Bedlam in the Superdome. Under enormous pressure to deliver a gold medal after running the Russians so close in Atlanta four years ago, the Chinese men's team delivered in front of delighted home support last night.

For two hours they set a standard in an event so often dominated by Eastern European teams. This, however, was their night. Even though Li Xiaopeng stumbled a little in completing the very final discipline - the vault - the Chinese were celebrating. It marked an end to decades of team frustration.

"Ever since China had gymnastics we have actually worked hard for several generations. It was a team effort, getting this is a dream come true," said Yubin Huang, the team's coach. "We have fought for this for 40 years. We hope that we can take these aspirations into the new millennium, which we have. We think we should taste the fruits of the champagne."

They moved through the rotations with a calm certainty, silencing the noisy American support and pushing the Russian team into the tail end of the groupings. For a few moments, in the tunnel beneath the stadium, they cut loose, giving their coach the bumps and dancing in front of the cameras.

The Chinese came into this competition with their nation expecting nothing other than gold. Although Chinese athletes have won 21 Olympic gold medals, they have all been accumulated at individual events.

After emerging as world contenders in Moscow 19 years ago, they steadily established the reputation as being perennial bridesmaids, taking 11 silver and bronze team medals through the 1980s and early '90s. However, they claimed the world championships in Dortmund in 1994 and have retained that title since.

Last year, the present team took gold in Tianjin, China, thereby creating a massive wave of expectation that was realised in last night's performance.

From the outset, the six gymnasts seemed to realise that they owned the floor, high fiving and saluting their crowd after every discipline. It was a sobering experience for the traditional powers from Russia.

"Everything went not quite as expected," admitted team coach Leonid Arakev. "Our team was not in the best of health, but we did our best."

The Russians had been expected to provide China with its main opposition but instead languished in the lower half of the table for most of the competition. Instead, Japan duelled with the Chinese, while the Ukraine steadily maintained a medal position throughout.

Only a near perfect performance on the parallel bars by Alexi Nemov, the Russian team captain, secured the 1996 champions a bronze medal.

"We took third prize, there were mistakes, but I don't know sport without mistakes," said Nemov afterwards.

It was a disappointing night for the Russians, however. Alexey Bondarenko, one of the favourites for the men's individual all-round event, was subdued. Instead, Nemov, a survivor from the 1996 team, led the charge, finishing with an individual total of 58.423 points.

That was second only to Yang Wei's superb 58.048 total, that also marks him out as one to watch in the individual event.

The Americans had entered the final in the belief that they had an outside medal prospect. The first rotation had them on the floor and it was there they stayed, falling further out of contention as the competition progressed.

"We were just out there trying to do a job, we weren't really aware of what was going on around us. Yeah, we definitely had some medal hopes all right, but, you know, you go up there and you fight as hard as you can and wherever you end up, that's where you are. You can't complain," shrugged US gymnast Paul Hamm later.

Over the next two nights things will really begin to hot up in the Superdome. Every Games has its stories from the bars and floor of the gymnasium and still to shine this year is Russia's precocious Svetlana Khorkina, the unabashed team leader who took three firsts at the European championships earlier this year.

"To tell you the truth I do not think I have yet achieved my best," she promised before the Games. Also in action over the coming days will be Ivan Ivankov of Belarus, the most consistent all round performer of the last decade, but denied a medal at Atlanta through injury.