Johnson beat her friend and teammate on the balance beam, the last women's gymnastics event at the Beijing Games

"I finished off the Olympic Games with, to me, the most perfect ending ever," Johnson said, beaming as she tugged at the ribbon around her neck. "To finally get the gold medal ... on my very last routine meant the world to me."

And it means the Americans will be strutting home with more bling than Diddy.

Johnson already had three silvers, including one from the all-around, where Liukin won gold. Together, the women have won eight medals. Throw in Jonathan Horton's silver on the high bar Tuesday night, and the Americans are leaving Beijing with 10 medals. That's the most they've won at a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932, when rope climbing and Indian clubs still got you medals.

"It just shows how strong we are," said Liukin, who won five medals. "We went out there and showed we are the best. Going 1-2 in the all-around, that's never been done by the United States. The Americans have never had 1-2 on beam before, either. And 2-3 on floor isn't too bad.

"It's definitely been a very successful Olympics for us."

For the Chinese men, it was a rout. Li Xiaopeng won the parallel bars gold and Zou Kai got his third gold with a victory on high bar Tuesday night, giving the Chinese men a whopping seven gold medals. Yes, that's every gold but one. And had the Chinese qualified a man in that final, they very well could have swept the top podium spot.

Quite a turnaround from four years ago, when China went to Athens as the overwhelming favorite and left with two measly medals, only one gold. The seven golds here tie the Soviet Union (1956 and 1988) for most at a single Olympics.

"Four years ago, we had a large failure and we blamed ourselves," China coach Huang Yubin said. "But today, we are all proud of ourselves."

Johnson arrived in Beijing as gymnastics' latest "it" girl, the reigning world champion who had lost only one event in the past two years. It wasn't a question of if she'd win gold, but how many. Team? All-around? Balance beam? Floor?

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