That final dive of his was totally awesome. I've now added diving to the list of events I want to attend in 4 years time. And the fact that he's the only openly gay athlete (that I'm aware of) to get a medal just makes him more awesome.

So far the list also includes swimming, rowing, athletics (mostly the sprint finals), archery, tennis, cycling (obviously including the carnage of BMX!), modern pentathlon and men's gymnastics.

ETA - And London is now officially the next host city. Yay! Still a crappy logo though...

Was Michael Phelps part of the handover ceremony? I can't figure out why he would be considering he is neither Chinese or British.

Anyone know who took the Athlete's Oath for this Olympics. I don't think NBC ever said. I'm pretty sure they didn't show it.

Phelps is in London for the handover party that is taking place at The Mall outside Buckingham Palace.

The thing is, with all the talk of cached pages and birth documents and what not, why is no one addressing the fact that five years ago a documentary was filmed (and not by the Chinese) called Dreamweaver that followed some of the rising stars for Beijing. Both Deng and Ji were a part of the documentary and both claimed to be 10 and 11 at the time. So either they really are how old they say they are, or China started the lie 5 years ago.

I don't understand the obsession with the medal count, either. It's nice when your home country wins a gold, but I'm happy for any country that wins a medal. And it disappoints me to see some athletes who are disappointed with silver and bronze. You're right, it is an achievement in itself to make it to the Olympics, and even better to actually medal in your event.

I'm so sad that the closing ceremonies are tonight. I have really enjoyed watching the Olympics. I enjoyed watching swimming the most, and my attention usually wanes once it is over, since I don't find track and field nearly as interesting. But Usain Bolt helped to bring excitement and fun to the track, which made the events great to watch. I enjoyed watching diving and, despite the commentators and controversy, gymnastics. I think I may have found the equivalent of curling in the winter Olympics: BMX racing, although I got to see so little of it. I hope to see much more in 2012. I would be satisfied if I never saw a second of another beach volleyball match again.

The la-*test*-('") on the Chinese gymnastics inquiry: age controversy blamed on bad paperwork.

I think beach volleyball would have been more interesting if May/Walsh weren't so dominant. Good for them for being so good at their sport, but it makes for really boring matches when the games aren't even close. The only match I was able to even watch was the gold medal game and that's because the Chinese pair managed to keep the score close and were even ahead at times.

When has China Government not lied. It's an official institution there.

I don't think the age thing can be definitely proven or unproven, barring discovery of undestroyed original age-stating materials. Two years is too small to judge in any other way. But, I do believe that if China is lying, they decided lying the moment they realized their then three-year-olds would be two years too young for these Olympics.

I liked the closing ceremony, but the Aussie commentators were unintentionally funny. They were talking about how the people of Beijing were all so incredibly happy, and they hoped that it would be the same in London.

No. It won't. England is a free country. People are allowed to be miserable if they want to. They're in no danger of having their family disappear if they don't smile wide enough.

I was really hoping for Harry Potter to fly out when the double decker opened up. That would've made the London games for me.

Bye, bye, Olympics. See you in two years.

Out of all the musical acts from the UK, they had to chose Leona Lewis? Even the old, craggy face of Mick Jagger would have been better. I did enjoy the dancing in the London segment and the two girls handing over the soccer ball. And the Mayor of London reminds me of Chris Farley.

I've never watched the closing ceremonies before, and they were just as awesome as the opening ceremonies. It was nice to see all of the athletes mingling with each other and having a great time. I loved the bicycles with the one huge wheel, the huge drums floating through the air that looked like huge wheels of cheese, and the human representation of the flame. That "Beijing, Beijing" song is stuck in my head right now. And did I just see Jackie Chan singing in the last number?! Crazy!

Yeah, that was Jackie Chan. Most people don't know that he can carry a tune and has recorded tons of stuff in Hong Kong.

Wow, I had no idea that Jackie Chan was also a recording artist! That's incredibly cool! He has a nice singing voice.