BEIJING - American gymnast Jonathan Horton left the mat at National Indoor Stadium on Thursday thinking he'd just executed the six best routines of his life.

So he walked away from a solid ninth-place finish in the men's gymnastics all-around competition at the Beijing Olympics with two thoughts: to add a fourth release move to his high bar routine for the individual event finals and train for the 2012 London Games.

"The difference between me being on the podium and not was four-tenths of a point, which is (one) landing," Horton said after China's Yang Wei dominated the field with trick after trick to win gold with 94.575 points.

Japan's Kohei Uchimura won the silver at 91.975. France's Benoit Caranobe, surprised and in tears after seeing the final results, earned the bronze at 91.925.

Horton, out of Houston, scored 91.575 while teammate Alexander Artemev, of Morrison, Colo., finished 12th at 90.675.

The U.S. men won a bronze medal Tuesday in the team competition without U.S. veterans Paul and Morgan Hamm, so Thursday's competition pushed Horton, who placed fourth in the all-around in the 207 World Championships, and Artemev out even further on the pressure-packed Olympic stage.

"It's my first Olympics and I couldn't be more proud of my team and myself and how we did," the 22-year old Horton said. "I have no regrets. I did everything I could today and I had fun."

Artemev, 22, said he'd finally disproved a long-held theory about him.

"I needed to show what I was capable of at nationals and trials and all they saw was me falling," he said. "I had to prove myself here. It definitely changed everyone's perspective of me."

Horton and Artemev also kept a close eye on a confident Yang as he celebrated his victory. Yang couldn't help himself after he landed his dismount, with the smallest of baby hops, on the horizontal bar in his final rotation.

Yang held his arms out wide and nodded his head like Russell Crowe in "Gladiator" while he soaked in the boisterous approval of the partisan home-country crowd.

"I was looking at Yang and thinking that's cool; that's going to be me in four years," Horton said. "I want to get in the gym and learn new skills because it's going to take every bit of time to get it done for London."

Horton and Artemev will also represent the U.S. in the individual event finals. Artemev competes in the pommel horse on Sunday. He won bronze in the pommel at the 2006 World Championships.

Horton, who competes in the horizontal bar on Tuesday, tried to play sly about his routine and which release move he'll add until someone told him his coach had already spilled the beans. He'll add the "Chassina."

"I can do that really clean but if we add it, it will give me the same start value as Fabian (Hambuechen of Germany)," Horton said. "If I hit the routine and stick the dismount I'll be on that medal podium."