Chinese women gymnasts claim first Olympic team crown

The Chinese women gymnasts won their first ever Olympic team gold in Wednesday's final of the Beijing Olympic Games, making a historic breakthrough expected by China for decades.

With deafening hail and applause, Cheng Fei finished her routine in the last event of floor exercise and scored 15.450 points, bringing the gold to the host country which accumulated a winning total of 188.900 points.

The silver went to the United States which collected 186.525 points. Romania took the bronze with 181.525 points.

As sports analysts put it before the tournament, both China and the United States launched their rush to the gold when the competition kicked off at 10:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in the National Indoor Stadium.

The United States dethroned the Chinese team in the World Championships last year and had been expecting their first Olympic team title in a foreign country.

The girls from the two countries were all dealt a blow in balance beam, their third event of the final. Leading Chinese athlete Cheng fell from the beam when she was the first to compete. Alicia Sacramone also dropped off the apparatus from the very beginning of her routine.

Cheng's teammate Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan went through the harsh psychological test and gave the Chinese team a leading position of one point.

With the tremendous support of home fans, the Chinese team put an end to the duel in the floor exercise with three next-to-perfect routines, extending the lead to 2.375.

The U.S. girls failed to achieve their rush to the historic gold at the last moment. As the first one to represent her country in floor exercise, Sacramone rolled backward and landed on her bottom after a series of somersaults at the very beginning of her routine. The girl almost burst into tears after her competition.

Nastia Liukin and U.S. all-around star Shawn Johnson also made mistakes in landing in the floor exercise which is their speciality.

在１３日进行的北京奥运会体操女子团体比赛中，中国队以１８８．９００分击败世界冠军美国队，获得中国体操史上第一个女团奥运金牌，创造历史。

由于在平衡木和自由操两个项目上连续出现重大失误，美国队以１８６．５２５分获得银牌。卫冕冠军罗马尼亚以１８１．５２５分获得铜牌。

在这场赛前预期的中美之争中，一贯善于发挥的美国队失去了气势，除了老将萨克拉莫两次掉落器械，“全能女王”约翰逊也在自由操比赛中出界。而中国队虽然老将程菲在平衡木上掉木，但其余五名首次参加奥运会的小队员们表现出了良好的心理素质。中国队最终以高难度和高质量毫无争议地赢得了比赛。