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China makes history by winning its first Team gold in Women's Gymnastics



China team gains the highest place on the podium. (Photo credit: Xinhua)
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(BEIJING, August 13) -- China made history today by winning its first Olympic gold medal in the Team event of Women's Gymnastics. China won the gold medal with a total of 188.900 points.
The United States won the silver medal with a total of 186.525 points and Romania won the bronze with a total of 181.525 points.
China entered the Team final as favorites, but it was pushed all the way by a determined United States. The two sides' first rotation was the Vault, with the United States taking a slender lead.
The second rotation for China and the United States was the Uneven Bars, which is regarded as China's specialty. China did not disappoint, gaining the lead with a dominant display on the apparatus.
He Kexin and Yang Yilin were outstanding in the Uneven Bars, scoring 16.850 and 16.800 respectively. Despite the best efforts of the United States' Nastia Liukin, who scored 16.900, the United States could not overcome China's dominance of the apparatus.
The United States gained slightly more points than China in the Balance Beam, a rotation that was marked by the mistakes of the United States' Alicia Sacramone and China's Cheng Fei. Sacramone was clearly affected by her mistake and also performed poorly in the next rotation, the Floor Exercise.

US team on the podium. (Photo credit: Xinhua)


The United States could not afford to make any mistakes against a disciplined Chinese side. China's Li Shanshan improved her country's chances of winning the gold medal by scoring 16.050 in the Balance Beam. This was an individual score that even the elegant Liukin could not match.
China's most experienced campaigner Cheng Fei sealed the victory with a solid performance in the Floor exercise.
Romania surprised Russia by winning the bronze medal. Romania performed well in the Floor Exercise, with only China receiving a higher score. Russia scored poorly in the Balance Beam and finished with a total score of 180.625.
The fifth to eighth places in the Team final were taken by Japan, Australia, France and Brazil.

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A general view of the Olympic Green Hockey Field in the south of the Olympic Park is seen in this picture taken on May 16, 2008. This Field will host the hockey games of the Olympics and the soccer games of the Paralympics.
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The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 (except football, which started on August 6) to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes competed in 302 events in 28 sports, one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 Games. The 2008 Beijing Olympics marked the first occasion that either the Summer or Winter Games were hosted in China, making it the 22nd nation to do so. It also became the third time that Olympic events have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees (NOC), as the equestrian events were being held in Hong Kong.