With their nearly perfect execution and their degree of difficulty set above the remainder of the field, the rest of the competitors hardly stood a chance at gold. Major mistakes are not accepted at these Olympic Games.

China's synchronized diving teams both stood atop the podium after completing their respective women's 10-meter platform synchro and the men's 3m springboard synchro final competitions. Wang Xin and Chen Roulin finished nearly 30 points ahead of the rest of the female divers from the platform, while their male teammates Wang Feng and Qin Kai finished a staggering 47 points over their competitors on the springboard, making the Chinese team 4 for 4 in diving finals.

From the cube to the National Indoor Stadium for the men's and women's team gymnastics final the same attention to detail combined with immense difficulty secured for China a rise to the top of the gymnastics world after a series of past Olympic disappointments. Yang Wei led his fellow teammates on Tuesday to a first place finish ahead of the reining Olympic Champions from Japan and the bronze medal winning U.S. team.

Despite the adversities outlined heavily by the U.S. media following the resignation of the Hamm twins, the U.S. men's team showed passion and resolve, even leading the pack after the third rotation. Stuck landings were met with fist pumps and high fives, in stark contrast to images seen last night when the women competed.

China's team has the distinct advantage before anyone sets foot on the podium for the meet. Their degree of difficulty overall was at least 1.8 points. If each team had gone 12 for 12 it seems that gold for the U.S., while in reach, was still improbable. Starting off on vault, the U.S. team did lead the Chinese with beautifully executed vaults from Bridget Sloan, Shawn Johnson, and Alicia Sacramone. On the uneven bars, U.S. sensation Nastia Liukin posted the highest score of the night with a 16.900 although it wasn't enough to fend off the number one bars team in the world from China who recorded two scores in the high sixteens from gymnasts like He Kexin.

A stumble from team leader Cheng Fei on beam opened the door by .8 of a point for the American team, but a fall from Sacramone evened the fall made by Fei. In the end, solid routines from Johnson and Liukin were not enough. With smiles and pizazz the Chinese were exuberant on the floor where they ended the night as Olympic Champions. Though the Chinese have produced the highest levels of difficulty and execution for decades now, this 2008 team had the mental toughness to push through the pressure and deliver when it counted most. The U.S. finished just over two points behind the Chinese even with two falls counted. Romania overcame the odds to finish in bronze medal position capitalizing on numerous mistakes and falls made by the Russian team.

Watch tonight as Jonathan Horton and Alexander Artemev go up against medal contending gymnasts from China (led by Yang Wei), Japan and Korea in the Men?s All-Around. Johnson and Liukin who qualified at the top of the pack will have the same opportunity on Thursday.  

U.S. cyclists also put on a great show last night live from Beijing. The road race individual time trial competition commenced for both the men's and women's field.  Levi Leipheimer's time of 1 hour 3 minutes 21.12 seconds held off Spain's Alberto Contador for the bronze medal. In the women's event Kristina Armstrong (no relation to Lance, I believe!) rode across the finish line in gold medal time clocking in 34 minutes 51.72 seconds, which means she averaged 40.445 km/hr. Whew!

Here's my small rant for the day. NBC viewers on the west coast get screwed when it comes to viewing coverage live. While the rest of the world is able to watch events in real time and U.S. viewers past the Rockies are able to watch prime time coverage live, those of us on the left shore watch events two to three hours behind the competition. Yes, there is live streaming on the Web for many events, which is much appreciated. However, marquee events that are scheduled so that NBC can show them in prime time aren't coming to the west coast until after the fact. While still great to watch, it takes out much of the anticipatory nerves and excitement that fans feel when following competition live.