Beijing - Host nation China took its first gold medals of the 2008 Olympics on Saturday, winning in weightlifting and sharing shooting honours with the Czech Republic.

Chen Xiexia lived up to her top billing in the women's 48 kilos weightlifting competition to the delight of 6,000 fans in the packed Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gymnasium.

The 2007 world champion lifted 87kg in the snatch and 117kg in the clean and jerk for an Olympic record of 212kg, beating Sibel Ozkan of Turkey into second place. Bronze went to Taiwan's Chen Wei-Ling.

"I have been thinking about winning a medal but I never thought it would turn out to be the first gold medal for China. I am very happy and I did a good job," said Chen.

Chen's gold put China on a path it hopes will lead to a record haul at its home Games, with a 600-plus team that might even beat the US for first place in the final medals standings.

Her victory compensated for an earlier disappointment for China in the women's 10 metres air rifle shooting, where the 2004 gold medallist Du Li had to settle for fifth place.

Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic won the event to capture the first gold of the Games, with Lioubov Galkina taking silver for Russia and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia grabbing the bronze.

"Now I have achieved the very best, everything that I could get. Especially since it's my first gold at the Olympics it feels amazing," said Emmons, who received the gold medal from Olympic supremo Jacques Rogge, who was one of the spectators.

Emmons, 24, equalled the world record 400 rings in the qualifying round and never looked back in the 10-round final, adding 103.5 for a total 503.5 rings.

In the men's 10 metres air pistol, China's Pang Wei put in a commanding performance to give his country it's second Olympic gold. Silver went to Jin Jong Oh from South Korea, with North Korea's Kim Jong Su taking bronze.

There was an incident at the equestrian event in Hong Kong when two local Tibetan activists were ejected by security officials soon after the start of the competition for unfurling a Tibetan flag.

One of them was a woman. "She was sort of disturbing other spectators around her, which is against the house rules," said equestrian event spokesman Mark Pinkstone.

In Beijing, five foreigners were detained after they wrapped themselves in Tibetan flags and lay down in Tiananmen Square a mock "die-in" to protest Chinese polices in Tibet.

Greek Olympics sprinter Tassos Gousis was expected to head for home after failing a drugs test conducted by the Greek anti-doping agency ESKAN while the team was training in Japan.

The 29-year-old, who had been scheduled to compete in the men's 200 metres, was found to have used methyltrienlone, the substance which led to the banning of 11 Greek weightlifters earlier this year.

Competition began hours after the spectacular opening ceremony which portrayed 5,000 years of ancient Chinese culture with the help of modern digital technology.

State media reported that Chinese meteorologists fired more than 1,000 rain-dispersal rockets into clouds to prevent downpours from spoiling the spectacle at the Bird's Nest stadium in the capital.

The operation to fire shells filled with silver iodide crystals was the largest ever mounted in China and succeeded in dropping the rain onto other areas of Beijing and nearby Hebei province. (dpa)