The raised index fingers of China's gymnasts left little doubt that men's team had won the Olympic title except for quarter-hour, British fans clapped and cheered because the hosts snared an surprising silver on Monday.
Except they'd not.
Three-time world champion Kohei Uchimura couldn't believe his eyes, or the scoreboard, when his pommel horse score of thirteen.466 flashed up to point out that Japan, who had been lying second going into the ultimate rotation, had dived out of the medals to fourth.
That left Louis Smith and his British teammates leaping for joy whereas the quintet from Ukraine exchanged high fives as they celebrated grabbing a last-gasp bronze.
However, at the same time as the roaring fans stamped their feet in approval and Princes William and Harry joined in to grant Britain's famous 5 a standing ovation, Japanese officers scrambled to lodge an charm against Uchimura's score.
Suddenly all celebrations came to a standstill as fifteen,500 pairs of eyes turned to the large screen hanging from the domed roof of the North Greenwich Arena as gymnasts, fans and media waited for the decision.
For quarter-hour, officers huddled around a video screen as they reviewed once more and once more Uchimura's dismount from the pommel horse.
As the big scoreboard flashed the message, "Men's pommel horse inquiry accepted", Uchimura and his teammates sat stone-faced as officers scrutinized the image of the 23-year-old finishing a messy dismount once going into a handstand with legs splayed on the block of wood.
Japan silver
When the judgement was finally announced, it showed that Uchimura's score had been increased by zero.7 of some extent, enough to bump Japan up to silver and Britain right down to a bronze.
The crowd booed, Uchimura and co, who had been going for gold, smiled in relief and Ukraine's dejected gymnasts stormed out in disgust.
Smith, Daniel Purvis, Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock and Sam Oldham couldn't care less as they whooped in delight, knowing Britain had won their initial Olympic team medal during a century.
"We knew whichever approach it we have a tendency tont we were obtaining a medal," coach Eddie Van Hoof told a news conference. "A silver would are nice however we'll take the bronze anyway."
The whole episode revived reminiscences of the 2004 Athens all-around judging scandal when it transpired that the gold medal would have gone to South Korea's Yang Tae-young and not Paul Hamm had it not been for a scoring error.
While Hamm had to attend for 3 months before discovering he may keep the gold medal once being drawn into a legal wrangle, the presence of the moment replay system on Monday settled the dispute before any medals were handed out.
"I assume it's the primary Olympics where this happened, that we have a tendency to had to alter a score that modified a ranking within the medals, as so much as I keep in mind," Andre Gueisbuhler, secretary-general of the sport's ruling body FIG, told reporters.
All the late drama stole the spotlight faraway from the triumphant Chinese, who obliterated the opposition by four.045 points to win their third team crown in four Olympics.
Reports of the Chinese team's demise, following a sloppy performance in qualifying once they finished sixth, turned out to be greatly exaggerated as they kept their poise on all six equipment to end with a complete of 275.997.
No smokescreen
Asked if they'd been attempting to fool folks with their qualifying performance, Zou Kai, who along side Chen Yibing is one among the 2 survivors from the category of 2008 that won seven of the eight golds up for grabs in Beijing, said: "It wasn't a smokescreen."
Monday's awe-inspiring show, once they were the sole ones not fall off any equipment, meant the team who have won 5 successive world crowns and 2 successive Olympic titles haven't been overwhelmed for eight years.
"From the Beijing Games we've got been watching the rear of the Chinese and even if the athletes have modified, they're still robust. The Chinese team had no mistakes in any respect," observed Uchimura.
Mistakes, and plenty of them, price the us expensive in one among the foremost action-packed Olympic men's finals.
Tipped to become the primary yank men's team to win the title since 1984, they spectacularly imploded and finished fifth once the pommel horse once more proved to be their nemesis.
Danell Leyva fell off throughout his swivels whereas John Orozco sat down on the picket block and did not regain his momentum as he wobbled through the remainder of his routine to draw twelve.733 - rock bottom mark earned amongst the highest six groups.
The man nicknamed Silent Ninja owing to his inability to point out any emotions - win or lose - struggled to carry back his tears on Monday and many minutes later, they were welling up once more as he crash landed from the vault.
It was a sense all too acquainted to Japan's Koji Yamamuro who drew gasps once landing on his face and knees.
Pain etched on his face, Yamamuro hopped off the platform on his right foot and was given a piggy-back ride out of the podium as his day ended.
