THE United States team won the gold medal in the women’s artistic gymnastics final, their first title since the 1984 Los Angeles Games Russia, runners-up to the US at last year’s World Championships, finished second, with European champions Romania pipping 2008 Olympic champions China to the bronze medal.

Great Britain finished a highly creditable sixth, behind Canada in fifth.

That was Britain’s best Olympic gymnastics team result in the post-war era.

Britain’s women were unable to match the achievements of their male counterparts who won Olympic team bronze on Monday, but that was never expected against gymnastics powerhouses China, Russia, United States and Romania.

Beth Tweddle, Hannah Whelan, Imogen Cairns, Rebecca Tunney and Jennifer Pinches scored 170.495, surpassing the seventh place Britain achieved - in the absence of the boycotting Soviet block countries - at the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

Britain’s only women’s Olympic team medal was won at the 1928 Games with a squad of 12 gymnasts.

The result comes after GB narrowly missed out on a place in the final four years ago in Beijing where they finished ninth.

Three-time world champion Tweddle stepped up to the apparatus and nailed her routine with a twisting double-double finish to save the best until last with a score of 15.833 - and move Britain up into sixth place ahead of Italy and Japan.