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Despite my lambasting them for the gymnastics age thing, congratulations to China for winning the Gold medal count and (IMO and the opinion of most I'm sure) having the best showing at the Olympics.

IMO this is the most memorable Olympic of all time. Michael Phelps, Lightning bolt, the Redeem team and the epic opening ceremony truly makes this a spectacular show. Good luck at topping this London.

The opening and closing ceremonies were quite stunning. I have to say I enjoyed these games, even though the time difference made it difficult to see a lot of events live. Everything went off smoothly, saw a lot of history being made, and just a very enjoyable time in general. I'm glad none of the political and air quality talk kept up once the games got underway. London is going to have to work hard to better this one.

Great even in Beijing, it was really impressive from the start to the end. One of the best opening ceremony for the century. Only bad thing? NBC sucks, I live in West Coast, we have to wait for like 3 hours to watch these so called "live" game on HD. NBC SUCKS.Anyone know if NBC going to be the only broadcaster in London?>

Congrats indeed for all involved in bringing these games to our homes. What a monumental task to accomplish. Imagine all the hard work, from the construction workers that build that Olympic village to the volunteers, to the performers and of course the coaches and athletes.

I doubt any city can top that presentation. It was great and a bit over the top and was EXTREMELY expensive. I don't think any city would be willing or can spend that kind of $$$.

I sure hope Chicago doesn't spend that much in 2016, if they get it.

i dont think the opening ceremony will ever be topped.
china has both the people and $.

In term of the opening/closing ceremonies, the venues, and even the performance of athletes, Beijing Olympic game is hard/impossible to top. It has set a new standard, and let's hope host cities from now on at least try to do a decent job when measure against it.

London, the world is watching you.

I love the games... Much props to China but more so the people/athletes who competed in the games. I loved the 4 pm montage that NBC has with the Dreamer song. I wish that they would have played it over agian or have it on youtube.

Finally some prop to the host nation. A nice change of pace from all the bashing that's happening in this forum. There is no other event can bring people around the world together like the Olympics. we should focus more on the positive aspect of the game rather than blown whatever imperfection we can find out of proportion. Sure we all have national pride, but there is more ways to show pride than to bring another country down. As a Chinese American, I feel proud for China for hosting such a memorable and successful Olympic game.

As for the game itself, I enjoyed watching all the different events very much. A nice change of pace from NBA, NFL, MLB, etc. I really wish American TV networks would show more volleyball, swimming, diving, gymnastics, and yes, even water polo. I feel a little sad that the game has ended, but all good things have to come to an end.

Its not just the logistics, organization and performances that made this Olympics special. The enthusiasm from the locals is going to be hard to top by any city. I remember sitting on a city bus where everyone was cheering for China's b-ball team against Germany, the atmosphere was EVERY where.

China spent 40 Billion dollars, this was an inventment not only in the games, but in the city itself and the country as a whole, with hopt for it to become more globalized in the eyes of world.

Did they accomplish that? Yes.
No other country will ever approach 40 Billion. The telling tale on these games, will not only be the games itself, but what ramifications (if any) would have lasting change on the country of China in gerneal. Many have speculated that the games would be in vain, and at the conclusion of the Olympics and Par-olympic games, the country will divert back to its 'old ways'. That is what is left to be seen.

As for the best Opening Ceremonies and Overall Olympics, I still have to say that Sydney was Better.
Like the IOC President said, these games were remarkable tho.

They definitely did an incredible job hosting the games. I live near Chicago, and if Chicago wins the 2016 bid, I'll be glad London is between now and then to lower the bar again

Very nice.

C U N Q (*quadrennium)

China really emphasized in opening and closing and all the cheerleader girls, how they just have SO MANY PEOPLE!!!!

It'll be interesting and scary to see what will happen with China in the coming years. Is China the waking giant we've been seeing, or will it stumble from it's own massiveness.

XcalibuR wrote:Its not just the logistics, organization and performances that made this Olympics special. The enthusiasm from the locals is going to be hard to top by any city. I remember sitting on a city bus where everyone was cheering for China's b-ball team against Germany, the atmosphere was EVERY where.

World Cup is usually much crazier, but i think this Olympics will easily beat the next WC in that department. I can't see the South Africans going crazy in 2010, and most importantly Beijing did do a very good job.

yeah, china did an amazing job and i'm pretty sure it will be long time before someone can top the organization and the structure they build for this games.

they were pretty good on and off the field.

london and the next cities to have an olympics are on a very tight spot.

Congrats China on winning all the golds, and putting on an amazing Olympics

It was really good. I've heard reporters actually there complain that the CHinese fans aren't as "festive" as other fans (I'm not sure you can totally blame this on the government--they ARE allowed to party within reason, they just aren't as outgoing) but the Olympics overall came across very well on TV so production-wise, China organized this specifically for maximum television presentation effect, and they achieved their goal both from a visually eye-popping standpoint and a technological one.

The Olympics were better than expected. Prior, you were convinced that pollution would kill at least 100 athletes, that the infrastructure would break down under the influx of foreigners, and that journalists would expose China as the new Third Reich or so. It still had some flaws, but I was pleasantly surprised. Chinese sure are organised.

Jaykoolzboy wrote:Great even in Beijing, it was really impressive from the start to the end. One of the best opening ceremony for the century. Only bad thing? NBC sucks, I live in West Coast, we have to wait for like 3 hours to watch these so called "live" game on HD. NBC SUCKS.Anyone know if NBC going to be the only broadcaster in London?>

IIRC NBC signed a contract for the next 3 olympic games (counting Beijing as the 1st) but I might be way off as well.

The Duke wrote:As for the best Opening Ceremonies and Overall Olympics, I still have to say that Sydney was Better.
Like the IOC President said, these games were remarkable tho.

though I didn't see any opening ceremonies of any olympic games live (I saw the Sydney one afterwards) I also have to say that Sydney 2000 are still the the olympic games that have to be topped and it will be tough to accomplish that.

I wonder how people think about Beijing 2008 after London 2012... IIRC a lot of people thought Athens 2004 were the best and after Sydney 2000 it was the same. there's no problem with that because the latest impressions are usually these that stick the most in your head but I wouldn't put too much stuff into Beijing 2008 if you ask me.

I don't think London 2012 is going to be that much of a drop off compared to these games. China basically built every single venue from scratch, whereas London will have a lot of venues ready. The opening ceremony won't be as good, but they will show the culture and history of the city. I also think the athletes and their perfromances make the games great. Everything else is just icing.