But when it absolutely was time for the presentation ceremony, he was hopping back out once more, together with his arms around 2 teammates as they created their thanks to stage.
Except they'd not.
Three-time world champion Kohei Uchimura couldn't believe his eyes, or the scoreboard, when his pommel horse score of thirteen.466 flashed up to point out that Japan, who had been lying second going into the ultimate rotation, had dived out of the medals to fourth.
That left Louis Smith and his British teammates leaping for joy whereas the quintet from Ukraine exchanged high fives as they celebrated grabbing a last-gasp bronze.
However, at the same time as the roaring fans stamped their feet in approval and Princes William and Harry joined in to grant Britain's famous 5 a standing ovation, Japanese officers scrambled to lodge an charm against Uchimura's score.
Suddenly all celebrations came to a standstill as fifteen,500 pairs of eyes turned to the large screen hanging from the domed roof of the North Greenwich Arena as gymnasts, fans and media waited for the decision.
For quarter-hour, officers huddled around a video screen as they reviewed once more and once more Uchimura's dismount from the pommel horse.
As the big scoreboard flashed the message, "Men's pommel horse inquiry accepted", Uchimura and his teammates sat stone-faced as officers scrutinized the image of the 23-year-old finishing a messy dismount once going into a handstand with legs splayed on the block of wood.
Japan silver
When the judgement was finally announced, it showed that Uchimura's score had been increased by zero.7 of some extent, enough to bump Japan up to silver and Britain right down to a bronze.
The crowd booed, Uchimura and co, who had been going for gold, smiled in relief and Ukraine's dejected gymnasts stormed out in disgust.
Smith, Daniel Purvis, Kristian Thomas, Max Whitlock and Sam Oldham couldn't care less as they whooped in delight, knowing Britain had won their initial Olympic team medal during a century.
"We knew whichever approach it we have a tendency tont we were obtaining a medal," coach Eddie Van Hoof told a news conference. "A silver would are nice however we'll take the bronze anyway."
The whole episode revived reminiscences of the 2004 Athens all-around judging scandal when it transpired that the gold medal would have gone to South Korea's Yang Tae-young and not Paul Hamm had it not been for a scoring error.
While Hamm had to attend for 3 months before discovering he may keep the gold medal once being drawn into a legal wrangle, the presence of the moment replay system on Monday settled the dispute before any medals were handed out.
"I assume it's the primary Olympics where this happened, that we have a tendency to had to alter a score that modified a ranking within the medals, as so much as I keep in mind," Andre Gueisbuhler, secretary-general of the sport's ruling body FIG, told reporters.
All the late drama stole the spotlight faraway from the triumphant Chinese, who obliterated the opposition by four.045 points to win their third team crown in four Olympics.
Reports of the Chinese team's demise, following a sloppy performance in qualifying once they finished sixth, turned out to be greatly exaggerated as they kept their poise on all six equipment to end with a complete of 275.997.
No smokescreen
Asked if they'd been attempting to fool folks with their qualifying performance, Zou Kai, who along side Chen Yibing is one among the 2 survivors from the category of 2008 that won seven of the eight golds up for grabs in Beijing, said: "It wasn't a smokescreen."
Monday's awe-inspiring show, once they were the sole ones not fall off any equipment, meant the team who have won 5 successive world crowns and 2 successive Olympic titles haven't been overwhelmed for eight years.
"From the Beijing Games we've got been watching the rear of the Chinese and even if the athletes have modified, they're still robust. The Chinese team had no mistakes in any respect," observed Uchimura.
Mistakes, and plenty of them, price the us expensive in one among the foremost action-packed Olympic men's finals.
Tipped to become the primary yank men's team to win the title since 1984, they spectacularly imploded and finished fifth once the pommel horse once more proved to be their nemesis.
Danell Leyva fell off throughout his swivels whereas John Orozco sat down on the picket block and did not regain his momentum as he wobbled through the remainder of his routine to draw twelve.733 - rock bottom mark earned amongst the highest six groups.
The man nicknamed Silent Ninja owing to his inability to point out any emotions - win or lose - struggled to carry back his tears on Monday and many minutes later, they were welling up once more as he crash landed from the vault.
It was a sense all too acquainted to Japan's Koji Yamamuro who drew gasps once landing on his face and knees.
Pain etched on his face, Yamamuro hopped off the platform on his right foot and was given a piggy-back ride out of the podium as his day ended.
But when it absolutely was time for the presentation ceremony, he was hopping back out once more, together with his arms around 2 teammates as they created their thanks to stage.
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