Medal hopes for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team fell short Monday evening, as the team settled for a fifth place finish in the finals.


China dominated the evening, scoring 231.919 points to claim gold. Ukraine was second with 230.306 points and Russia was third with 230.019 points. Japan scored 229.857, the U.S. 228.983 and Romania was sixth with 227.543.

Blaine Wilson finished in eight place overall, but fell off high bar (9.050) and stepped out of bounds on floor (9.450). His best score, 9.775, came on parallel bars. Paul Hamm finished 13th overall and scored well on vault (9.725) and bars (9.762).

Steve McCain re-injured his right ankle on vault, but hung in to perform on parallel bars and high bar, scoring 9.70 and 9.725, respectively.

Sean Townsend’s 9.787 on parallel bars was the highest score for the U.S. men. In his last competition,

John Roethlisberger’s best score, 9.737, came on high bar. Morgan Hamm’s best was a 9.425 on rings.

Out of the six teams performing Monday night, the U.S. finished first on parallel bars. They finished fifth on every other event.

Alexi Nemov, (RUS) finished the night in first, Wei Yang of (CHN) was second and Naoya Tsukahara (JPN) was third overall.

The men’s all-around is Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.