Liu Zige led a 1-2 Chinese finish in the women's 200m butterfly final and broke the world record in the process, shooter Du Li shrugged off defeat in the opening event of the Games to strike gold in women's rifle three positions and gymnast Yang Wei grabbed the coveted men's gymnastics individual all-round title.

Those victories combined with success in judo and archery lifted China's medal tally to 35, including 22 golds. The United States follows with 10 golds. South Korea, Italy and Germany are in joint third place with six golds.

It was a sweet day for Mongolia, too. Naidan Tuvshinbayar defeated Askhat Zhikeyev of Kazakhstan in the final of the men's judo 100kg class to snatch Mongolia's first ever Olympic gold medal.

Outside sports action, the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee (BOCOG) said two people were killed and four others, including two Olympians, injured when a bus from the athletes' village collided with a cargo van Wednesday on the way to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

BOCOG spokesman Wang Wei told a press conference that the two slightly injured passengers on the bus were Croatian athletes.

"All six injured were rushed to the hospital but two succumbed to injury later," said Wang.

In front of thousands of home crowd at the Water Cube, Liu clocked two minutes 04.18 seconds to chop over a second off the previous mark set by Australian Jessicah Schipper in 2006. Her compatriot Jiao Liuyang came second in 2:04.72, and Schipper was third in 2:06.26.

"I didn't expect that I could swim so fast, and I was so surprised to win the gold in a world record time," said Liu.

It's the host nation's first swimming gold of the Games and only its third since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where it grabbed four.

The 26-year-old Du shot an Olympic record 690.3 points to win the women's 50m rifle three positions, five days after she finished a distant fifth in the women's 10m air rifle and failed to grab the first gold of the Games.

"What was most difficult was not the past four years but the last four days, which felt longer than four years," said a relieved Du. "It was so hard since I lost my first event but I held on."

It was exactly four years ago on August 14 that Du claimed her first Olympic title in the 10m air rifle in Athens.

"I think this date brings me good luck," she said.

In gymnastics, Yang, a two-time world champion, maintained China's gold rush with a convincing victory in the coveted individual all-around event. It is China's first Olympic gold in men's all round gymnastics since Li Xiaoshuang's triumph in 1996 Atlanta Games.

To the spectators' deafening cheers and applause, the 28-year-old amassed a total of 94.575 points, nearly three points ahead of runner-up Kohei Ushimura of Japan. France's Benoit Caranobe bronze on 91.925 points.

"I didn't fall asleep until midnight. Now, I'm tired but also excited," said Yang. "I want to thank my coach and the support from the spectators for also giving me strength."

Chinese archer Zhang Juanjuan took away South Korean women's family heirloom as she edged defending champion Park Sung-hyun to win the women's individual title.

Zhang brought down one of the greatest dynasties built by South Korean female archers who had won every Olympic gold since the 1984 Games as the 27-year-old eliminated all three South Koreans on her way to the remarkable victory.

"I have won honor for all archers in China and I believe the future will be brighter," said Zhang. "I dreamed I could win a gold medal every day. I was well prepared. It was a hard journey but finally I made it."

Judoka Yang Xiuli capped the golden day for China when she defeated Cuba's Yalennis Castillo in overtime in the women's 78kg final.

On a day which didn't see Michael Phelps gunning for a medal, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima took center stage in the pool when he won the men's 200m breaststroke final to repeat the double breaststroke gold he claimed in Athens four years ago.

The 25-year-old Kitajima, who won the 100m breaststroke on Monday in world-record time, cruised to victory in the 200m in an Olympic record 2:07.64, just outside the world record of 2:07.51 he set in Tokyo in June.

He is the first man to sweep the breaststroke gold medals at two straight Olympics.

"I was not thinking about winning two gold medals at two consecutive Olympics," he said. "That was never my goal. I was just focused on doing my best in Beijing."

Also in swimming, France's Alain Bernard took gold in the men's 100m freestyle in 47.21, just 0.11 seconds ahead of Eamon Sullivan of Australia. Both men had set world records in the semifinals.

The Americans' perfect record in the women's 800-meter relay ended when Australia took the gold medal in a world-record 7:44.31. The U.S., which has won every gold medal since the event was introduced in 1996, finished third behind China. The U.S. also held the previous record of 7:50.09 set at last year's world championships.

Phelps, who is seeking to break Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in one Games, set in 1972, has won five gold medals at the Games and 11 overall.

Chiara Cainero won the women's skeet and Andrea Minguzzi secured the Greco-Roman wrestling 84-kilogram to lift Italy to six gold medals.

In fencing, Ukraine overcame a 10-point deficit to beat China 45-44 in the women's saber team final.

In other Greco-Roman wrestling action, Aslanbek Khushtov captured Russia's third gold in the sport, also its third of the games, with a lop-sided win in the men's 96kg class, and world champion Mijain Lopez of Cuba won the men's 120kg class.

In basketball, the Chinese men's team finally embraced their first win of the tournament when NBA star Yao Ming scored 30 points to lead them past Angola 85-68. Pau Gasol scored 13 in Spain's 72-59 victory over Dirk Nowitzki-led Germany.

In badminton, second-seeded Lee Chong Wei kept Malaysia's best hope for an Olympic gold medal alive with a straight-sets win over Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in men's singles quarterfinals, but local favorite Bao Chunlai was knocked out after going down 2-0 to South Korea's Lee Hyun-il.

In Hong Kong, Germany walked away with the team dressage crown with the Netherlands and Denmark coming second and third respectively.