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As a symbol of its powerful reemergence, China's first Olympic gold medal couldn't have been any more fitting. On Saturday, just 12 hours after the blaze of fireworks that opened the Beijing Games, Chen Xiexia, a Chinese female weightlifter in the 48 kg class, captured the host nation's first gold by heaving a combined total of 212 kg, an Olympic record.

A 25-year-old who has dedicated 13 years of her life to this grueling sport, Chen thoroughly dominated the event, lifting 13 kg more than Turkish silver medalist Sibel Ozkan. A capacity crowd watched the Chinese champion's Herculean display - weightlifting may be a sporting sideshow in other countries, but in China it is prime-time viewing.

By the end of Day 1 of full competition, China had collected another gold, courtesy of Pang Wei, a male marksman in the 10-meter air pistol competition. With its pair of golds, the host country was already atop the gold-medals table, a possible harbinger of glories to come. In the next few days, China should continue dominating in the weightlifting competition, and diving is expected to bring another golden harvest. Then will likely come stellar performances in badminton and table tennis. Watch out for Team China.

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