Already, London, which is up next in hosting the games by 2012, have its mayor Boris Johnson almost half-apologetically expressing to the effect that the next instance of the Olympiad would be quite modest compared to the just finished Chinese version. Says Johnson thru the BBC, "This is not going to be a cost-cutting Olympics, but it is essential we watch every penny to deliver a Games that is value for money."
Olympic Medal Tally Results
The top 5 countries dominating the games were the USA, China, Russia, Great Britain, and Australia. Germany, France, South Korea, Italy and the Ukraine rounds up the top 10.
Overall, there were 87 countries that ranked with a medal out of the 204 states that participated for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Catch the Games results and other Olympic statistics in detail at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) website.
The Philippine Performance
The Philippine delegation did not succeed in bringing in any medals in the official Olympic competitions. However, Filipinos have a consolation in Wushu athlete Willy Wang who brought home a gold for the demonstration sport.
This is the second gold for the Philippines in a non-official sport in the Olympics. The first one was bagged by celebrated bowler Arianne Cerdeña during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
With another medal-less Olympic campaign the Philippine government pledges to overhaul the sports program of the country.
Bolt and Phelps Victorious
The athletes who stood out at the Beijing Olympics were of course, Michael Phelps of the USA and Jamaica's Usain Bolt.
Michael Phelps has now reached legendary status for taking 8 golds in swimming, breaking 4 world records as an individual and helping to break 3 more records in the men's relay events. Phelps now stands as the person with the most gold medals for a single Olympics, overshadowing his predecessor and compatriot Mark Spitz.
Usain Bolt ran away (literally and figuratively) with 3 gold medals corresponding to 3 world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay track and field events. He is the world's fastest man despite the disapproving remarks of IOC President Jacques Rogge's regarding Bolt's bragging attitude over his wins.
The Beijing Olympic Games will be a memorable celebration for the 10,000 athletes who played in the events and the tens of thousands more who presented the pageantry, the fireworks, the men and women flying on strings, the neon-lit monocycles and the singers and dancers who represent the billions of dollars spent for hosting the 2008 Olympics. For the millions of viewers worldwide who watched the games on TV, special effects and lipsyncing aside, and anticipated the results on the Web (over 16 million tuned in at IOC's You Tube channel), the Beijing experience is finally over. We can now go on with our lives undistracted by what was the most fantastic hosting of the Olympics in all of history.
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