Deng, herself world champion on the apparatus in 2009, gave China their fourth gymnastics gold medal of the Games, an hour after Feng Zhe had won the parallel bars title.

Sui, competing first, pulled off a difficult routine but cried after Deng surpassed her by 0.1 points with a score of 15.600.

American Aly Raisman snatched the bronze medal from 2004 champion Catalina Ponor of Romania on a tiebreak after the judges increased the difficulty element of her score following a review requested by the US team.