Gold medalists on Day 5 of the London Games

Italy's Daniele Molmenti carved his way to gold in the Olympic canoe slalom, kayak single final at the Lee Valley White Water Centre on Wednesday.

The former world champion tamed the rapids with a perfect paddle through the 23 gates, propelling his red kayak across the finish in a winning time of 93.43 seconds.

Vavrinec Hradilek of the Czech Republic took silver, 1.35 seconds back, with Germany's Hannes Aigner in bronze.

Chinese pair Luo Yutong and Qin Kai ensured China remained on track for a clean sweep of Olympic titles at the halfway point of the London Games diving competition, as they won the men's synchronised three-metre springboard gold on Wednesday.

Luo and Qin scored 477 points, with their series including a finely honed forward four and a half somersault, a difficult dive that earned them appreciative applause and 104.88 points, the highest mark awarded to any dive in the London pool so far.

The battle for the other medals was a close one, but after Mexico and Malaysia both fluffed a dive, Russian pair Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Zakharov took the silver with 459.63 points.

Choosing to focus on the synchronised events has paid off for the U.S. team, with Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen winning the bronze, and the team's third diving medal of the Games, with 446.70 points.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning lived up to expectations to win Britain's first gold of their home Olympics in the women's pair at Dorney Lake, coming through after several other British favorites had faltered at the games. 

With Britain's two princes, William and Harry, watching on among a jubilant crowd, Glover wept on the podium as the gold medal was placed around her neck. A grinning Stanning looked around, taking in the cheers and the size of their achievement.

"We realized people were waiting for that," Glover said. 

Britain had been growing increasingly frustrated. Big gold-medal hope Mark Cavendish flopped in the men's road race, fellow cyclist Lizzie Armitstead had had to settle for a silver in the women's equivalent and diving poster boy Tom Daley narrowly missed making the podium after a big blunder. 

Glover and Stanning, unbeaten in 2012 and rowing in Wednesday's first gold-medal event, had the weight of a nervous nation on their shoulders. 

"We were mildly aware of the expectations," Glover said. "We were kidding ourselves that it wasn't happening. But as soon as we crossed the line, we realized there was a lot of expectation on us. 

Rowing has long been one of the country's best sports at the Olympics, with Britain winning a gold medal at every summer games since 1984. Glover and Stanning ensured that run continued at London 2012. 

France's Lucie Decosse won gold in the women's -70kg category on Wednesday, the country's first Olympic judo title for 12 years.

Decosse, 30, convincingly beat German police officer Kerstin Thiele, scoring regularly throughout their final clash.

The three-times world champion and silver medallist in Beijing fell to the mat in tears as victory was confirmed.

The gold adds to the four bronzes France had already won in judo in London.

A tearful Yuri Alvear won Colombia's first Olympic judo medal, taking the bronze with victory over China's Chen Fei.

Edith Bosch of Netherlands, 32, won the other bronze, adding to her silver in Athens and bronze in Beijing.

China's Li Xiaoxia clinched the women's individual table tennis gold on Wednesday with a surprise 4-1 victory over compatriot and favourite Ding Ning.

The world number three got the better of world champion Ding with some stinging forehands and nimble footwork.

The match was played out in a tetchy atmosphere with Ding receiving a red card and a point penalty for taking her towel too early. She temporarily walked away from the table in protest at the umpire's decision.

China has now won all seven women's individual titles since table tennis was introduced to the Games in 1988.

Singapore's Feng Tianwei won the bronze medal match, beating Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa 4-0.

Bradley Wiggins hammered the field to win the Olympic time trial on Wednesday and become Britain's most decorated Olympian with seven medals.

The Tour de France champion, who already had six track cycling medals including three golds, made a cautious start on the 44-km course starting and ending at Hampton Court Palace before powering home with an average speed of over 52 kph.

World champion Tony Martin of Germany took silver, a massive 42 seconds behind, with Briton Chris Froome claiming bronze, 68 seconds off the pace.

Wiggins, the first British rider to win the Tour 10 days ago, surpassed rower Steve Redgrave's six medals in an Olympic career that started in 2000 at the Sydney Games, where he took bronze in the Madison and team pursuit.

Rim Jong Sim won North Korea's third weightlifting gold medal in the London Olympics when she clinched the women's 69-kilogram class Wednesday in a dramatic finish.

Rim lifted a total weight of 261 kilograms but was challenged until the end by Romania's Roxana Cocos, who would have moved into first placed if she hadn't failed with her final lift.

Cocos finished with silver and Maryna Shkermankova of Belarus got the bronze.

The top-ranked lifter in the weight class, Russia's Oxana Slivenko, withdrew from the Olympics due to an injury.

Rim, 19, was bronze medalist at last year's junior world championships with a 225-kilogram total. She improved on that result in London with a whooping 36 kilograms, continuing a streak of spectacular performances by North Korean lifters in London.

Her countrymen Om Yun Chol and Kim Un Guk won gold medals in the men's two lowest weight categories, while Ryang Chun Hwa won bronze for North Korea in the women's 48-kilogram class.