U.S. women's team falls to silver

BEIJING — It came down to the last event, the last tumbling pass, the last landing, the last tilt of the head, the last smile.

For the U.S. women's gymnastics team, it came down to a few missteps, and, as is usually the case in a sport of precision and grace, those stumbles made all the difference.

The U.S. lost the gold medal to China 188.9 to 186.525. Simple but glaring mistakes were the Americans' undoing. They may have had prettier routines, but the Chinese were more consistent.

The U.S. had been confident it could take back the gold it last won with the "Magnificent Seven" at the 1996 Olympics. But China proved more hardy in its home gym, as flag-waving spectators cheered "China! China!"

The younger team — some say an illegally young team — proved to have the stronger nerves.

It wasn't close.

Four years of training came down to the floor exercise, an event which the U.S. usually dominates with its high-flying routines and rhythmic dance moves. But all three Americans stepped out of bounds. Somehow, they could not do what they had done thousands upon thousands of times: Stay inside the white lines.

Both Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin stepped out after landing their first tumbling pass. Alicia Sacramone stepped out milliseconds from the end of her routine, but earlier she had fallen on her rear.

"No one else made mistakes, so it's kind of my fault," Sacramone said, still trying to blink back the tears. "I think everybody knows you always have good days and bad days. I just wish today was a good day."

Said U.S. coach Valeri Liukin, Nastia's father: "It was close, but the Chinese were a little more consistent."

Johnson, competing in all four rotations, could not save her team. She needed an absolute dazzler and scored only 15.10.

"The Chinese women's gymnastics team made history today, showing the world the China women's gymnastics team is the greatest," coach Lu Shanzhen said.

The score was 143.10 to 142.09 in favor of China going into floor. The U.S. had hope. But after the Americans struggled, the Chinese knew the meet was theirs to win. They practically leaped into the rafters on their handsprings. Their thudding piano music, which sounded much louder than the other teams' music, carried them to triumphant routines.

They huddled, tearful and smiling, while the Americans looked grim, hands on hips, lips screwed tight.

The Americans had to put aside thoughts of the mistakes they made during the qualifying round on Sunday, which enabled China to finish ahead of them. They also couldn't be distracted by the talk of China's young gymnasts — too young, some say, to be eligible to compete.

At least two of the Chinese girls did not look anywhere close to being 16 or turning 16 this year, as the rules require. They looked little enough to still believe in Santa Claus. The Americans by contrast, have an 18-year-old and two 20-year-olds on their team. Their experience, however, did not pay off.

In the finals, each of the three routines on each of the four events count. Nothing gets thrown out. There is no room for error. The U.S. made plenty.

Sacramone fell on her mount on the balance beam after a long wait while judges and a floor TV producer spoke and gestured.

The next competitor must receive wait for a red "stop" sign to change to a green "go" sign on the screen before starting a routine. Sacramone had to step back away from her mount twice because it didn't flash go.

"There was no stop sign, just a blank screen," Sacramone said. "I just stood there until my name came up. It seemed like forever. I think that could have contributed to my fall. I was pretty nervous.

"I have to live with my mistakes and just try to put a smile on my face and remember we won a silver medal."

After two rotations, the U.S. trailed China 95.975 to 94.850. The U.S. finished ahead of China on the first event, vault, thanks to solid scores from Johnson and Sacramone.

But on uneven bars, China asserted its clear superiority with risky release moves and agile pirouettes and scored nearly two points higher than the U.S., a margin that made Martha Karolyi uneasy. The injured Chellsie Memmel did her job on the only event she could manage, but her 15.725 wasn't quite enough. Liukin's silky, snaking routine earned the highest score of 16.9, but China had a 16.8 and a 16.85.

Next up, on balance beam, Cheng Fei fell off, scoring a mere 15.150 and providing an opening for the U.S., which calls itself the "Beam Team."

But in an uncharacteristic lapse, Sacramone lost her balance and fell off just after she mounted the beam. The look on her face was something between disgust and shock. After her dismount, she looked ready to cry as Karolyi took her face in her hands and gave her words of reassurance. As the disappointing score of 15.1 popped on the screen, Samantha Peszek came over to remind Sacramone not to get rattled.

McClatchey News Service, Denver Post, Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

U.S. men's tall order

BEIJING — When Jonathan Horton went to the 2007 gymnastics world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, his mother told him to bring home an all-around medal.

"I told her, 'Mom, you're crazy. It's too soon.' When I came to Beijing, my mom told me to just come and have a good time. I told her I was going to win an all-around medal," Horton said. "She looked at me like I was crazy."

Horton's achievement at those world championships was almost overlooked because the U.S. women were winning so many medals — including Shawn Johnson's all-around gold.

But the 22-year-old from Houston finished fourth, just .200 behind bronze medalist Hisashi Mizutori of Japan. "That was pretty close," Horton said. "That was my first world championships. I'm feeling like I'm kind of on a roll now."

Two-time defending world champion Yang Wei of China is the favorite. Yang, 28, was in no mood to concede anything either after his team easily won gold. "I can be in a relaxed mood," Yang said. "I'm going to try my best to get every medal."

Horton said he understands that if Yang doesn't make major mistakes the gold medal will be out of his reach. "His start values are so high," he said. "But after that anything can happen."

Germany's Fabian Hambuechen finished second to Yang at last year's worlds.