Talk about a Hollywood ending in yesterday's team finals in men's gymnastics at the Beijing Olympics. You had a Chinese team avenging with extreme prejudice the drubbing it had received in the 2004 Athens Games. You had a Japanese team that faltered horrifically, only to pull the silver from the jaws of defeat. And you had an American team that, with the loss of two star gymnasts to injuries, was counted out of medal contention by many observers, only to snag the bronze. (Here's the video of the finals, and here are some pics.)

This U.S. team truly showed America as its best: diverse, full of spirit and camaraderie, underdogs dreaming big. Kevin Tan, the son of Chinese-born immigrants, now representing America at Beijing. Joe Hagerty, whose father Mike was watching from the stands at Beijing in halo, still recovering from a serious car accident. Raj Bhavsar, an alternate in 2004 and again this Olympics, only to step in after Paul Hamm's injury to become one of the team's most consistent performers.

And Alexander Artemev, the son of an Russian gold medalist, who was originally selected as an alternate because he was thought to be too erratic to depend on. Artemev had a chance to redeem himself with the team's very last performance of the day, and he did so with a jaw-dropping turn on the pommel house, successfully fending off a last-minute challenge from Germany for the bronze.

If this American team has embodied the spirit of the Games, Spain's basketball team has shown its opposite. In this full-page, pre-Olympics ad in the country's largest newspaper, the men's team is shown making slit-eyed gestures on a basketball court emblazoned with a Chinese dragon.

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen