"I snapped pretty crooked on the board. I had one foot on the beam and I stepped back but there was nothing for my foot to stand on. I guess it was just a little bit hard (to recover after the fall) ... It affected me on the floor."

Her floor problems triggered smaller errors by the next two gymnasts, with both Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin stepping beyond the white line and the Americans finished 2.375 points behind China's winning total of 188.900.

US team co-ordinator Martha Karolyi said Sacramone, who usually provides the shoulder for others to cry on, was a naturally emotional person and although she usually kept a lid on her nerves, this time she was unable to overcome them.

"She is the type of person after not doing the job on the beam, was (unable to) turn the page and was down on herself," Karolyi told reporters.

Chellsie Memmel said after the US women won the silver team medal that she had competed with a broken bone in her right ankle. The 2005 world gymnastics champion hurt the ankle during training on Aug 4, but competed on uneven bars in both the preliminaries and Wednesday's team finals.

"I have mixed emotions," she said. "I would have loved to compete on four events, but the silver medal for my team is great."

The Americans expected to put Memmel up on all four events during qualifying, but that became impossible after she hurt her ankle. She was still able to do uneven bars, though, because it doesn't put much pressure on the ankle, and the Americans badly needed her score on the event. Memmel won the world title on bars in 2003, and has one of the most difficult routines in the world.

"I just had to believe in myself and know that I could do it," she said. "That's exactly what I did."

Agencies