Fireworks explode over the National Stadium during the closing ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Sunday. (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)Sixteen days, 204 countries, thousands of athletes, 43 world records and countless lasting memories.
The Beijing Games officially came to an end Sunday with the closing ceremony, as China said goodbye to the world with a spectacular show featuring fireworks, song and dance and the athletes themselves.
It was a fitting end to an Olympics that shone on China, a country with a poor record of human rights and where the government's wariness of dissent and free speech has not wavered, but also a nation that opened itself to the world for these Games.
The International Olympic Committee, whose selection of Beijing as host in 2001 was widely criticized by the global community, said its choice had been vindicated.
"Tonight, we come to the end of 16 glorious days which we will cherish forever," IOC president Jacques Rogge told the capacity crowd at the National Outdoor Stadium and the global TV audience.
"Through these Games, the world learned more about China, and China learned more about the world. These were truly exceptional Games," Rogge said, before declaring the Olympics officially closed.
Liu Qi, the head of the Beijing organizing committee echoed Rogge's sentiments, saying the Games were a "testimony to the fact that the world has rested its trust in China."
Human rights groups disagreed
"The reality is that the Chinese government's hosting of the Games has been a catalyst for abuses, leading to massive forced evictions, a surge in the arrest, detention and harassment of critics, repeated violations of media freedom, and increased political repression," said Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch.
"Not a single world leader who attended the Games or members of the IOC seized the opportunity to challenge the Chinese government's behaviour in any meaningful way."
The closing ceremony also looked ahead, to the 2012 Games in London.
Rock musician Jimmy Page's electric guitar seared through the Bird's Nest Stadium as English pop star Leona Lewis sung the Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love. English soccer star David Beckham then emerged and kicked a soccer ball into a crowd of performers on the stadium floor.
Karen Cockburn, who won a silver medal in the women's trampoline event, served as Canada's flag-bearer, leading the Canadian contingent of athletes onto the stadium floor.
The Beijing Games marked Canada's third-best performance at the Olympics — Canada won 22 medals in 1996 in Atlanta and 44 in 1984 in Los Angeles, which were boycotted by the Soviet Union and several Eastern Bloc countries.
"The Chinese have not only put on a great show tonight, they also did an excellent job overall. This was China's Olympics, it was well-deserved, and it is effecting positive change here," Canadian kayaker Adam van Koeverden told CBC Sports.
The show came to a close with a duet featuring Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and Chinese soprano Song Zuying, followed by a barrage of fireworks and confetti that filled the air.
