony after injuring his back on his way to collecting his gold medal. He says he won the competition through determination and endurance.

Zhang Guozheng says he did feel some pain in his back during the competition but he could not give up, adding that to reach the summit of sport, an athlete must experience some injury or pain.

Turning to the pool, in the women's 200m freestyle relay, China finished second after the United States, who broke the world record in taking Olympic gold.

The silver medal is a nice surprise for the Chinese women, according to Xu Yanwei, who swam the second leg.

Xu Yanwei says they did not expect to swim in a time of seven minutes 55.9 seconds before the race, which set a new Asian record. Everybody just wanted to perform to her utmost without worrying too much about rankings.

Half way through the Olympic shooting competition, China added a bronze medal on Wednesday when 41-year-old Gao E finished third in the women's double trap.

The four-time Olympian, the oldest female athlete on the Chinese team, had a disastrous opening in her favorite trap event two days ago. She's obviously not satisfied with a bronze finish after beating her teammate Li Qingnian in a shoot-out.

Gao E says she feels disappointed about her Olympic performance. She was in good form this year and technically prepared for the Games, however, the results of both events were unexpected to her.

However, Kimberly Rhode of the United States, who claimed victory and bagged her second Olympic gold in the event, comforted Gao E.

"I think she did awesome. I mean anybody who wins the medal is phenomenal. It's anybody's day at that level. You know everybody is good. It's just an honor. I'm so glad that she won. "

Also on Wednesday, China's Qin Dongya took a bronze medal in the women's middleweight Olympic judo competition.
Earlier in the day, China qualified for their first ever semi-finals in Olympic women's field hockey.

The Chinese, whose previous best was fifth place at the Sydney Games four years ago, outclassed Spain 3-0 for their third consecutive win in group.

On the down side, China's badminton hopes went up in smoke when Chinese second seed Chen Hong was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the men's singles competition.

Chen's exit left China without a player in the tournament despite being tipped for a clean sweep of medals in the event it has dominated in recent years.

Head coach of the Chinese badminton team Li Yongbo admits that there is a strong field in men's singles competition.

Li Yongbo says though Chinese players have lost in Athens, they've tried their best. So he won't blame them. But he feels sorry that Chinese players didn't advance any further.

In the women's singles, Dutch fourth seed Mia Audina, a silver medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Games when she represented Indonesia, defeated Chinese top seed Gong Ruina 11-4, 11-2 in a surprisingly one-sided semi-final.

The 24-year-old now meets Chinese second seed Zhang Ning in Thursday's final after the reigning world champion beat compatriot Zhou Mi.

Unexpected losses also came in table tennis. Jan-Ove Waldner, gold medallist at Barcelona in 1992, showed he still has the winning touch by defeating China's Ma Lin in the fourth round of the men's singles.

Earlier in the day, the 39-year-old Swedish veteran and his old teammate Jorgen Persson also knocked out second seeds Kong Linghui and Wang Hao in the men's doubles in the biggest upset of the tournament.

Head coach of the Chinese men's team, Liu Guoliang, who played against Waldner in the last two Olympics, is impressed with the Swede's performance.

Liu Guoliang says Waldner is a genius for dominating in the sport for such a long time. It's not easy for him to maintain good form at such an age. With his performance today, Liu Guoliang thinks he could smile to the last.

After day five of the Athens Games, China is still leading in the medals table, with a haul of eleven gold, seven silver and four bronze medals.

(Photo source: sina.com)