That was before Xiang in the 110m hurdles, before Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun paddled their canoe to victory in the 500m, before gold went to Xing Huina in the 10, 000m, before gold to the ladies volleyball team and before Tang Li and Tian Tian Sun won the doubles tennis.

CNN: China takes the Olympic limelight

Relations between Mr Li and Netcom have deteriorated since Edward Tian, Netcom's chief executive and the architect of the collaboration, left earlier this year.

ECONOMIST: Telecoms