Compare this to the American team, older, taller, plucky, yet seemingly more human.

Nastia Lukin and Shawn Johnson both stumbled at critical points, and Alicia Sacramone's angst was genuine as she faltered.

Yet only a few minutes later, most of them were gabbing like typical American teenagers, the pain of defeat temporal. And you know Sacramone won't be haunted by this for too long. She'll rebound back and get up again

annual injury rate of 4.8 per 1,000 gymnasts.

Simply said, gymnastics is a dangerous sport.

If your son or daughter wants to participate in gymnastics, especially at a competitive level, chances are you'll deal with an injury at some point or another.

There will be injuries in gymnastics. It's the nature of the sport.

injuries in children ages six to 17

between 1990 and 2005.

(82 percent) were female.

ughly five out of every 1,000 gymnasts were injured enough to require acute care

older children were more likely to be hurt

it is importnat that the gymnast knows what he is doing. The gymnast shouldn’t attempt to try moves that he hasn’t practiced yet

Most times, injuries occur because some of the muscles involved in the execution of a trick are not strong enough to withstand the stress placed on the joints during movement. This often happens to children whose bones are still in the process of growing. The most common of these injuries are sprained or twisted ankles, which occur when the small but vital muscles that run down from the calf to the foot are not tough enough to cushion the joint underneath. To prevent sprained and twisted ankles, the muscles surrounding them should be trained and conditioned regularly.

17-year-olds typically strained or sprained their lower limbs

. But in terms of catastrophic injuries like neck breaks, it ranks right up there with ice hockey

"It's unfair that people keep saying the Chinese are too young to compete,"

Half of the team - He Kexin, Yang Yilin, Jiang Yuyuan - is under age if online sports registration lists in China are correct. The international gymnastics federation, however, said those gymnasts were eligible and that the ages on their passports were correct.

China's floor routines were not perfect, but they were good enough to win.

The aftermath of the competition can also be emotionally difficult, and neither team faced easy questions after the competition.