The US women's gymnastics team has saved their highest start value for the finals, head coach Liang Chow said in Beijing on Sunday.

The US team finished second after two qualification rounds, following hosts China, after Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin's unexpected falls on uneven bars.

However, despite the mistakes, head coach Chow said he was still satisfied with his girls' job, specially with star gymnast Shawn Johnson's.

The 16-year-old, winner of three golds in the 2007 World Championships trained by Chow from childhood, was all-around first after qualifications rounds with a collection of 62.725 points.

"The qualifications are just the beginning. We did not apply our highest start values. You may see them in the finals," he said.

Hosts China and the star-studded US team are favorites for the team gold. Chow predicted that the final will be a very tough competition and it's hard to say which team has a bigger chance.

"Both teams are strong and the results largely depend on how they perform in the finals," he said.

Other members of the US team said the falls on uneven bars came as a surprise, but also are stimulus for them to band together and work harder for better results in the finals.

"We showed the world what we are here for. We made a few mistakes, but it's prelims - it's the best place to make mistakes," said Johnson, adding that the mistakes made the team more united and stronger.

Memmel said her fall on bars was a mistake, not a result of her ankle injury obtained days ago in a pre-game training.

"I'm not hurt. It was just a mistake I need to fix and I'll have to train harder," said Memmel, whose ankle injury diminished her role in the US team from possible all-round to the single event of uneven bars.

Liukin, who fell back after her dismount from the bars, also promised to fix the mistake in the finals. "It was my dismount, so I will have training tomorrow and I can fix it. I'm not concerned about it, I'm just concentrating on the finals. "

On her team's chance for a gold medal, she said: "We have four in our team for the finals, and you only have to find three strong girls for each event. We're confident we can come away with a good score."

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2008)