2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony: Passing The Torch To London

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The Guardian has a full writeup, with pictures, of the Beijing Olympics' spectacular closing ceremony, which passed the torch --not yet literally-- to London for the 2012 Olympics.

The 90,000-strong crowd gasped as the bus converted into the London skyline and X-Factor Leona Lewis emerged singing. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page also started playing in the background.

Then the moment the Chinese and many watchers across the world had been waiting for came - David Beckham appeared on the bus waving and smiling.

The world-famous icon, roared on by the Beijing crowd, lifted a football above his head and kicked it into the crowd.

The Mayor of London promised to fly the Olympic flag outside City Hall when he brings it home from China.

Comments

[chinationreport]

A 17 year old girl in America sent me an article about her feelings towards the Games. I was just so touched! She set three alarms in the night to get up and watch shows live on CCTV. She wonders why people don't appreciate the Games party that was delivered with great efforts and sacrifices­... she likens it with her mom's efforts of cooking Christmas dinner - She works hard just to give her guests a good time and get a 'thank you' and one week of leftover food. Why can't the West give a Thank You? A simple 'Thank You' without any attack!
Yes, I was born in China, but lived in Europe and now live in America. So what!! Does this make me a communist, if I say something that is fair and not in the trend of China bashing? It is shocking to hear that, in this free country, as soon as you open your mouth to criticize, you are labeled as anti-America, brainwashe­d... Misunderstanding China is not just bad for China, it is most importantly bad for YOU, YOUR CHILDREN, OUR WORLD. For this purpose, I created a website to inform about China from balanced sources: http://www.chinationreport.com/

[wondering]

Thankfully, this Olympics crap is over. It brings out the worst jingoistic tendencies in Americans of all stripes.

We have all witnessed some pretty ugly comments on this and other websites. What is wrong with you nutjobs? We are an insanely-wealthy, sports-crazed, hype-driven society with the third largest population on Earth. Our athletes are uber-humans jacked up by science, nutrition, and fitness regimens that can only be dreamed of in most places in the world. And yet, most fools in this country were glued to their sets every night memorizing the medal count like it was a biblical pronouncement.

I kept posting the most ridiculous sarcastic comments under each cheer-leading article, and apparently only a handful of folks got it. I don't expect much intelligence from 95% of the poorly educated, gun-totin, bible-thumpers that make up this country - but couldn't some of the readers coming to a supposedly progressive website like Huffpo have seen thru the hype?

Honestly, if it were easy to do, I'd move to Canada. I hear they've got a better health-care system anyway.

[bzdesk]

A profusion of contradictions.

From my "... poorly educated, gun-totin, bible-thum­ping..." America P.O.V , I'd say posting,

"... We are an insanely-wealthy, sports-crazed, hype-driven society ..."

and

"... I KEPT posting the most ridiculous sarcastic comments under EACH cheer-leading article...­" (caps iteration mine for emphasis :-)

is inherently self-evident .

PS: I cheered for every country I've had occasion to visit. Go World! Proud of Team USA!

[wondering]

Where's the contradiction?

The hyped-up importance given to the Olympics by the news outlets and citizens of this country is obscene. The essays and articles were mostly cheerleading, and the comments that followed mirrored this.

So I tried to goad a reaction by posting ridiculous comments of my own. Like, "We're Americans. We deserve those medals!" No one should have taken THAT seriously. But the jingoism kept coming.

How come so few others tried to point out the insanity? By your own admission, you were cheering along with all the rest. Did you never pause to consider how ridiculous it all was?

[Bftsplk]

I gave up trying to watch the closing ceremonies; I got tired of the numerous commercial interuptions and flashbacks while the ceremonies were ongoing. Why do we need NBC commentators constantly describing what we obviously can see?!? It's like having someone constantly making comments into your ear while you're trying to watch a film.

I hope the next coverage improves on this one and shows commercials only prior to or after the athletic coverage and, especially, the opening and closing ceremonies. I hope they do away with the interviews during athletic events; we don't need to get into the athletes' heads ("...and what were you thinking as you approached the finish line?" ... who cares!!) nor those of their families, we just want to see them perform what they practiced so long for. And get rid of the professional athletes (its like pitting Tiger Woods against the weekend golfer with no handicaps in considerat­ion)....

[MagisterLudi]

the best Olympics ... EVER......
The worst TV American coverage ... EVER

[kyvette68]

I watched a lot of the action on CBC which my cable provider carries here in Washington state. Thank God! NBC sucked it big time on coverage.

Check out this play by play article on the closing ceremonies. It is hysterical. I shot coffee out my nose reading it.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/story/2008/08/24/olympics-closing-ceremony.html

[Niceville]

When is the Huffington Post going to start posting the origin of comments?

When people from other countries come on this site and insult America, I would like to know what nation they're from.

It's a shame people would yell "censorship" if posters from other countries were simply blocked from posting.

At least, the HP could start posting the country of origin.

[MagisterLudi]

"When people from other countries come on this site and insult America.."
I am disparaging Olympic coverage by an American network station, not "America." Unable to tell the difference? Obviously. Besides, people who have never seen Olympic coverage in another country, are disqualified from commenting on this subject.

[realityczech4u]

What would be the benefit? So that you could post ad hominem, xenophobic attacks against posters whose POV is at variance with you own?

I am American and I agree with Magister wherever he is from. The Chinese did a magnificent job hosting the Olympics and have every reason to be very proud.

The TV coverage sucked. It was dominated by swimming and 'beach volley ball, as well as diving and some other 'major' sports. There was barely a glimpse of rowing shown, or table tennis, cycling, equestrian, or many of the other sports that make up summer Olympics. If these 'lesser' sports do not draw the ratings, then they could have been broadcast overnight.

[Amalek]

I certainly hope not. Is this an American's only website? Should we also require people to declare their religious affiliation, their political party, and there sexual orientation and of course their color and ethnic heritage. I am sure with one of those attributes you would find a reason to justify your hate.

[raker]

Late last night I was flipping the channels and came upon two Chinese Olympians playing table tennis. No Costas. No stories about their sick sisters or their cat's furballs. No breathless magpie yakking about gold and history and endorsements. Just a few minutes of intense competition by two talented athletes in a thrilling match. Just like the Olympics used to be. Bliss, in the high two-hundreds at two in the morning, nowhere to be found in prime time from Beijing.