By Vera Atkinson FIG Editor.

CHINA WINS SECOND OLYMPIC TITLE!
We knew that the Men's Team Final would be tight, but THAT tight nobody expected it to be!

China (HUANG Xu, CHEN Yibing, LI Xiaopeng, XIAO Qin, YANG Wei, ZOU Kai) won their second Olympic title (after Sydney 2000), with a Team total of 286.125 - 7.250 ahead of the Olympic Champions from Athens'04, Japan (278.875) - Silver and the USA, taking the Bronze (278.850). 4. Germany, 274.600 - 5. Korea, 274.375 - 6. Russia, 274.300 - 7. Romania, 274.175 - 8. France, 272.875.

The 'Killer Final' with only 3 gymnasts per team competing on each apparatus and all their score counting toward the team total, proved, once again that the high Start Value in gymnastics now matters as much as the execution. Each and every team fought for the medals from the first until their last performance and the margins, particularly between the 4th and the 7th positions, say it all.

China was best on all apparatus, but Floor, where Korea put together the highest score. Theirs was an almost error free performance: a step out on Floor and missed dismount on Pommels seemed to be the major deductions on the day.

The USA performed exceptionally well and one apparatus to go, were sitting in second position, pressing Japan to fight for the Silver. It was the Pommel Horse who failed the Americans, who luckily, had already built enough advantage to save their Bronze medals.

The Pommel Horse took, in fact, its toll also with Russia and Korea, who struggled to 'catch up' following their bad experience on it, at the beginning of the Final.

Sadly for the German Bronze Team in Stuttgart, the World Champion on High Bar Fabian Hambuechen fell from his favourite apparatus.

Adrian Stoica, President of the FIG Technical Committee said:
'This was one of the most exciting Olympic Finals seen in Men's Gymnastics!  The Chinese proved that they are the best team at the moment! They had the highest  Start Values, and this made the difference for them;  in spite of some small mistakes, they were also very stable.

A nice surprise for me was the team of the USA, who, in spite of their problems on Rings and Pommels have shown consistency and fought hard for their position.

Japan, as usual had a very good competition. Apart from two gymnasts in the Team, they are very young and one can clearly see that they have a great future. I hope nobody could complain on how the competition was run. There were a few delays in displaying the scores, but before the start I asked the judges to be as accurate as possible first and then as quick as possible. Accuracy was the most important part in this Final and I think that it has been achieved.

All in all, we are happy that this Final turned into a magnificent show, which saw the first set of Gymnastics medals go to the right places!'