ATHENS, Aug 29: China was celebrating on Sunday its best performance at an Olympics after sprinting home in the final few days of competition with an unexpected surge of golds across a wide range of sports.

Chen Zhong's successful defence of her over-67kg heavyweight taekwondo crown on Sunday gave China their 32nd gold of the Athens Games, four more than their previous best in Sydney.

China's total medal tally was 63 medals, with 17 silver and 14 bronze, also four more than their record in Sydney, placing the nation second only behind the United States for their highest finish at an Olympics.

China came to Athens aiming to consolidate its position from Sydney as the third most powerful Olympic nation behind the United States and Russia, but the Russians were left far behind with just 27 gold medals.

China Olympic Committee President Yuan Weimin said the 407-strong delegation had surpassed its pre-games expectations. "We have comprehensively realised our targets and accomplished our task successfully with good sportsmanship," Yuan told a press conference through an interperter.

Yuan said China's decision to send a youthful squad of athletes to the Olympics in order to groom a new crop of stars for the 2008 Beijing Games had also been vindicated.

"We have completed the transition from the old to the new generation," said Yuan, noting that seven of China's gold medallists were under 20. China had also won medals across a wider range of sports and disciplines than in Sydney, Yuan said. -AFP