Li Xiaopeng competes at the National Indoor Stadium yesterday. China leads the group competition. [Contact Press Images]

China's Olympic gymnasts said they took their inspiration from "Prince of Gymnastics" Li Ning, after taking the lead in the men's qualifying competition on Saturday.

Li, 44, lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony Friday, circling high above the spectators and hovering in mid-air to light the flame in a show-stopping, daredevil high-wire act.

"The feeling it gave us was of an older brother who was lighting the flame. It was very exciting and moreover it was on our own home soil," gymnast Zou Kai told reporters.

Li shot to fame at the 1982 World Cup in Zagreb and won the most medals of any athlete at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The Chinese men are undefeated on the world stage since failing to win a medal in Athens four years ago. They face intense pressure to win on home soil.

"Of course there is pressure -- the people of China want us to do well and we also want that. But the pressure can be motivating," he said.

The Chinese rose to first place after four apparatus. They finished first on four out of six apparatus -- pommel horse, rings, vault and parallel bars.

Yang Wei, two-time world championships all-around gold medalist, finished his routines almost perfectly but the parallel bars dealt him a setback when his left arm lost control to let his elbow hit the bar. He still nailed an individual first place with 93.875 points.

"Generally speaking, I am satisfied with my job today. But I feel sorry for my mistake on parallel bars," Yang said.

The mistake cost him a spot in the eight-man final in that event.

Li Xiaopeng, whose arm was seen bleeding after his parallel routine, scored 78.50 points on his four apparatus.

"The team is in high spirits now," he said.

Gao Jian, director of the gymnastics center of the General Administration of Sport, said he was happy with the start.

"All our gold hopefuls realized their goal of making the final," Gao said.

Hiroyuki Tomita, the leading figure on the gold-winning Japanese team in Athens, ended fourth as individual, with 91.90 points. He said he was not in form and that his mistakes on rings and vault cost him points.

"My body is very heavy, so many of the maneuvres are hard to complete. Sometimes, I can't do my best, but that happens very rarely," he said. "I must adapt myself for the competition before the final."

Agencies - Xinhua