Indian Sports News Cricket, Tennis, Football, Formula 1

2008 - Beijing, China

The Beijing Olympics ended with a blaze of deafening fireworks, bringing down the curtain on a Games that dazzled the world with sporting brilliance and showcased the might of modern day China. The sporting extravaganza failed to quell criticism of China's human rights record, although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave the organisers the thumbs-up and said the Games would leave a positive legacy for future generations. Forty-three world records and 132 Olympic records were broken in China, which spent $43 billion on the event -- three times more than the budget for the 2012 Games in London.

A haul of three medals - one gold (Abhinav Bindra) and two bronze medals (Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh) - surpassed India's previous best of two medals, a gold and bronze, achieved at the Helsinki Games, in 1952.

While Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender had medals to show for their efforts, there were some, like Akhil Kumar and Saina Nehwal, in the 55-strong contingent, who did well but missed a medal by a whisker.

Reflecting China's new-found confidence, the nation's athletes took their gold medal tally on the final day to 51 after winning their first two Olympic boxing titles, the most any country has bagged since the Soviet Union in Seoul in 1988.

The United States finished with 36 golds, level with their table-topping haul in 2004, but way behind the host nation. The US haul got a boost on Sunday when the men's millionaire basketball team beat Spain in a thrilling final.

In the last athletics race, Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru led an African sweep of marathon medals, lifting his arms in triumph as he sped around the Bird's Nest for the last lap.

China's Communist leadership no doubt breathed a collective sigh of relief as the giant Olympic torch was extinguished.

The run-up to the Games had cast a harsh light on China, bringing unrest in its Tibetan region to a global audience and showing that its rulers would not brook internal dissent. But over the past two weeks, Beijing has wowed the visiting world with its superlative venues, army of smiling volunteers, glitch-free transport and seamless organisation.

Fears about pollution evaporated as blue skies finally broke through the haze. Criticism of China's human rights record took a backseat as two athletes redefined sporting excellence.

Michael Phelps swam into the record books by winning an astonishing eight gold medals in the translucent Water Cube. On the track, Jamaica's Usain Bolt captivated the crowds with three sprint gold medals, all secured in world record times.

There was a United Nations feel to the sport, with a record 86 states winning medals against 74 in Athens, including, for the first time, Afghanistan, Mauritius, Tajikistan and Togo.

Showing the sporting extravaganza had lost none of its lustre, the Games also looked certain to become the most viewed in their 112-year history, with audience figures up between 20 and 30 percent on 2004 levels.

Worries about doping hovered over the Games as always, with the IOC conducting some 5,200 tests and uncovering six cheats.

Four horses in the equestrian event also tested positive for banned substances. An IOC official said on Sunday they still had a backlog of four days of tests to analyse

India at the Beijing Games