Olympics Aug. 25, 2008 - 07:06AM JST ( 69 )

BEIJING —

A celebrity ensemble, featuring guitar legend Jimmy Page of the rock band Led Zeppelin, electrified the audience at the Bird’s Nest national stadium on Sunday as the curtain was lowered on the Beijing Olympics.
   
Big-name Asian entertainers including South Korean pop singer Rain performed in front of about 90,000 spectators after London, host of the next Summer Games in 2012, added to the glitz and glamour with its own cast of stars to celebrate the changeover.
   
England soccer icon David Beckham was one of several famous celebrities to take part in the ceremony, as well as British pop singer Leona Lewis, who sang Led Zeppelin’s ‘‘Whole Lotta Love’’ with Page on guitar on a stage atop a double-decker London bus.
   
The Beijing Olympic theme of ‘‘One World, One Dream’’ turned out a success despite predictions of gloom and doom, including whispers of terrorist plots and complaints of air pollution ahead of the competition in which more than 10,500 athletes from a record 204 national delegations participated.
   
As is customary for the closing ceremony, athletes entered the stadium en masse without distinction of nationality after flag bearers of all participating delegations emerged into the arena from two sides and formed a circle around the center stage.
   
The last victory ceremony at the Beijing Olympics—for the men’s marathon—was held with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge presenting the medals to winner Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya, runner-up Jaouad Gharib of Morocco and Ethiopian Tsegay Kebede who came third.
   
Rogge, who later declared the Games of the 29th Olympiad closed, said, ‘‘These were truly exceptional Games.’‘
 
‘‘Through these Games, the world learned more about China and China learned more about the world. Athletes from 204 national Olympic committees came to these dazzling venues and awed us with their talent,’’ Rogge said.
   
The handing over of the Olympic flag from Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong to London Mayor Boris Johnson officially signaled the moment at which the British capital took over as the host of the 2012 Games.
   
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in attendance despite being criticized by human rights activists for not boycotting the closing ceremony.
   
Renowned Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, who was chief director of the Aug. 8 opening gala, also directed the closing ceremony during which the Olympic Flame was extinguished.
   
The face of the Beijing Games was none other than Michael Phelps, whose miraculous achievement in the pool was the hot topic throughout and brought iconic status to the 23-year-old American after he captured a record haul of eight gold medals in a single Olympics.
   
Then lightning struck when Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won both the men’s 100- and 200-meter races in world record times, prompting former 200-meter world record holder Michael Johnson to dub him ‘‘Superman 2.’‘
   
Bolt also helped set a new world mark as Jamaica took gold in the men’s 4x100-meter team relay, becoming the first athlete to capture the three titles since Carl Lewis achieved the same feat at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
   
Host China well exceeded its expectations in the medals table, surpassing the Americans in gold medals won by 51 to 36 and claiming a total of 100 medals through the event, including 21 silvers and 28 bronzes. The United States topped the ranking in total medal count with 110, with 38 silvers and 36 bronzes.
   
But China’s wunderkind Liu Xian suffered a personal Greek tragedy after he was forced to pull out of the 110-meter hurdles with an injured Achilles’ tendon.
   
The United States saw disappointment on the track after gold-medal hope and 2007 world champion Tyson Gay failed to even make the 100-meter final with a sub-par performance in the semifinals.
   
The U.S. men’s and women’s sprinters were also left out of the medals after both teams dropped their batons in the 4x100 relays, but Japan, anchored by 36-year-old Nobuharu Asahara, pulled off a surprise bronze in the men’s race for the country’s first track medal in 80 years.
   
Japan’s biggest story in the pool was Kosuke Kitajima, who defended his titles in the men’s 100 and 200 breaststroke, setting a world record in the 100. He served as Japan’s flag bearer in the closing ceremony.
   
But the country flopped in baseball, finishing in fourth place behind South Korea, Cuba and the United States and ending without a medal despite its goal of seeking an elusive gold.
   
It was the last competition for baseball and softball before both are dropped from the London Games, and Japan’s women sprung a surprise gold medal in softball by toppling three-time Olympic champion the United States.
   
Japan fell short of its aim of winning at least 30 medals, including double-digit gold medals, by finishing with nine golds, six silvers and 10 bronzes for a total of 25 medals.
   
Air pollution in Beijing had been one of the major concerns for athletes ahead of the Games.
   
But Beijing authorities installed extreme measures such as vehicle restrictions and even temporarily shut down factories in an attempt to clear away the haze, and once the Games were afoot the bickering had stopped and there were even days of clear blue skies.

Wire reports