KEY POINTS:
An elderly Chinese couple had a squabble the other day while waiting to board an Olympic shuttle bus.
Maybe one had left the tickets at home, one wanted to go to the table tennis, the other to the badminton, whatever.
It descended into a loud shoving, shouting match. Volunteers stepped in to calm the pair, then saw a photographer raise his camera to capture the scene. Immediately they rushed over and crowded him.
"No photo, no photo!" they insisted.
Image was everything at the Beijing Games. So how did they fare?
On the field, China's ambition was to top the medal table. They did, and they didn't.
With a couple of finals to be decided last night, the hosts had won 50 gold medals, beating the United States' 35, but the Americans had more overall, 108 to 98.
The usual line-up - gymnastics (14), diving (11), badminton, shooting and table tennis (eight each) - provided the base for the Chinese medal charge; weightlifting, with nine, was the bonus.
And off the field? Sure, the Chinese pulled a few strokes.
But rent-a-crowds when genuine spectator numbers are short are nothing new.
Computer-generated fireworks at the opening ceremony? So what? You'll still find people who swear the Barcelona flame in 1992 was lit not by the arrow spectacularly fired from the stadium floor to the top of the torch, but by a bloke with a Bic Flic out the back there in case the archer's aim was askew.
Pretty 9-year-old Lin Miaoke lip-syncing at the opening for the plain 7-year-old Yang Peiyi with the wonderful voice was a public relations disaster.
But for efficiency the Games were outstanding. As long as you played by the rules everything went smoothly. Entering and leaving venues was a doddle.
The down side? A lack of excitement. Not hearing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi!, oi!, oi!" was a blessing. But enjoyment rather than exhilaration, clapping rather than cheering, seemed to be the order of the Games.
London in 2012 has plenty to absorb in terms of security and running a well-oiled operation.
Its games will be vastly different in philosophy. Its closing ceremony segment last night included Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love - with a slight change in lyrics in the interests of good taste - a double decker bus and, of course, the ubiquitous David Beckham.
That's already moved the Olympics a long way from Beijing.
- David Leggat
Top: London Mayor Boris Johnson takes a tour of Beijing prior to last night's closing ceremony. Photo / AP
