A wild night in the men’s gymnastics team final at the 2012 Summer Olympics ended in British delight, Japanese relief, American tears and Ukrainian disbelief. The world’s largest stage does funny things to world-class athletes—and officials.

After its performance in team qualifying, the U.S. team should have been a lock to find the medal podium in finals. Instead, it finished fifth after a dismal showing.

The Americans weren’t the only ones feeling the heat, as the judges huddled around a television screen to look at Japan’s final pommel horse routine, from Kohei Uchimura, after an inquiry made in a desperate attempt to get onto the medal podium.

In a final twist, the judges conceded to a Japanese appeal, raising Uchimura’s score enough to send Japan into second place past Great Britain and knock Ukraine out of third.

In the Olympics, mental acuity is vital, and any lack of it is magnified. Athletes train for years to get a chance on that stage, but the magnitude of the individual competition quickly becomes scary.

Thousands of fans stare. Millions more watch on TV. Journalists sharpen their pencils, looking to pounce on any miscues.

John Orozco.
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It was too much for the inexperienced Americans to handle on Monday in London. John Orozco in particular folded under the pressure, the expectations of greatness placed on his 19-year-old shoulders just too much.

The only person who delivered for the U.S. was 2008 veteran Jonathan Horton. He hit the scores he was supposed to hit, doing his job in the team competition.

Experience helps deal with the pressure, but regardless of age and past competition, it’s still a mind game. It was a game the British gymnasts won.

Britain was on the floor in its final rotation, and it put up the best team score of the night in the event to jump onto the podium. With a home crowd urging them on, the Brits delivered their nation’s best performance of the Olympics so far.

Gymnastics machine China also performed up to its level, taking the gold medal. Even though they got an early scare, the Chinese kept their composure and hit especially well in the second half of the competition. After performing like it was their first Olympics during the qualifying, the Chinese showed their defending-champion mettle in the final.

The Japanese were also on a roller-coaster. They, too, had a disappointing qualifying round but then were strong for most of the team final until their best gymnast, Uchimura, stumbled off the pommel horse on Japan's final routine.

Japan appeared to be off the podium when they appealed Uchimura’s pommel horse score. A Japanese coach stood with his arms crossed just feet from the judges as they deliberated.

It was always supposed to finish China first, Japan second and whichever team had a good day in third. It would have been embarrassing for Japan to not even win a medal.

Kohei Uchimura.
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In the end, there was little to no celebration from the Japanese when Uchimura’s score was revised. If anything, they looked relieved, finally able to exhale after what would have been an unacceptable result.

The Ukraine gymnasts, who had lost the bronze, didn't seem to know what to say. 

When everybody feels the pressure, it breeds chaos. But even out of the chaos on Monday at the men’s team finals, the end result was the expected one.

The U.S. can take solace in the fact that the individual event finals still remain. It can’t get much worse than the team result for the Americans, so maybe they can finally relax and hit their routines in the aftermath of a tough finish to the team event.