The Olympic 2008 Closing Ceremony 23 August 2008

Leone Lewis (American Idol 2008) sings for the closing

Lightning Bolt the star of Olympic Athletics show

Usain Bolt (L) of Jamaica celebrates victory with Asafa Powell of Jamaica after the Men's 4 x 100m Relay Final

Usain Bolt of Jamaica was the shining star of 10 days of Athletics competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games that produced five world records and 16 Olympic records.

Bolt arrived at the Games having lowered the 100m world record to 9.72 in May. He did not disappoint, winning both the 100m and 200m in astonishing world record runs of 9.69 and 19.30.

Shelly-Ann Fraser led home a Jamaican clean sweep in the Women's 100m with her compatriots Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson sharing silver. Then Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica retained the 200m gold she had won at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Jamaica's near-total domination of the sprints was underlined in the Men's 4 x 100m Relay. The team, featuring Bolt on the third leg and former world-record holder Asafa Powell on the anchor, raced home with a new world record of 37.10.

The Jamaican Women's 4 x 100m Relay team, however, failed to complete the final after a mix-up between Simpson and Stewart on the second handover led to Stewart running beyond the changeover zone.

Clean sweeps of the medals in the Men's 400m and Men's 400m Hurdles meant there was some joy for the United States at the shorter distances. They took only four medals from 12 in the Men's and Women's 100m and 200m and watched in horror as both their Men's and Women's 4 x 100m Relay teams dropped the baton in their semifinal and failed to reach the final.

LaShawn Merritt of the United States was a surprise but unstoppable winner of the Men's 400m, ahead of his teammate Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner, who took silver. In the Men's 400m Hurdles, Angelo Taylor of the United States reclaimed the title he won at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

There was more woe for the United States in the Women's 400m when 2008's leading runner Sanya Richards of the United States was overtaken in the home straight by Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain. Richards finished with bronze.

Jamaica's Melaine Walker added another gold to her country's collection in the Women's 400m Hurdles, pushing Sheena Tosta of the United States into second place in the final stretch.

But the United States responded with victories in both the Men's and Women's 4 x 400m Relays. Richards overtook Russia's Anastasia Kapachinskaya in the last 100m to win the Women's race while Merritt and Taylor took their second golds of Beijing 2008 in the Men's.

World record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba confirmed himself as the premier 110m hurdler in the world by claiming Olympic gold. It was done in the absence of Athens 2004 champion and home town hero Liu Xiang of China, who limped out of his first-round heat with a foot injury.

In the Women's 100m Hurdles, Dawn Harper of the United States took advantage of favorite Lolo Jones of the United States hitting the eighth barrier. Jones was not the only hurdler to come a cropper. European champion Susanna Kallur of Sweden failed to finish her semifinal while one of the Men's favorites, Terrence Tramell of the United States, hit the first hurdle to exit at the first heat.

In the middle and long distance races, Ethiopia and Kenya each won four of the 10 gold medals on offer.

Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia showed their class in winning the Men's and Women's 5000m and 10000m respectively, while 19-year-old Pamela Jelimo of Kenya continued her fantastic debut season by racing away for the Women's 800m gold medal.

In the exceptions to the two African countries' domination, Rashid Ramzi became Bahrain's first Olympic medalist when he sprinted home to claim gold in the Men's 1500m and Gulnara Galkina-Samitova of Russia won the Women's 3000m Steeplechase in world-record time to mark the event's Olympic Games debut.

The throwing events were largely dominated by eastern European countries. Poland's Tomasz Majewski took the first Athletics gold medal of the program, the Shot Put. Gerd Kanter of Estonia won the Discus Throw and Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia the Hammer Throw, for Slovenia's first Olympics Athletics gold medal.

It was the same in the Women's throwing events where Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic claimed the Javelin Throw gold and Aksana Miankova of Belarus became Hammer Throw champion.

In exceptions to eastern-European control, Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway needed an Olympic record of 90.57m to retain his Men's Javelin Throw Olympic crown, Valerie Vili of New Zealand set an area record to win the Women's Shot Put and Stephanie Brown Trafton of the United States won the Women's Discus Throw.

Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda of Panama was another athlete to make history when he won the Men's Long Jump, his country's first Athletics gold medal. Maurren Higa Maggi of Brazil ended Russia's Tatyana Lebedeva's dominance of the Women's Long Jump, pushing the Russian into silver medal position by a centimeter with a leap of 7.04m.

In the Triple Jump, Francoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon, who had won her nation's first-ever Athletics gold medal at Athens 2004, added their second gold with a jump of 15.39m. Nelson Evora of Portugal triumphed in the Men's competition.

There was a surprise in the Women's High Jump when Tia Hellebaut of Belgium beat 2007 world champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia to the gold medal, while Andrey Silnov of Russia cleared 2.36m to win the Men's gold.

The Women's Pole Vault produced no surprises. Defending champion Elena Isinbaeva of Russia retained her title with 5.05m, her third world record of the year. Australia's Steve Hooker set an Olympic record of 5.96m to win the Men's.

Valeriy Borchin of Russia won the first Race Walk gold, the 20km, compatriot Olga Kaniskina finished first in the Women's 20km and Italy's Alex Schwazer broke from the chasing pack to take 50km gold.

Kenya's Samuel Kamau Wansiru brought an end to the Athletics program by leading home the Men's Marathon field on the final morning of competition. The Kenyan broke from the pack at the 38km mark to claim victory, one week after Constantina Tomescu of Romania had won the women's race, and break the Olympic record Portugal's Carlos Lopes set at Los Angeles in 1984 by three minutes.

In total, 42 different countries won Athletics medals. The United States took the most golds with seven - only half the tally they achieved at the Osaka 2007 World Championships - and the most medals overall with 23. Jamaica was the most-improved nation since Osaka with their haul of golds up from one to six.

Phelps takes greatest Olympic gold medal swag ever

Record gold medalist Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps owned the pool at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with an astonishing eight gold medal performance. As if that weren't enough, all but his 100m Butterfly victory were accompanied by a world record.

Along the way, he broke a host of other records, including surpassing Mark Spitz's Munich 1972 Olympic Games effort of seven gold medals at a single summer Olympic Games. Many had said that was impossible.

Phelps began his assault on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with a bang, winning the Men's 400m Individual Medley on day two in a world record time of 4:03.84, slicing 1.41 seconds off the old mark. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh collected the silver medal and American Ryan Lochte won the bronze medal.

His second gold was in the 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay. His tilt at history almost ended when Frenchman Alain Bernard turned at the 50 meter mark on the final leg. Thirty-two-year-old American Jason Lezak was a body length behind the flying Bernard and it looked as though Phelps, who had swum the lead-off leg, and his team would have to settle for silver.

Lezak had other plans and produced one of the most stunning final 50m splits ever, a lightning quick 46.06, to overpower the Frenchman on the wall by 0.08 seconds and keep Phelps' dream of eight golds alive. France collected the silver medal and Australia the bronze.

Phelps' third gold came in the Men's 200m Freestyle final on day four, in which he broke the world record by nearly one second with a time of 1:42.96. Park Taehwan of the Republic of Korea won the silver medal and Peter Vanderkay of the United States the bronze.

Victory in the Men's 200m Butterfly final on day five took Phelps' gold medal tally to four and gave him another world record - 1:52.03 in this, his pet event. Cseh had another great swim to finish with the silver medal and Matsuda Takeshi of Japan took the bronze.

The Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay, also on day five, was next for Phelps. His team's world record of 6:58.56 broke the magical seven-minute barrier and netted Phelps' fifth gold. Russia won the silver medal and Australia bronze.

Phelps' then won gold in the Men's 200m Individual Medley on day seven, setting a world record by 0.57 seconds. Cseh took silver and Lochte, the bronze.

As expected, the Men's 100m Butterfly on day eight provided Phelps with his tightest race, but the challenge didn't come from the man expected, American Ian Crocker. Little-known Milorad Cavic of Serbia turned at the 50m in front of Phelps and 0.09 seconds under the world record split. Phelps dug deep to touch out Cavic on the wall by 0.01 seconds to keep the dream alive.
Phelps' final and eighth gold medal, which launched him into the Olympic stratosphere, came with a comfortable win in the Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay on day nine. Australia challenged momentarily but the US relegated them to silver. Japan took the bronze.

