Chinese table tennis player Zhang Yining wins the gold for the women's table tennis single at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 22, 2004. This is the 100th gold medal China has ever won in the history of the summer Olympic games.

After winning the historic 100th gold medal for China at the summer Olympic Games here Sunday, Chinese star paddler and newly-crowned Olympic women's singles champion Zhang Yining said that her gold was not so special as no Olympic gold could be won easily.

"I just heard about the news (about my winning the 100th gold) after the final. Of course I think it's something of great significance," said Zhang at a press conference for medal winners after the medal awarding ceremony.

"However, no matter it is the first Olympic gold (for China) or the 100th, I think each gold was hard-won and therefore should be cherished," the 21-year-old girl added modestly.

In the women's singles final played in the Galatsi Olympic Hall Sunday afternoon, Zhang outclassed DPR Korean Kim Hyang Mi in four straight sets to win her second gold medal at this Games.

Zhang, along with her partner, Sydney Olympics double champion Wang Nan, won the women's doubles gold Friday. The Sunday victory made her the third Chinese female paddler to win two golds at one Olympic Games, after Deng Yaping and Wang Nan.

Zhang's singles gold was the 20th for the Chinese Olympic delegation at the Athens Games, as well as the 100th for China at the summer Olympics in just 20 years. China won its first Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984 and had clinched 80 golds from the summer Olympic Games before Athens.

"Winning an Olympic gold is something really really hard, and it costs an athlete so much both physically and mentally to become an Olympic champion. You must stand all kinds of setbacks and frustrations to go this far," said Zhang.

Chinese table tennis player Zhang Yining waves to the audience after winning the gold for the women's table tennis single at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games August 22, 2004.

Gaining an early fame at the age of 17, Zhang had had a real hard time in the past four to five years as she repeatedly lost to her teammate Wang Nan and had to be contented with the silvers at major domestic and international tournaments.

"It was lucky that I won the Olympic golds here. It is just like penetrating a thin paper on the window, and all of a sudden you see the light again," said Zhang in a calm voice.

Zhang went on to express her heartfelt gratitude for her coach Li Sun, who had coached her since she was still a teenage girl.

"He has stayed along my side for nearly a decade, in good times and bad times. He played a decisive role in my table tennis career, and I really don't know how to pay him back for what he has done for me," said Zhang.

"I would like to dedicate the gold I won today to him," she added.