LONDON: Gymnast Zou Kai etched his name into Chinese Olympic folklore by winning his fifth gold medal on Sunday, and then insisted that he was still hungry for more.
The 24-year-old's successful defence of his men's floor title means he has now won more gold medals than any other Chinese gymnast.
He celebrated by unveiling a banner proclaiming the achievement, which he later revealed had been written by Li Ning, who won three gold medals, two silvers, and one bronze for China at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Having won three golds in Beijing four years ago, Zou can take his tally to six if he prevails in the horizontal bar final on Tuesday.
He claimed his first gold of the London Games in the team final and doubled up on Sunday when he secured victory in the floor final ahead of Japan's individual champion Kohei Uchimura and Russia's Denis Ablyazin.
Taking to the mat moments after Uchimura had set the pace with a confident routine, Zou kicked off with a solid double-twisting lay-out double back somersault and stuck practically every landing in his display.
He predicted that Sunday's success at the North Greenwich Arena would give him "more confidence to win another one", and also said that he had a more profound appreciation of his success than in Beijing.
"I was really young and inexperienced in 2008," he revealed.
"I was just a kid who focused on the competition. I'm different now and wanted to be on top of the podium."
Zou, who started gymnastics at the age of four, has been supported in London by his parents and he said that their backing had been an important source of encouragement.
"We talk, and they don't put much pressure on me," he said.
"They just want to see me happy and healthy. If I'm happy, then they're happy too."
Uchimura scored 15.800 points to Zou's 15.933 in the climax of the floor competition, but he will be unable to compete for honours in the final of the high bar after falling from the apparatus during qualifying.
Having already added the Olympic individual all-around title to his three world individual crowns, Uchimura was bidding to claim his second gold medal of the London Games.
His runner-up finish means that he will instead leave London with one gold medal and two silvers, after Japan finished behind China in the men's team final, but he expressed satisfaction with his performance.
"Although I was not able to get gold today, I think I did really well, so I am satisfied. I really must admit that Zou Kai did very well," he said.
"I can't say I'm satisfied, ending up with just one gold, but it was very hard to get that one Olympic gold medal. There's something about the Olympics that is hard to predict."
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