Stephanie Rice of Australia picked up three gold medals and three world records with victories in the 200m and 400m Individual Medley events and the 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay - the latter producing the biggest surprise. The Australians were rank outsiders and obliterated the world record by 5.78 seconds.

Japan's Kitajima Kosuke briefly stepped out of Phelps' enormous shadow to claim his own place in Olympic history at the Water Cube. Kitajima defended both his Olympic titles from Athens 2004 in winning the Men's 100m Breaststroke in a world record time and also the Men's 200m Breaststroke.

The highlight for China was its 1-2 finish in the Women's 200m Butterfly, their only gold medal in the swimming events. China's Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang upset world record holder Jessicah Schipper of Australia, relegating her to the bronze medal and driving the crowd into wild celebration.

One of the finds of Beijing 2008 was 21-year-old first time Olympian Rebecca Soni of the United States. Soni, returning from heart surgery, had events added to her Olympic program after American Jessica Hardy withdrew from competition. Soni caused a huge upset on day seven, when she won gold in the Women's 200m Breaststroke from world record holder and hot favorite Australian Leisel Jones. Soni also won silver behind Jones in the 100m Breaststroke and silver in the 4 x 100m Medley Relay.

Great Britain unearthed a star at the Water Cube in Rebecca Adlington. The bubbly British distance swimmer didn't go into either of her two gold medal events as the favorite but triumphed in both. She won the Women's 400m Freestyle and, in winning the 800m Freestyle, she broke the longest standing record left in the swimming pool. Adlington beat the great American Janet Evans'19-year-old 800m Freestyle mark of 8:16.22 by 2.12 seconds to record 8:14.10.

The US topped the swimming medal count with 12 gold, nine silver and 10 bronze medals; Australia won six gold, six silver and eight bronze medals; Japan won two gold and three bronze medals.

The changing face of international swimming was demonstrated at these Games, with 19 nations winning medals in the swimming pool over the nine days of competition. The US dominated the program but other nations are posing a growing challenge to US hegemony.

Tong Wen (2nd L) of China
Tong Wen (L) celebrates


Tong Wen of China beat defending Olympic champion Tsukada Maki of Japan with an ippon in the final seconds of the match to win gold in Judo Women's +78kg, the last Women's Judo event of the Beijing Olympics. Tong's victory gives China its third Women's Judo gold medal of the Games.

He Wenna (C), Karen Cockburn (R) and Ekaterina Khilko
He Wenna celebrates after claiming the title.

He Wenna gestures after her performance

He Wenna of China claimed the Trampoline Women's gold medal with a score of 37.80. Canada's Karen Cockburn took the silver and Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Khilko took the bronze

Athens Rhythmic Gymnastics bronze medalist Anna Bessonova






Anna Bessonova

Many eyes will be on Athens Rhythmic Gymnastics bronze medalist Anna Bessonova as she prepares to compete in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Bessonova was born into a family of sports on July 29, 1984, in Kiev, Ukraine. Her father, Vladimir Bessonov, played for Dynamo Kiev and made it to the FIFA World Cup Final in 1982, 1986 and 1990. Her mother, Viktoria, was a group rhythmic gymnast and won the World Championships twice. It was she who introduced the young Anna to the world of rhythmic gymnastics.

Anna began training when she was five years old. Instructed by Alina Deriugina and her daughter Irina Deriugina, a two time world champion, Anna benefited a lot from excellent coaching and showed great talent at a young age.

With years of hard training, Bessonova showed incredible flexibility and made her first international appearance at age 10.

In 1999, Anna competed in group gymnastics and finished third in the FIG World Championship in Osaka, Japan. Two years later, she clinched the bronze medal in the Individual All-round competition at the 2001 FIG World Championship in Madrid, Spain.

After winning more titles at the World and European Championships, the rising star went to Athens, where she performed impressively to earn the Olympic bronze medal with a total of 106.700 points.

She was finally awarded a long-waited gold medal in the 2007 FIG World Championship in Patras and most recently executed a gold-medal routine at LA Lights 2008.

