ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Overshadowed and all but forgotten for the last 20 years, the American men are letting everyone know they're finished being afterthoughts.

To anyone. From any country.

Rebounding from a rocky start, the U.S. men turned the World Gymnastics Championships into a raucous coming-out bash Sunday. Ripping off one dazzling routine after another, they had the Arrowhead Pond rocking with whistles and chants of "U-S-A!, U-S-A!'' as they cruised to a first-place finish in the preliminaries.

Another night like this, and they'll have a gold medal. Either that, or a noise citation.

"It shows what this team is capable of,'' said Ron Galimore, men's program director for USA Gymnastics. "We had a plan, and this shows it's working. It shows the direction and the depth of the program and the character and heart of the gymnasts.''

The United States finished prelims with 227.743 points, almost seven-tenths of a point ahead of second-place Japan. Olympic champion China was third and Romania was fourth. Perennial powerhouse Russia was in sixth.

The most stunning finish was Belarus, who faltered after losing a gymnast to an Achilles' tendon injury midway through Saturday night's competition. The world champs not only missed the team finals, they missed an Olympic spot by just 0.012 points.

The top eight teams advanced to Tuesday night's finals, while the top 12 qualified for Athens.

Scoring starts over for the eight-team finals Tuesday night, and the format is different. Only three gymnasts compete on each apparatus, and all three scores count. That means no room for mistakes or slow starts.

But the Americans will take the floor oozing with confidence, knowing they've already shown they're the best in the world.

"It doesn't mean squat if we can't back it up on Tuesday,'' said five-time U.S. champ Blaine Wilson, who's had a front-row seat for the transformation from losers to heavy medal monsters.

Suddenly, it's the men who are America's brightest hopes. The women were expected to challenge for gold, too, but they began competition late Sunday with a depleted roster after losing vault specialist Annia Hatch and reigning world beam champion Ashley Postell.

That's quite a change from the past two decades. All but ignored since the days of Bart Conner and Kurt Thomas, they've spent the last two years swearing that their silver medal at the 2001 worlds wasn't a fluke.

The expectations were huge, and the cheers started building as soon as the standard-bearer carrying the "U-S-A'' sign was spotted. By the time the men entered the Pond, the standing crowd had drowned out the public address announcer.

Overwhelmed by the moment, the Americans got off to a rough start. Wilson and Morgan Hamm had slip-ups on the floor. Morgan Hamm scored just a 8.662, shockingly low for someone who was a finalist in the event at the Sydney Olympics.

Things got even worse on the next event, the pommel horse. The horse has always been Wilson's weakest event -- it cost him a sixth national title in June -- and Sunday was no different. Losing his grip midway through his routine, he went skidding off the horse, bumping his back in the process.

Then Morgan Hamm landed his dismount on his head. Suddenly, the Americans' golden hopes were looking a little tarnished.

"We have a strong team that if someone makes a mistake, someone will cover for them,'' Morgan Hamm said. "Once we got calmed down, we were rocking.''

Rocking they were. After Brett McClure settled the team with a serviceable, if not overwhelming pommel horse routine, the Americans went into full show-off mode. They didn't score lower than a 9.2 the rest of the way, and many of their routines were the most impressive displays of strength and skill of the meet.

"I'd say we're a dangerous team,'' said Stacy Maloney, the Hamms' coach. "We got everyone's attention, including China. When I was over there, I had people telling me there was no way we could beat them. But I think there is.''

National champ Paul Hamm finished in second place overall, qualifying for Thursday's all-around final. Joining him will be Jason Gatson, the feel-good story of the team. After blowing out his knee twice in the last five years, Gatson's career should have been over.

Yet there he was, in fourth place overall. His still rings routine was nothing short of spectacular. As he did a Maltese, holding himself parallel to the ground with his arms extended, his body was so perfectly flat he could have balanced a glass of water on his back without spilling a drop.

When he lost his rhythm on a handstand on the parallel bars and his legs flopped backward, he didn't fall off like many other gymnasts would. He simply swung himself back up and moved into his next trick, finishing with a 9.512.

"Today was as good as any other meet I've been to in years,'' Gatson said. "It was the highlight of my career, for sure. It was a totally different feeling going out there, and I don't think I've peaked yet.''

The same can be said for the rest of the Americans. There are plenty of small improvements they can make. A couple of big ones, too.

Paul Hamm has one of the best high bar routines in the world, with four release moves in a row. But he slipped off the bar after the first one Sunday, and had to drop off. He isn't likely to do that again Tuesday.

"Everyone had a little bit of a rough first meet. But to see we finished first is a pretty good sign,'' he said. "In some respects, it shows how good we are.''