Nataliia Dobrynska of Ukraine claimed the gold medal of women's heptathlon of the Beijing Olympics here on Saturday, giving her country the first title in athletics.

Dobrynska emerged from the pack to rank first in shot put, 200m and long jump, led all the 43 competitors with 5,878 points before the 800m sprint event, which was the last event for the all-around event.

The 28-year-old clocked two minutes 17.72 seconds in 800m to list only 23rd but earned 855 points to accumulate her total points to 6,733 to take the title.

Her compatriot Lyudmila Blonska came second with 6700 points while Hyleas Fountain of United States third with 6619.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2008)