China Wins Men's Team Gymnastics, USA Finishes Fifth

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Olympics 2012 Men's Gymnastics: Team USA Fails To Medal, China Dominates

When the Unites States' men's gymnastics team finished first during the qualifying round, there were high hopes the US men could come away with a gold medal. Not only did that not happen, but the United States came away without a medal, finishing a disappointing fifth.

"There's definitely disappointment,'' US captain Jonathan Horton said, according to the Associated Press. "We are one of the best teams in the world.''

The US team got off to a rocky start, finishing seventh on the pommel horse and found themselves in last place at one point during the competition. They moved back into contention on the rings, but any chance for a medal vanished with the vault when John Orozco stumbled on his landing and fell.

Asked what happened, Orozco simply said, "I fell on my butt."

While the United States faltered, the Chinese team thrived, repeating as Olympic champions. Nine of the Chinese team's 18 scores were 15.6 or higher. To put that impressive feat in context, consider that Japan and Great Britain, the teams that finished second and third, combined for nine 15.6 or higher scores.

"Our rivals were not necessarily stronger than in previous years,'' Zhang Chenglong said, "so we kept a cool mind.'

The Great Britain team finished a surprising third, taking home the bronze medal for the host country.

"To win a medal in your home games, I'll take that any day,'' Kristian Thomas said. Louis Smith agreed, saying, "It's a beautiful day for the sport of British gymnastics.''

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic Gymnastics, follow the 2012 Olympic Gymnastics section.

China Wins Men's Team Gymnastics, USA Disappointing Fifth

China has won the gold medal in the men's gymnastics team final for a second consecutive Games, posting a score of 275.997 Monday afternoon at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Japan finished second (271.952) and Great Britain finished a surprising third (271.711) to earn the host country's second bronze medal of the Games. Although, that's not how it originally ended.

The immediate results had Japan fourth and Ukraine third, which would have been the first time Japan failed to medal in men's team since 2000. But an inquiry to the judges regarding Kohei Uchimura's pommel horse was accepted, changing his score from 13.466 to a 14.166. That alteration was enough to push Japan past Ukraine.

The United States, which took bronze in 2008 and silver in 2004, finished a disappointing fifth (269.952) after a near-disastrous start in the first three rotations.

Team USA, which was aiming for gold after qualifying first heading into the finals, started slow, especially on their second rotation, pommel horse, where they finished seventh (out of eight). Halfway through the competition, the Americans found themselves in last place, with a lot of work to do.

Better showings on rings helped before a disappointing result on vault -- John Orozco sat on his attempt -- slowed the chances of a comeback and all but sealed their fate of missing the podium. They recovered to finish strong in both parallel bars and high bar (three-place scores on both), led by Orozco, Jonathan Horton and Danell Leyva (below), but it simply wasn't enough to overcome their poor opening rotations.

Men's gymnastics resumes Wednesday with the individual all-around.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub. For more on Olympic Gymnastics, follow the 2012 Olympic Gymnastics section.

Men's Gymnastics Team Final: U.S. In Last Place After Three Rotations

Halfway through the men's gymnastics team final, and thing could not be going worse for Team USA. No, really -- the Americans are in last place after the first three (of six rotations), with a disappointing score of 131.156, more than a full point behind Germany, the seventh-place team.

China, the defending gold medalist, leads the way with 139.965, and is followed by the reigning silver-medal winners, Japan, which has a score of 137.955. The host country is in third.

The United States, which qualified in first place for the finals, entered the competition not only expecting to medal, but with its eyes on a gold. The U.S. has not won men's team gymnastics since the 1984 Games.

The United States scored 45.266 on floor (second in the competition), 40.633 on pommel horse (third) and 45.257 on rings (third). They still have three disciplines remaining -- vault, parallel bars and the horizontal bar -- so there is still time to get back on the podium, but they may have too much ground to make up.

The competition is being tape-delayed for NBC primetime, but you can watch the online stream at NBC Live Extra.

For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.

Men's Gymnastics: Event Schedule, TV Coverage For Monday

Men's team gymnastics will give out a medal Monday afternoon, and Team USA has a chance to make history after finishing first in preliminaries.