Team China continues strong showing

China's men's gymnastics team added to China's gold haul as they reclaimed the Olympic title they lost to Japan in Athens.

The Chinese squad, which had three world champions in the line-up, won with 286.125 points, 7.25 more than their rival Japan. The US took the bronze with 275.850 points.

China's gymnastics team won its first team Olympic gold in Sydney, but lost the title in Athens four years later. In the past two championships, though, CRI reports, the team has bounced back with terrific results, winning five gold medals in Stuttgart and a record eight in Arhus.

Team China also picked up three golds on Monday from diving and weightlifting.

Lin Yue and Huo Liang were unchallenged in the men's 10-m platform synchonized diving event while Chen Yanqing and Zhang Xiangxiang won the two golds available in weightlifting.

World records were also broken at the Water Cube during the third full day of competition.

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry set a new record in the women's 100m backstroke when she finished her semifinal heat in 58.77 seconds.

Kosuke Kitajima of Japan retained his 100m breaststroke crown with a record 58.91 seconds. Kitajima is the first Japanese swimmer to win three individual gold medals.

The US Olympic team also set a new record in the men's 4x100m freestyle when they clocked in at 3:08.24. The team's win fueled Michael Phelps' hopes of bringing home a record eight gold medals from the Beijing Olympics.

The team's victory came thanks to Jason Lezak's performance in the final. Lezak, anchor for the men's team, was almost a body length behind French leader Alain Bernard at the final turn but he surged to overtake his rival by just centimeters.

The final record came from Italy's Federica Pellegrini, who won her 200m frestyle heat in 1:55.45. The previous record stood at 1:55.52.