As the Olympic Games draw near, enthusiastic fans eagerly anticipate Bessonova's graceful and breathtaking performance in Beijing.

Olga Kapranova

Russian Olga Kapranova is among the best rhythmic gymnasts in the world. Born in Moscow in 1987, the young blond continues to stun world audiences with her indefectible performance and astounding grace.

Instructed by Irina Viner, coach to Athens champion Alina Kabaeva and silver medalist Irina Tchachina, Kapranova has reached the top echelon of rhythmic gymnastics after rounding up an impressive collection of achievements in various international gymnastic events.

Kapranova took the world title for individual all-round in the 2008 Kiev World Cup after only placing third in the 2007 World Championships. With a good shot at the gold, Kapranova will be the focus of attention going into the Beijing Olympics.

Zou Kai (C), Jonathan Horton (L) and Fabian Hambuechen

Zou Kai
Zou Kai celebrates after his performance

Zou Kai of China won the Horizontal gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games. Zou Kai scored 16.200 points for the gold, the ninth for the Chinese gymnastics team at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The silver medal was taken by Jonathan Horton of the United States at 16.175, followed by Fabian Hambuechen of Germany in third place at 15.875.

Shawn Johnson (C), Nastia Liukin (L), and Cheng Fei

Shawn Johnson (US)

Cheng Fei (China)
Nastia Liukin (USA)

Shawn Johnson of the United States won the gold medal in the Beam event at the Olympic Gymnastics tournament. Shawn Johnson collected 16.225 points for the title, edging her fellow American Nastia Liukin to the second place at 16.025. Cheng Fei of China settled for the bronze medal at 15.950

L-R) Jean-Michel Lucenay, Ulrich Robieri, Jerome Jeannet and Fabrice Jeannet
(L-R) Ulrich Robieri, Jerome Jeannet and Fabrice Jeannet

The gold medal match of the Men's Team Epee Fencing event took place at the Fencing Hall on Day 7 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 15, 2008 in Beijing, China

Fencers of Russia celebrate

Russia claimed the Fencing Women's Foil Team title at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, beating the United States 28-11 in the final.

(L-R) Boris Sanson, Nicolas Lopez and Julien Pillet

France claimed the Men's Sabre Team title at the Beijing Olympics, beating the United States 45-37 in the final. Italy edged Russia 45-44 in the bronze medal fight.

(L-R) Nadine Capellmann, Heike Kemmer and Isabell Werth of Germany
German rider Isabell Werth rides horse Satchmo
German rider Nadine Capellmann rides horse Elvis Va
German rider Isabell Werth rides horse Satchmo

Germany won the Olympic team dressage gold medal, their seventh successive Olympic title, holding off a strong challenge from the Netherlands at the HK Olympic Equestrian Venue (Shatin)

Victoria Pendleton celebrates
Victoria Pendleton (front) competes
Victoria Pendleton competes

Victoria Pendleton of Britain won the Women's Sprint Cycling gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games. Australian Anna Meares finished second and Chinese Guo Shuang got the bronze.

Kayaker Adam van Koeverden to carry flag for Canada

Olympic and world champion Kayaker Adam van Koeverden has been named as Canada's flag bearer for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC).
Koeverden made his Olympic debut four years ago in Athens when he claimed bronze in the K-1 1000m and gold in the K-1 500m. From 2004 through 2007 Koeverden has dominated the World Cup circuit with 21 World Cup gold medals.
"We are very proud to have Adam van Koeverden carrying Canada's flag into the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games," said COC president Michael Chambers, as reported by the COC website. "Adam typifies the Canadian Olympic Committee's passion for sport excellence and integrity, and represents Canada with pride on every occasion."

Viktor Ruban of Ukraine prevented Park Kyung-mo of the Republic of Korea from winning ROK's first Men's Individual Olympic title with the very last arrow of their gold medal match at the Olympic Green Archery Field on Friday.
In a tightly-contested gold medal match, the No. 3 seed Ruban defeated the No. 4 seed Park 113-112.
Ruban was lucky to have been in the gold medal match having barely made it through the semifinals. To shoot in the gold medal match, Ruban had to break a 112-112 tie with Bair Badenov of the Russian Federation in a two-arrow shoot off.