BEIJING, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - US gymnast Jonathan Horton said Wednesday his injury-hit team would not allow red-hot favourites China to intimidate them in front of a partisan Beijing Olympics crowd.

Senior US team member Morgan Hamm threw down a further challenge to the host nation, saying they could choke under the weight of expectation as they did four years ago in Athens.

Horton said he was relishing his first Olympics, despite his team being regarded as gold medal long-shots after Athens all-around individual champion Paul Hamm pulled out of the Games due to a broken hand.

Horton said the pressure was off the US gymnasts, leaving the young team to relax as the Chinese bore the weight of expectations.

'If you stand there nervous and intimidated, you really can't enjoy it,' he told reporters. 'There's positives to being the underdog.'

'How cool a story would that be to stand up there and have our flag raised up when no one expects it?

'The Chinese are going to go out there and do an incredible job. They're just machines, they do have some awesome gymnastics ... I guess it can go both ways, the expectation can be putting some nerves on them or maybe they'll be pumped.'

Morgan Hamm, the absent champion's twin brother and the only survivor of the US squad that won silver in the team event in Athens, rated China as 'the team to beat' in Beijing.

'It?ll be an honor to compete with them,' he said.

'China?s an amazing team. That have some amazingly talented athletes and have proven that they?re at the top of the world.'

But he said China had also been unbackable favourities going into Athens but slumped to fifth position.

'There?s a lot of pressure on them to compete and to win and we?ll see how they do in the competition,' he said.

'I know before in Athens people said that they couldn?t get beat and they ended up not winning so the possibilities are out there, you?ve just got to try and capitalize on them.'

US men's coach Kevin Mazeika said his gymnasts could not dwell on the form of the world champion Chinese team.

'We're really focused on what we have control over and that's our gymnastics,' he said.