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China wins women's gymnastics team Olympic gold
Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-13 12:20
Beijing - 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.
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The combo shows Team China competing in the women's qualification round for the Artistic Gymnastics at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 10, 2008. China won the women's gymnastics team gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on Wednesday. [Agencies]
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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 US 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 US 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 US members, giving them an advantage to claim the gold.