Sawt Falasteen - US men end Olympic medal drought with team gymnastics bronze

Malone, the veteran of a team featuring Paul Juda, Frederick Richard, Asher Hong and Stephen Nedoroscik, endured a horrendous qualifying round, actually apologising to his teammates after they finished fifth.

It was the USA's first men's team medal since they also took bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"This is incredible," said Malone, who just 16 months ago suffered career-threatening knee injuries in a horizontal bar fall at an event in Germany.

"Coming off the day I had Saturday, that was probably one of my worst competitions I've ever had," said Malone, who was still wearing a cumbersome knee brace for some events when he won a third US all-around title in June.

"But being able to reel it back in for the team when it mattered is just everything."

The US team score of 257.793 was 1.801 points behind gold medallists Japan, who snatched the gold from China on their final apparatus, the horizontal bar.

The Americans arrived at their final apparatus, pommel horse, with a 1.798-point lead over Ukraine for bronze.

Juda delivered a strong 13.900. Malone, who had scored 12.100 on the horse in qualifying, stepped up to score 13.700.

Nedoroscik, a pommel horse specialist who made the Olympic team specifically for the one event, held his nerve to close out the rotation with a score of 14.866 and as he left the podium was hoisted into the air by his jubilant teammates.

"I had my coach by my side and he does a great job of taking the nerves out of (me)," the bespectacled Nedoroscik said.

"But these guys hit every routine before me and I have a statistic: when people hit before me, I also hit (my routine).

"So I went out there and did my job and I enjoyed the moment."

G.AbuOdeh--SF-PST