Gymnastics > Day by Day Recap

After earning three silver medals, Shawn Johnson finally got a gold when she took the balance beam title over teammate Nastia Liukin. On the men's side, Jonathan Horton made a gutsy decision to debut a high bar routine, and it paid off for the silver medal, just .025 behind China's Zou Kai, who won his third gold medal.

China's He Kexin and Nastia Liukin earned the same score, 16.725, for their uneven bars routines, but after a complicated tie breaking procedure, He emerged with the gold medal. China's Chen Yibing took the men's floor gold, while Poland's Leszek Blanik won his country's first gymnastics gold on vault.

North Korea's Hong-Un Jong won the gold medal, the first for a North Korean woman on vault with two difficult vaults, while 33-year-old Oksana Chusovitina won the silver. Despite falling on one of her vaults, Cheng Fei edges Alicia Sacramone for the bronze. Romania's Sandra Izbasa edges Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin for the floor gold, while on the men's side, China won both golds.

American Nastia Liukin did what her father could not -- win the Olympic all-around title. Shawn Johnson, expected by many to become America's sweetheart, finished in second place. Beijing is the first Games in which the U.S. has gone 1-2 in the all-around.

Silver in Sydney 2000 and seventh in Athens, Yang Wei finally claimed Olympic gold in the men's all-around over Japan's Kohei Uchimura. A surprise Frenchman, Benoit Caranobe, took the bronze.

Entering the competition with about a two-point advantage, the Chinese women claimed their first Olympic team gold. The hobbled U.S. team fell behind after the second rotation and falls by veteran Alicia Sacramone on beam and floor only added to the defecit.

Unlike four years ago in Athens, when they stumbled off of the podium, the Chinese men claimed team gold over Japan by more than seven points. While other teams falter, the U.S. men rally to claim bronze over Germany.

After losing Chellsie Memmel on three of four events due to a pre-Games injury, the U.S. was dealt another blow when Samantha Peszek sprained her ankle warming up. Rattled, the U.S. women suffered uncharacteristic mistakes while China was nearly flawless.

As expected, China won the qualification round despite going in the first of three sessions. Unrattled by the absence of both Paul and Morgan Hamm, the U.S. men advanced to the team final. Jonathan Horton and last minute replacement Alexander Artemev qualify for all-around and event finals.