When it comes to table tennis, Chinese accept nothing less but winning.

Gold medallist Ryu Seung-min (C) from South Korea, silver medallist Chinese Wang Hao (L) and bronze medallist Wang Liqin during the awarding ceremony for the men's table tennis single final at the Athens Olympic Games in Greece, Aug. 23, 2004.

But this time in Athens, they have to accept the bitter fact that South Korean Ryu Seung Min was a better player in the pulsating men's singles final against Chinese Wang Hao.

The 22-year-old played aggressively throughout the game to subdue Wang 4-2 (11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 13-11, 11-9), winning South Korea's only second gold in the event since Yoo Nam Kyu triumphed in the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

Ryu's stunner win broke many Chinese hearts.

Chinese see table tennis as their backyard since their players had a golden sweep in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and had already won three events in men's doubles, and women's singles and doubles in Athens.

"I can't believe this. The South Korean guy had never beaten Wang Hao before this match and how could we lose this gold medal," lamented Luo Jian, a self-employed Chinese businessman who flew to Athens only to watch Olympic table tennis games.

Luo, a self-claimed good table tennis player, questioned the decision of Chinese coaches on sending Wang Hao, instead of defending champion Kong Linghui, to the Olympic singles competition.

"If experienced Kong Linghui played this final, we might have made it four out of four," he said.

Kong edged legendary Swede Jan-Ove Waldner 3-2 to complete China's clean sweep four years ago.

"Ryu played a superb match today and he got Wang from the very beginning," said Chinese coach Liu Guoliang.

"Wang appeared a bit tight and slow," Liu added. "I think this was because he was under great pressure."

Wang Liqin, a losing semifinalist to Wang Hao, beat Waldner 4-1 for the bronze medal.

While China fell short of a table tennis wrap, nobody was able to prevent the Americans from sweeping men's 400m medals.

Jeremy Wariner led a powerful 1-2-3 finish by Americans in the men's 400m final, storming home in 44:00 seconds.

Otis Harris took the silver in 44.16 and Derrick Brew won the bronze in 44.42.

"It was a very exciting race for me. Finishing 1-2-3 is really amazing. I can't describe it," said a jubilant Wariner.

The United States has dominated the event since 1984, winning 13 of the 18 medals in the last six Olympics. Americans also swept at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Wariner has been dubbed the successor to Michael Johnson, who ruled the 400m for more than a decade and won gold medals in the 1996 and 2000 games. Wariner even has Johnson's old coach, Clyde Hart.

Kelly Holmes of Britain took the women's 800m crown in 1:56.38, beating Hasna Benhassi of Morocco and Slovenia's Jolanda Ceplak.

Virtually unknown Athanasia Tsoumeleka won Greece's first athletics gold with an upset victory in the women's 20km walk.

Tsoumeleka emerged from the pack to beat 2001 world champion Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia over the final kilometer, clocking a personal best of 1:29:12.

Ivanova finished four seconds back in second place with Australian Jane Saville taking the bronze. Saville was disqualified at the 2000 Games while the gold was only a few hundred meters away.

Chinese Wang Liping, a lucky winner in Sydney, finished eighth on a windy, hot morning.

World indoor champion Meseret Defar of Ethiopia won the women's 5,000m in 14:45.65. Her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba finished third after Kenyan Isabella Ochichi, who took the silver.

Cameroon's Francoise Mbango leapt to the women's triple jump title with 15.30m and Hungary's Robert Fazekas won the men's discus throw with 70.93m.

In an off-key event in athletics, Irina Korzhanenko of Russia lost her shot put gold medal Monday and was expelled from the Athens Games for doping, ruining her historic victory at Ancient Olympia.

A real historic victory was achieved by Romanian gymnast Catalina Ponor, who added the women's beam and floor exercise golds to the team championship won last Tuesday.

Italian Igor Cassina displayed a stunning acrobatic routine to win the men's horizontal bar on 9.812 points.

American Paul Hamm came second with Japanese Isao Yoneda third.

Russian veteran Alexei Nemov, who pulled off a nearly perfect routine, scored 9.762 points for the fifth place.

A panel of referees previously gave a 9.725 to Nemov, enraging a packed crowd in the gymnasium who booed and shouted in disgust.

The referees changed the score to 9.762 but couldn't satisfy the spectators who kept protesting loudly until Cassina came out to silence the crowd with a stunning performance.

A deeply moved Nemov had bowed to his supporters and asked for quietness as Hamm waited for his turn.

Spain's Gervasio Deferr successfully defended the men's vault crown and Ukraine's Valeri Goncharov walked away with the parallel bars gold.

In weightlifting, Milen Dobrev of Bulgaria won the men's 94kg class with a total of 407.5kg. Khadjimourad Akkaev and Eduard Tjukin, both from Russia, finished second and third respectively.

Crystl Bustos hit two home runs as the United States stormed to their third straight Olympic softball gold, routing Australia 5-1 in the final.

Australia struck gold in the men's team pursuit cycling by clocking 3:58.233.

The women's wrestling competition opened with Japan grabbing two golds, from Saori Yoshida in the 55kg division and Kaori Icho in 63kg.

Chinese wrestler Wang Xue won an surprise gold in the 72kg and Ukraine's Irini Merleni took the 48kg title.