Athens, Greece (My Sportsbook) - The United States men's gymnastics team picked up its first Olympic medal in 20 years by finishing with the silver on Monday night.

Japan won the gold medal in the team competition, finishing .888 points ahead of the Americans. Romania took the bronze medal.

It was a strong showing for the U.S. men's squad of Jason Gatson, Morgan Hamm and twin brother Paul, Brett McClure, Blaine Wilson and Guard Young. The U.S. posted a score of 172.933. The Romanian team had 172.384.

"I, as well as my team am very excited to win the silver medal," said Paul Hamm. "This is the first time we've won a medal in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. We have made history here. I am now looking forward to competing in the all-around and individual events. We were fifth in Sydney and it has been a great accomplishment for us to stay toward the top in the last three years. This shows how strong the U.S. has gotten and we hope to keep this going in the future."

The Japanese team of Takehiro Kashima, Hisashi Mizutori, Daisuke Nakano, Hiroyuki Tomita, Naoya Tsukhara and Isao Yoneda weren't expected to win gold in this event, but managed to get by favorite China, which made some mistakes and a strong high bar routine clinched the victory.

"We were successful on all of the apparatuses," said Tomita. "We felt the pressure in the beginning, but the cheering of the spectators, the fans and also the teams gave us confidence. This teamwork made us fell confident and sent away the pressure."

It was a return to golden glory for the Japanese, as they had won the team competition in five straight Olympics through the 1976 Games in Montreal.

Romania had the lead until the final round, but had a difficult time on the high bar, especially Razvan Dorin Selariu, who caught his full twisting motion very close to the bar, pulling his weight down and falling off the bar.

Japan clinched the gold with a solid final rotation on the high bar as Kashima had a 9.825, Tomita a 9.850 and Yoneda a 9.787 score.

For the U.S. though it was an amazing run to the silver. It marked just the third team medal for the U.S. and its first at a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. The 1984 Los Angeles Games, in which the U.S. won the gold medal, were marred by a boycott.

"It was the most nerve-wracking event, and we knew we just had to stay on to win a medal," McClure said. "We didn't know we could move up to second place. It was awesome when we looked up at the scoreboard after we finished on high bar, and saw the score."

McClure and the Hamm brothers each had solid performances on the high bar at the end.

"I'm surprised you didn't see the high bar shaking when I was up there, because I was so nervous," added McClure. "I fought through my set, and I stuck the dismount. I didn't have quite the start value I had hoped, but I had no major deductions. That was my plan."

The weakest portion of the night's program for the U.S. was rings as they finished next-to-last in that competition, but they more than made up for that with a first-place showing on the parallel bars.

"It was a rollercoaster ride, but that's what makes a competition exciting. It was exciting from start to finish," said Team USA head coach Kevin Mazeika. "I give credit to all the teams for competing well, and most definitely to Japan. They did a great job."

As for the Chinese, they faltered early in the floor exercise with one athlete falling and another stepping out of bounds. China's fifth place finish was certainly a shock, especially considering the Chinese were the defending gold medalists.

"We had some problems. If we didn't have the mistakes we could have won," said Xu Huang. "We will be champions at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing."

The women's team competition takes place on Tuesday.