Wei Yang competes on the rings during the men's team final

Four years after they failed to even make the podium in Athens for the prestigious team event, double world all-round champion Yang Wei led from the front to ensure one of the traditional powerhouses of men's gymnastics were able to assert themselves on home soil.

After a shaky start on the floor, China surged to the top of the leader board by the end of rotation four and from that point on there was only going to be one winner.

They earned a score of 286.125 to dethrone 2004 champions Japan by 7.250 points. The United States settled for bronze.

The race between the two Asian superpowers had been expected to go down to the wire on the horizontal bar, which has traditionally been China's weakest discipline.

However, China's four survivors from the Athens - Yang, Li Xiaopeng, Xiao Qin and Huang Xu - along with Olympic debutants Chen Yibing and Zou Kai obliterated the opposition with their commanding performances on all six apparatus.

Their only slip-up proved to be at the start when Chen was penalised for stumbling backwards and out of the marked area on the floor exercise following his final tumbling combination.

That first score of 14.575 was to be the Chinese's lowest score of the competition and they went on to excel on rings and parallel bars with all six scores breaking the 16.000 points barrier.

Germany, Korea, Russia, Romania and France completed the final eight.

Lucky charm

The victorious team put their success, in part at least, down to a thin red string from a temple the six men wore throughout the event to bring them good fortune.

"The pressure had been on us since we failed to meet our goal in Athens," a relieved Yang Wei, who competed in every category except the bar, said.

"We have been preparing all along. Every day since we got back from the last Olympics, we would ask ourselves, 'What can we do to be ready for the Olympics? Have we done enough?'"

Li Xiaopeng, at 27 a three-times Olympian, had tried not to let the pressure get to him.

"Last night I went to sleep earlier than Yang Wei. Yes, I felt the pressure but I have to be quiet and calm so I can do this," Li said.

Youngster Zou Kai, who pulled off what his elated coach called an "almost perfect performance" on the horizontal bar, looked as pleased as his older team mates but much more at ease when he met reporters.

"There was a little bit of pressure but it was also to our advantage," he said. "Everyone pulled together."

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