China's Cheng Fei, Yang Yilin, Li Shanshan, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Deng Linlin(L to R) celebrate their victory during the awarding ceremony for gymnastics artistic women's team final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. The Chinese team claimed the title of the event with a score of 188.900. (Xinhua/Ren Long)
BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese women gymnasts won their first ever Olympic team gold medal in Wednesday's final of the Beijing Olympic Games, making a historic breakthrough expected by China for decades.
Chinese claimed their first world women's team title in the 2006 World Championships in Arhus, Denmark. The Olympic team title on Wednesday was unprecedented since the Chinese team was set up more than 50 years ago.
With deafening cheers and applause, leading Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei finished her routine in the last event of floor exercise in 15.450 points, nailing the gold for the hosts who totaled 188.900.
The silver went to the United States which collected 186.525 points. Defending Olympic champion Romania took the bronze with 181.525 points.
"Claiming the gold in Beijing is very exciting. China is the strongest team in the world," said Lu Shanzhen, head coach of the Chinese women's team.
The U.S. team, who dethroned the Chinese contingent in the World Championships last year, had been tipped to repeat the glory in Beijing.
"The performance of the Chinese team is remarkable. Today's China's day. After we made two mistakes, it was really hard for us to catch up," said U.S. head coach Qiao Liang.
The competition kicked off at 10:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) in the National Indoor Stadium.
China's Cheng fell from the beam when she was the first to compete, inviting a chorus of sighs from spectators.
Cheng's teammate Deng Linlin and Li Shanshan went through the tough psychological test and enabled the Chinese team to surpass the United States by one point before the fourth rotation. Their routines' difficulty in the beam was higher than the U.S. members, giving them an advantage to claim the gold.
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.
In a sharp contrast, the United States failed to pulled the last efforts. As the first one to represent the United States in balance beam and floor exercise, Alicia Sacramone made two fatal mistakes in the events, ruining their hopes for gold.
The 20-year-old girl dropped from the beam from the very beginning of her routine. In floor exercise, she rolled backward and landed on her bottom after a series of somersaults. Although the United States sent Nastia Liukin and world all-around queen Shawn Johnson to catch up, both of them failed the mission in landing.
Floor exercise is the specialty of Johnson and Liukin.
The United States has been beset with injuries as Samantha Peszek sprained her left ankle in warm-up, one more blow to the team after Chellsie Memmel was injured in ankle too in training.
As the final requires just three athletes from each country to compete in one event and every score counts, the United States had get rid of the short-handed problem in the final.
China's Cheng Fei performs on the floor during gymnastics artistic women's team final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. The Chinese team claimed the title of the event with a score of 188.900. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
China's Deng Linlin performs on the floor during gymnastics artistic women's team final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. The Chinese team claimed the title of the event with a score of 188.900. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
China's Cheng Fei, Yang Yilin, Li Shanshan, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Deng Linlin(L to R) celebrate their victory during the awarding ceremony for gymnastics artistic women's team final of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. The Chinese team claimed the title of the event with a score of 188.900. (Xinhua/Wang Lei)
China's He Kexin performs the uneven bars during gymnastics artistic women's team final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. (Xinhua/Lin Hui)
