London 2012 gymnastics: U.S. falls - China wins gold

The Chinese won their second straight Olympic title and third in four games Monday, making fools of everyone who wrote them off after a dismal performance in qualifying.

“After getting up from bed I thought we were going to win it,” said Chen Yibing, one of only two holdovers from the Beijing squad. “We have the abilities and the skills.”

China’s score of 275.997 points was more than four points better than Japan, which needed help from a DVR to finish second.

Britain initially was announced as the silver medalist, setting off raucous celebrations at the O2 Arena, Princes William and Harry included. The British don’t have a proud history in gymnastics — barely any at all — and this was their first men’s team medal in a century.

But Japan questioned the score of three-time world champion Kohei Uchimura on pommel horse, the very last routine.

While judges huddled around a video screen, the British partied andUchimura and his teammates sat stone-faced against a wall.

“I couldn’t say anything,” Uchimura said. “I couldn’t think anything at the very beginning. I was thinking, ‘It’s fourth, it’s fourth.’”

About five minutes later, though, it’s silver.

Uchimura’s score was revised, with judges giving him seven-tenths more credit for his dismount. Instead of 13.466, he scored 14.166 — enough to move Japan from fourth to second with a total of 271.952.

Britain was bumped down to bronze, while Ukraine dropped to fourth.

“To win a medal in your home games, I’ll take that any day,” Kristian Thomas said. “We never actually had the silver in our hands, so there’s no real disappointment.”

Tell that to the Japanese, who were bested by the Chinese yet again.

Just like everybody else.