The Party is Over

China got 51 gold medals and totally 100 medals.

Some final thoughts - comments from NBC

Never before have the modern Olympic Games arounsed more anticipation on the sheer basis of their location. Not for Moscow and its built-in political turmoil, not for Los Angeles at a time when the future of the Games was at stake, not even for Athens, the return of the Games to Greece in the shadow of the war on terror. No, this was something different, somthing bigger, because of China's dramatically growing importance to world politics and economy, and even more, because of the symbolism this ambitious society would attach to the games. So regardless of whether Michael Phelps could master his daunting challenge, regardless of whether Yao Ming or Liu Xiang could produce star quality heroics for the home country, regardless of how many photographs Kobe Bryant could pose for in the land where he is king, the ultimate story would be China. Would their games become an ad-hoc forum for global protest? There were storm warnings during the torch relay but in the end the answer was NO. These were subjects for playing fields other than the Olympics. Would their opening ceremony outstrip all of its predecessors? It's been nitpicked for a couple of deceptive elements, but the answer was a resounding YES. The budget was vast and every expenditure was visible. Would their heat and pollution problems comprise the outdoor competitions? Whether become of extraordinary preventive measures or maybe just extraordinary luck, it DIDN'T happen. Would the host country rise up to win the medal count? If the subject is gold, the answer again, is YES. So it is one of the biggest stories in Olympic history, the International Olympic Committee, the international community and the world's largest country all rolled the dice, and against a lot of expectations, everybody won.