China's formidable male gymnasts stormed to a long-awaited Olympic team gold medal before an ecstatic home crowd here on Tuesday.

　　They claimed the title at 286.125 points, beating defending Olympic champion Japan to second place by a comfortable margin of 7.25 points. The United States took the bronze in 275.850 points.

　　Routines from the Chinese squad featuring three world champions were met with deafening cheers and applause, as the hosts determined to re-claim the Olympic team crown which they lost to Japan in Athens four years ago.

　　Except for a brief tie with the Japanese on the first apparatus of floor exercise, in which the hosts trailed by only 0.05 points, the Chinese kept their edge throughout the rest of the competition, with start values and stability obviously above the field.

　　Defending Olympic champion Japan suffered from a string of blunders, and only secured their grip on the silver medal in the last rotation, coming from behind to overtake the Americans by 3.025 points.

　　The injury-plagued United States team, silver-medalist in Athens, brought surprise as all its team members, including the replacements to twin bothers Paul Hamm and Paul Hamm, performed far better than in the qualifications.

　　The Chinese won their first-ever men's team gold at the Sydney Games in 2000 but failed to build on the achievement in Athens, losing to arch-rivals Japan.

　　They bounced back with terrific results in the past two championships, pocketing five gold medals in Stuttgart last year and a record eight the previous year in Arhus including the most coveted team titles.

　　BEIJING, Aug. 12 （Xinhua）

　　中国体操男队12日夺回了丢失四年的奥运会男子团体这块分量最重的金牌，成绩是286.125分。

　　雅典奥运会冠军日本队以278.875分位列第二。这是中国队自2006、2007年两届世锦赛后第三次战胜老对手日本队，分数差距也一年比一年大，这次竟然达到7.25分。雅典奥运会银牌得主美国队夺得第三名，成绩是275.850分。

　　中国男队在2000悉尼奥运会上第一次为中国体操夺得奥运团体金牌，但在四年后的雅典奥运会上，中国男队连续出现失误，最后仅列团体第5.

　　中国队今天的这块团体金牌也让李小鹏的奥运金牌达到三枚，得以与体操界传奇人物李宁比肩。