French wrestler Steeve Guenot won the first gold medal for his nation at the Beijing Olympic Games on Wednesday.

Guenot defeated Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan in the men's 66kg Greco-Roman wrestling to stand atop the podium.

France sends a strong Olympic team to Beijing but their medal board lacked the color of gold before Guenot's feat, with only seven silvers and two bronzes during most time of the fifth Olympic day.

After the comfortable victory, ecstatic Guenot jumped onto a spectators' stand to take a national flag and then unfurled it while running through the competition venue.

Armen Vardanyan of Ukrain and Mikhail Siamionau of Belarus shared the bronze medal.

China's favorite Li Yanyan, world champion in 2006, was ranked 10th. He lost to his Kazak opponent Wednesday morning in the quarterfinals.

France's biggest hope for gold was foiled by China Tuesday night when its sabre fencer Nicolas Lopez was surprisingly defeated by Chinese Zhong Man.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)