Lu Bo made his name by defeating Athens Olympic gymnast Yang Wei to snatch the men's gymnastics all-round gold medal at the 10th National Games Thursday evening.

Defending champion Yang, who is among top favorites for the title, suffered a stumbling start in the floor exercise when he committed major errors in almost all his tumbling series and got alow score of 8.667 points.

Lu, the new star who had super performances in the qualifications and the team final, tried to control the pressure in face of enthusiastic home fans and had glamorous displays on all the six apparatus.

Lu and Yang were both in a six-strong group which could be called "group of death" since it included almost all all-round hopefuls, including Feng Jing and Liang Fuliang, two top gymnastsin China without chance to compete in Athens Olympics.

Liang led his group in the first round with 9.634 points, followed by Lu in 9.384 points. Other gymnasts in the group all had major deductions because of flawed tumbling or landings, and none of them scored above 9.00 points.

In Lu's second rotation of vault, he was awarded 9.517 points, bringing him from sixth place in the first round to fourth place. Liang Fuliang and Liu Dinghe, another gymnast from Jiangsu, remained in the top place.

Lu began to catch the spotlight when he frog leaped to the top place in the third round, after earning as high as 9.80 points on rings.

Meanwhile, group leader Liang suffered a major setback when hisunder performance on rings and a stumbled landing earned him 8.10 points, sending him out of the top three players.

Yang, who was trying to climb out from his failed start in floor, narrowed distance with group leaders and appeared in sixth place after the vault round.

Lu in the roars of home fans, secured his grip on the first place in the remaining rounds.

In the last round, Lu, who was the last in the group to take tohigh bar, already knew the points to beat.

Though a popped landing cost him deductions, when the score of 9.467 appeared on the electronic screen, Lu's team mates burst into hugs of celebration even before the final results were announced.

"I have never dreamed of beating Yang Wei," said an excited Lu."I think the key to my victory is my stable state of mind. I have never put on pressure on myself and just did step by step in the competition," he said.

Yang, who settled for a silver medal after struggles, said he was sorry for the results, but he would continue to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Feng Jing ended up with the bronze at 56.818 points.