Going by the way the day started, Chinese spectators had hardly expected it to finish with the flourish that it finally did yesterday.

Enormous home-crowd pressure took its toll on Chinese athletes on the opening day of the Games competition.

Du Li, defending women's 10-m air rifle champion, wilted under pressure in her bid to win the Games' first gold, while Tan Xue, world women's saber champion, lost in the quarterfinals in a huge let-down for fencing enthusiasts.