Failing on foreign soil was humiliating enough, but failing at home in the Olympics? For China's gymnasts it was unthinkable.
Four years after leaving Athens with a solitary gold in their possession, the Asian superpower learned from their mistakes and steamrollered their rivals in Beijing.
After scooping nine titles, including both team crowns, it was just as well they were competing at home since their stash of gold could have led to some serious excess baggage charges.
China's performance in the National Indoor Stadium easily surpassed their previous best tally of five golds in Los Angeles in 1984. Not since the days of the Soviet Union has a single nation dominated the competition with such authority.
"After the failure in Athens, we put all the critical media articles up on the walls of our gyms," said Hu Yubin, one of the coaches for the men's team.
It had the desired effect on Yang Wei and his team mates, who went on to dazzle the judges and fans with their eye-catching exhibition of strength, technique and sheer determination.
After masterminding China's triumph in the team event, man of the moment Yang finally laid his demons to rest by seizing the Olympic all-around crown on his third attempt.
"Our success this time can be attributed to our better understanding of the new rules and executing accordingly," coach Bai Yuanshao said after the hosts took all but one men's event.
SCORING SYSTEM UNDER FIRE
The rules may have helped China to win seven of the eight men's title up for grabs, but their flaws were exposed in the women's asymmetric bars final.
Four years after a spate of disputed medals overshadowed the gymnastics competition in Athens, the revamped open-ended scoring system came under fire.
American Nastia Liukin earned 16.725, the same as champion He Kexin, but thanks to a convoluted tiebreak system was denied a gold on her signature apparatus.
"They're saying they improved the scoring system. Look at this ... that makes no sense," coach Bela Karolyi fumed while commentating on the NBC network.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said it had no choice but to implement the tiebreak since the International Olympic Committee rules state dual medals can no longer be awarded in gymnastics.
FIG president Bruno Grandi promised to address the problems with the new system, which replaced the old "perfect 10" format.
"The Code is in a permanent evolution. Various domains will be improved," he told Reuters.
At least Liukin had the consolation of winning the biggest prize in the sport, the all-around crown.
Her team mate Shawn Johnson had been expected to be the star of the show after winning three world titles in Stuttgart last year. But she had to wait until her final routine, on the balance beam, to strike gold and end a run of winning three silvers.
The Chinese women, constantly dogged by suggestions that three of their members were underage, added only one apparatus title to their haul with 16-year-old He's success on the bars.