China leads with national-best 39 gold medals

After winning one gold medal and six total medals on Saturday and then seven golds and 14 total medals on Sunday, China is making a serious run at coming out of the Beijing games with the most gold and most medals overall. As of 11:00 pm Beijing time on Monday, China leads the Olympic gold quest with 39 gold medals, 17 more than Team USA's 22. In terms of overall medals, China trails the USA by five, with the Americans taking 72 compared to China's 67. China won four more gold medals Monday, plus a silver and a bronze, but all the talk was about the medal that China was hoping to win more than any other — the men's 110 meter hurdles. As reported here and across global media, Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang has withdrawn from the event in which he won gold during the Athens games four years ago. China has already far surpassed its 32-gold, 63-overall medal tally in 2004. In 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, China had 28 golds and 59 medals overall. China is seeking to become the first nation other than the United States or former Soviet Union to top the gold medal standings since Germany in 1936. In 1984, the U.S. (aided by the Soviet led boycott) won 83 golds and 174 overall in Los Angeles. The U.S. won 242 medals overall in 1904 in St. Louis.