‘DON’T shoot the messenger,’ exclaim the Chinese gymnasts accused of ambush marketing at the Asian Games who find themselves in considerable amount of hot water in Guangzhou.

HOT WATER: Teng Haibin (L) and Lu Bo (R) make a gun-shaped hand gesture on the gymnastics podium at the Asian Games (Reuters)

China have won 13 of the 14 gold medals on offer in the gymnasium and plenty of gold and silvers to boot – so they have been permanent fixtures on the podium.

And a handful of them have been making rather peculiar hand gestures – resembling a gun-shape, but also not too dissimilar to the sports manufacturer named Li Ning, after the three-time Olympic champion.

As Li Ning is not an Asian Games sponsor, the Chinese team is being investigated for ambush marketing by the Olympic Council of Asia.

Men’s all-around gold medallist Teng Haibin may have landed his team in hot water after he wasn’t exactly discreet about the gesture following his victory on Monday.

“This is a gesture that’s required as part of the deal with our sponsor,” he said, explaining that it was meant to resemble Li Ning’s “L” shaped logo.

But Chen Yibing and He Kexin have tried to pour cold water on the situation, insisting the gesture has been completely misunderstood.

“The gesture looks like the letter ‘l’, the first letter of the English word love, so it means love,” Olympic rings champion Chen said.

He added: “We decided to do that together before the competition as a celebration gesture, nothing (about) business, just for fun.”

Nice try but those hand gestures look like smoking guns to me.

Posted: Wednesday 18th January 2012 | 0:13

THEY won’t be the first tears shed in Olympic year but that didn’t make it any less heartbreaking to watch.

DISAPPOINTED: Great Britain’s self-funded rhythmic gymnatics team will not compete at the London 2012 Olympics after missing the qualifying standard (gbrhythmicgroup.co.uk)

Six girls, all in their teens, saw their hopes of representing Great Britain at London 2012 evaporate at the 02 Arena, relegating them from aspiring Olympians to mere spectators this summer in a quick and ruthless swipe.

Team GB officials – determined to only award prized host nation places to athletes capable of credible performances – had set a stiff but achievable target for Great Britain’s rhythmic gymnastics team.

But they fell just 0.273 short of their 45.233 target score, a rather specific 82 percent of the Italian team’s winning mark at last year’s World Championships, at the gymnastics test event.

Sequins and smiles are prerequites for performance in a sporting discipline that combines athleticism with artistry but the tears that flowed after it was realised their score was not enough cannot be compared to a former Emmerdale actress talking about ‘her journey’ after being dumped off Strictly.

This was pure emotion and crushing disappointment stripped bare for all to see, the sense of loss bordered almost on grief.

In the stands their helpless parents, who have raised thousands to aid the self-funded team with their Olympic ambitions, were equally distraught.

Even Tim Jones, British Gymnastics performance director, struggled to maintain a stiff upper lip and dabbed a moist eye.

They say it’s worse to lose in the semis than the Cup Final, being so close to a once-in-a-lifetime home Olympics is much more devastating and this story will only be repeated in many trial events being staged in the months ahead.

To their credit, crushed team members – including impressive captain Rachel Smith, just 18, didn’t hide but faced up to their disappointment – an example a few Premier League managers could do with following.

But they begged and implored the BOA to think again, to consider the huge improvements they have made and the marginal manner of their qualifying standard near miss.

It will be interesting to see how Team GB react but they will rightly make no excuses for demanding high standards.

Too often in the past host national Olympic committees have abused automatic qualification privileges to field teams or athletes who deny others, much more accomplished, their rightful place at the Games.

There is a fine line between using the Olympics to build up a sport’s profile and setting it back because the performances are not up to the standard the big stage deserves.

Britain’s rhythmic gymnastics team, who train under coach Sarah Binding at the University of Bath, will claim there are other upcoming competitions where they could still achieve the target they were set.

But the indications are that Team GB officials will be ruthless, fearful of the precedent it will set, having agreed strict and binding selection criteria in advance with a host of sports and athletes.

The sad fact is for all in the team their Olympic dream is now over – not just for London but probably for life.

Great Britain are currently some way short of the standard needed to qualify without relying on a hosts’ invite and without funding from UK Sport, the road to Rio does not appearing easy travelling.

©  2011

MORE COLUMNS BY SPORTSBEAT’S JAMES TONEY

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LONDON 2012: Twelve Team GB gold medal bankers for 2012

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LONDON 2012: Olympic posters are just too easy to mock

LONDON 2012: Lessons from the past after Olympic Stadium decision

GREAT Britain’s Beth Tweddle says she can retire from gymnastics a happy woman after securing bronze in the London 2012 women’s uneven bars final – Team GB’s first-ever medal in the individual event.

BRONZE MEDAL: Beth Tweddle win’s bronze in the women’s uneven bars to heal Beijing hurt

Three-time world champion Tweddle, Britain’s most successful gymnast ever, posted a score of 15.916 after a difficult routine – but an unstable landing denied her a different coloured medal.

However the 27-year-old, who plans to retire following London 2012, insists she is over the moon to finally secure an Olympic medal after finishing an agonising fourth in Beijing.

She said: “This is the one medal that I wanted to finish my career. It was the one that was missing from my collection; I wasn’t bothered what colour it was.

“It is my third Olympics, everyone knows I wanted this one medal to be able to finish my career happy. This was the one thing that was missing.”

Russian Aliya Mustafina took home the gold with a huge 16.133 as title holder He Kexin settled for silver with 15.933, and Tweddle had a nervous wait as she sat in second place with three gymnasts still to go.

The USA’s double-Olympic champion Gabrielle Douglas couldn’t add to her fantastic medal haul from London as she finished in last place and ensured the Brit held on to third place.

There was no doubt as to who the home crowd had been supporting, with Tweddle receiving a rapturous reception from the North Greenwich Arena crowd as she signed off her career in style.

And the South African-born Brit admits her fairytale ending looked in danger after pre-Olympic surgery on a knee injury cast doubt on her quest for home glory.

“Twelve weeks ago I couldn’t think about competing here. I cried myself to sleep back then because I thought it was the end of my Olympics,” she said.

“Tonight it will be easy to sleep, because I have a medal.”