LONDON, July 30: French swimmer Yannick Agnel floored the field on Monday in the big race of the day at the Olympics, the men’s 200 metre freestyle, comfortably eclipsing a stellar lineup including American Ryan Lochte and Sun Yang of China.

The surprisingly comfortable victory took to three the overall number of French golds in the pool, on a day when Swiss football player Michel Morganella was expelled for an abusive message on Twitter while China scored a win in artistic gymnastics to take their total to nine.

Lochte, Sun and Agnel had all been chasing a second London gold in one of the most eagerly anticipated races of the Games.

Lochte won gold in the 400 individual medley, trouncing his compatriot Michael Phelps, Sun triumphed in the 400 freestyle and Agnel beat Lochte to clinch a shock gold for France with a devastating surge on the last length of Sunday’s 4x100 relay.

Monday’s race also included world record holder Paul Biedermann of Germany and South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan, a line-up that could decide bragging rights over who is the best male swimmer at the Games.

In the women’s 100m backstroke, Missy Franklin of the United States won gold and compatriot Matt Grevers triumphed in the men’s 100 backstroke while Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte won the in women’s 100 breaststroke.

China’s men’s gymnasts had endured a disastrous qualifying round but swept back to form to win the all-round team event and retain the gold medal won in Beijing four years ago.

But the biggest cheers were reserved for Britain’s gymnasts, who finished with a bronze — the hosts’ first medal of any colour in the team event since the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

Britain had initially finished in the silver medal position before being relegated into bronze as Japan moved up to second after an appeal, with Ukraine dropping out of the medals altogether.

Elsewhere, Wimbledon champions Serena Williams and Roger Federer each won their second-round matches in the Olympic tennis tournament at the All England Tennis Club, site of their Grand Slam title more than three weeks ago.

Williams beat Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-2, 6-3, while Federer had a similarly easy time defeating Julien Benneteau of France 6-2, 6-2.

American Andy Roddick beat Martin Klizan of Slovakia 7-5, 6-4 in a first-round match delayed by Sunday’s rain while women’s top seed Victoria Azarenka moved into the second round with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 win over Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.

Meanwhile, under-fire London Olympic organisers (LOCOG) continued to face criticism over the banks of empty seats which have been seen across various venues since the Games got under way on Saturday.

Some 3,000 tickets from international sports federations were “put back in the pot” and sold to the public Sunday, LOCOG said amid growing public anger over empty seats.

Organisers have blamed the unfilled seats on accredited officials and members of the media who have failed to take up their reserved places.

Jackie Brock-Doyle, LOCOG’s director of communications, said they had been able to get back 3,000 seats and re-sell them — and will repeat the move each day to make sure as many seats as possible are filled.

Ticketing confusion also led to the opposite problem — overcrowding — in at least one instance on Monday.

Dozens of angry ticket-holders trying to get into the men’s 10m air rifle competition at Royal Artillery Barracks were turned away because the venue was too full.

The weather on Monday was cool and clear with only a 20 percent chance of rain — happy odds for Britons who have suffered one of their worst summers in years, including the wettest June in a century.

Less positive was news that Switzerland’s Morganella was thrown out of the Olympics for sending an offensive message on Twitter after his team’s defeat by South Korea.

“Michel Morganella has discriminated against, insulted and violated the dignity of the South Korean football team, as well as the South Korean people,” said Switzerland Olympic team chef de mission Gian Gilli.

It follows the withdrawal last week of Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou for another tweet deemed racist.

Chinese teenager Ye Shiwen was forced to defend herself against doping suspicions aired in the media following her world record-breakinggold medal in the 400m medley at the weekend, where she outpaced the rest of the field by nearly two seconds.

Arne Ljungqvist, International Olympic Committee medical chief, was asked by reporters whether her eye-popping swim had raised suspicions of doping.

“I say no,” he replied. “Should a sudden raise in performance or a win be primarily suspect of being a cheat then sport is in danger because this ruins the charm of sport,” said Ljungqvist, who has 40 years experience in anti-doping.—Agencies

Medals table (At 1245am PST on Tuesday)

Country    G    S    B    TChina    9    5    2    16United States    5    7    5    17France    3    1    3    7North Korea    3    0    1    4Italy    2    4    2    8South Korea    2    2    2    6Russia    2    0    3    5Kazakhstan    2    0    0    2Japan    1    4    6    11Australia    1    2    1    4Romania    1    2    0    3Brazil    1    1    1    3Hungary    1    1    1    3Netherlands    1    1    0    2Georgia    1    0    0    1South Africa    1    0    0    1Lithuania    1    0    0    1Colombia    0    2    0    2Great Britain    0    1    2    3Cuba    0    1    0    1Mexico    0    1    0    1Poland    0    1    0    1Thailand    0    1    0    1Chinese Taipei    0    1    0    1Ukraine    0    0    2    2Canada    0    0    1    1Azerbaijan    0    0    1    1Belgium    0    0    1    1Indonesia    0    0    1    1India    0    0    1    1Serbia    0    0    1    1Slovakia    0    0    1    1Mongolia    0    0    1    1Uzbekistan    0    0    1    1Norway    0    0    1    1Moldova    0    0    1    1