China's women gymnasts credited their historic gold medal at the world championships to one simple factor: This time, they were the underdogs.

For years, an array of talented female gymnasts have emerged from the world's most populated country but when it comes to winning a team title at either Olympic Games or world championships, they have crumbled under pressure.

The class of 2006 finally rectified that anomaly on Wednesday. They upstaged 2003 champions, the United States, with a spectacular display of gravity-defying skills and imaginative choreography.

"Before the championships there was a good gap between us (and the United States). It allowed us to practise without any pressure," 2005 world vault champion Cheng Fei said as she grasped her gleaming gold medal.

"Team spirit was an important factor for our victory. I'm satisfied with the Chinese team's performance, especially the way we fought to the end."

The victory finally allowed them to share the spotlight with their male counterparts, who had walked off with the men's title a day earlier, and bodes well for the team's fortunes in the runup to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Unlike Yang Wei and the rest of the men's squad who had to fight back from an atrocious start to win the title, Cheng and her team-mates avoided any major drama as they went from one apparatus to the next, nailing almost all their elements.

After two finals, the Asian superpower enjoy a 100 per cent success rate and look set to be on their way to achieving a record gold medal haul at these championships.

Chinese athletes will be competing in all but three apparatus finals over the next three days.

He Ning summed up the mood in the Chinese camp when she declared: "The Chinese team is No 1."

First world title

China upstaged favourites the United States to storm to their first women's team title at the championships.

Zhang Nan's deft footwork on the balance beam coupled with soaring tumbling sequences on the floor by Cheng Fei and Pang Panpan handed China a winning total of 182.200.

A fall from the asymmetric bars by 2005 all-round champion Chellsie Memmel and Jana Bieger's botched landing from the vault ended up costing the 2003 champions the title as they were edged by just .850 of a point.

Russia recovered from an abysmal start to claim the bronze with 177.325, while Olympic champions Romania finished fourth and outside the medals for the first time since 1981.

Memmel was the last gymnast to compete and needed to score more than 16.350 on the floor to overhaul the Chinese total. She nailed each one of her complex twists, tumbles and landings but her mark of 15.500 was not enough to take her team to the top of the podium.

As soon as Memmel's score flashed up, the Chinese team went into a huddle and exchanged hugs and kisses as their cheering fans rose on their feet to mark the historic moment.

The Americans had been expected to walk away with their second successive title having easily outclassed their Asian rivals in qualifying.

But it went wrong from the start on Wednesday, as Bieger sat down on her landing from the vault. Awarded only 13.950, and with every score counting towards the team total, Memmel and company knew they could not afford another slip up.

Memmel gone into the final having previously earned the second highest mark on the asymmetric bars.

A repeat performance was not on the cards.

She drew gasps from the crowd when she tumbled to the ground on her hands and knees after failing to grip the bar following a release manoeuvre.

Shaken by the mishap, Memmel took her time to regain her composure before mounting the lower of the two bars to go through the motions. On dismount she hastily ran down the stairs and could barely look up when her score of 14.475 flashed up.

To compound a miserable day, Memmel had to fight hard to maintain her footing on the beam and Bieger picked up a 0.1 deduction on the floor for stepping out of the area.

"We all had a few mistakes here and there but that's the sport of gymnastics and we're going to have to learn from our mistakes," said American Nastia Liukin.

China had suffered mishaps on every apparatus in the preliminaries but got their act together when it counted.

Despite being .325 of a point adrift of the United States after two apparatuses, they kept their composure for once.

They effortlessly floated between the bars to earn more than 15 points on each of their three routines and no one could match Zhang's intricate balancing skills.

A full twisting Korbut flip was just one of the many elements she showed off with aplomb to earn 15.950, the highest mark awarded to any gymnast in the final.

Ukraine, Australia, Brazil the first Latin American country to compete in the final and Spain occupied the remaining spots.

Romania miss medals

Olympic champions Romania failed to win a women's team medal for the first time in 25 years.

With a new coach and an inexperienced team, Romania finished fourth behind China, the United States and Russia after winning five of the last six world championships and the last two Olympic titles.

The last time Romania missed out on a top-three finish was at the 1981 Moscow world championships.

"Every nation has ups and downs, and my duty is to drag Romania's wagon up the hill," said coach Nicolae Forminte. "I will do it for sure, we need just a little patience."

(China Daily October 20, 2006)