CLOSING CEREMONY

AND SO, FOR THOSE OF US HERE AT THE LATE NIGHT SHOW, THE BEIJING GAMES COME TO A CLOSE...

A HISTORIC OLYMPICS... THE UNQUESTIONED STAR OF WHICH WAS CHINA... MICHAEL PHELPS AND USAIN BOLT WERE TRANSCENDENT, BUT NO PARTICIPANT IN THESE GAMES HAD MORE AT STAKE THAN THE HOST NATION... AND CHINA, UNDER A GLOBAL GLARE TO WHICH IT HAS NEVER BEFORE BEEN SUBJECTED BECAUSE THAT WAS NEVER BEFORE PERMITTED, NOT ONLY WAS EQUAL TO ITS AMBITIONS, BUT IN SOME WAYS UNEXPECTEDLY SURPASSED THEM...

ON THE FIELD OF PLAY CHINA HAS SECURED, AS WE SPEAK, 51 GOLD MEDALS... BECOMING THE FIRST NATION OTHER THAN THE U.S. OR THE FORMER SOVIET UNION TO LEAD THE GOLD MEDAL COUNT AT AN OLYMPIC GAMES SINCE 1936...WHEN GERMANY DID SO IN BERLIN... AND NO NATION HAS WON THIS MANY GOLDS IN A SINGLE GAMES SINCE THE SOVIETS DID SO TWENTY YEARS AGO...

THE VENUES, IN PARTICULAR THE WATER CUBE AND THE BIRD'S NEST, ACHIEVED NEW ARCHITECTURAL STANDARDS THE WAY BOLT ACHIEVED LAND SPEED RECORDS... SWIMMING AND BEACH VOLLEYBALL, AS OLYMPIC SPORTS, HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE POPULAR...

ON THE SICK LIST?... BOXING, ONCE A MARQUEE SPORT, NOW REGISTERS WELL-DESERVED APATHY, EVEN DISGUST, AMONGST VIEWERS... THE EVENT THAT ONCE INTRODUCED THE WORLD TO MUHAMMAD ALI AND SUGAR RAY LEONARD NOW BORDERS ON IRRELEVANT... THE VICTIM OF INCOMPETENT GOVERNING BODIES AND AN INSCRUTABLE SCORING SYSTEM... BOXING AUTHORITIES SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CONTACT A PRIVATE FIRM NAMED COMPUBOX...

DRUG TESTING?... THE TRUE CANCER OF THE GAMES APPEARS TO BE IN REMISSION... AT LEAST THERE SEEMS TO BE GOOD REASON FOR HOPE... ONLY ONE SIGNIFICANT TRACK ATHLETE TESTED POSITIVE FOR A BANNED SUBSTANCE...HEPTHATLON SILVER MEDALIST LYUDMILA BLONSKA OF THE UKRAINE... AND NO HIGH PROFILE SWIMMERS...

BESIDES THE ALMOST SUPERHUMAN FEATS OF PHELPS AND BOLT, THERE WERE INSPIRATIONAL EFFORTS, SUCH AS THAT OF SOUTH AFRICAN OPEN-WATER SWIMMER AND AMPUTEE NATALIE DUTOIT... AND, AS WITH EVERY OLYMPICS, HEARTBREAKING MOMENTS SUCH AS THE ONE THAT BEFELL AMERICAN SHOOTER MATT EMMONS...INCONCEIVABLY SQUANDERING GOLD ON HIS FINAL SHOT FOR THE SECOND STRAIGHT OLYMPICS...

AND THEN THERE WAS THE ENIGMATIC DISAPPEARANCE OF THE MOST VISIBLE ATHLETE--FROM THE HOST NATION'S PERSPECTIVE-- OF THESE GAMES... 110-METER HURDLER LIU XIANG... WHOSE LANDMARK GOLD MEDAL FOUR YEARS AGO PROVIDED THE SYMBOLIC SPARK THAT LIT BEIJING'S OLYMPIC TORCH...

THE CHINESE HAD INVESTED IN LIU NOT JUST HOPES FOR ANOTHER GOLD MEDAL... SUCH HARDWARE, AT THESE GAMES, IS NEARLY SUPERFLOUS FOR THE HOST NATION...

NO, LIU WAS COUNTED ON TO BE THE PARAGON OF 21ST CENTURY CHINA... A BUDDING LEVIATHAN ON THE GLOBAL STAGE... AND HOW BETTER TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THAN BY WINNING A REPEAT GOLD MEDAL ON THE TRACK... LONG THE DOMAIN OF THE USA...

INSTEAD, LIU BOWED OUT AFTER A BRIEF THEATRICAL ATTEMPT TO OVERCOME A NAGGING INJURY... HIS BIZARRE WITHDRAWAL NOT THE ONLY OLYMPIC QUESTION THE CHINESE FAILED TO ANSWER SATISFACTORILY, AT LEAST BY WESTERN STANDARDS... THESE GAMES BEGAN, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT THE AGE OF CHINA'S FEMALE GYMNASTS AND ENDS WITH THOSE QUESTIONS STILL LINGERING...

BUT LIU'S PASSAGE FROM FIGUREHEAD TO FOOTNOTE WAS ONLY MOMENTARILY TRAGIC FOR THE 1.3 BILLION CHINESE WHO HAD PINNED SO MUCH OF THEIR HOPES ON HIM... BECAUSE IN THE END THE BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES MARKED THE ARRIVAL OF THAT MOST HISTORICALLY FAMILIAR OF ALL CHINESE INSTITUTIONS... THE DYNASTY... AN OLYMPIC SPORTS DYNASTY, WHICH NOW GIVES THE UNITED STATES AND 202 OTHER NATIONS SOMETHING NEW, VAST AND FORMIDABLE TO COMPETE WITH...

GOOD NIGHT FROM THE GAMES OF THE 29TH OLYMPIAD...