Nick Willis in the 1500m, Elena Isinbayeva in the pole vault, swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Usain Bolt delivered some of the highlights of the Games. Photos / Kenny Rodger, AP
After two weeks of competition and Beijing memories, David Leggat and Eugene Bingham pick the eight who were great:
Nick Willis
This man is here as much for the event he's in as for who he is. Nick Willis won bronze, not gold. But the 1500m is an event that means so much to New Zealand. It helps, too, that Willis has a radiant personality.
When he finished his final, he was drunk on life - his race was fast, but his victory lap was one of the slowest ever recorded as he shared his joy around the stadium.
Willis speaks thoughtfully and eloquently and he is abundantly aware of New Zealand's middle distance running tradition. As a child he read the books on Snell, Halberg and Walker and watched replays of their famous races.
And now he is part of that history.
His Commonwealth Games gold took him part of the way there, but an Olympic medal seals the deal.
Willis' energy-squeezing launch for the line to stay ahead of Frenchman Mehdi Baala will be one of the most replayed sporting highlights of 2008. And so it should be.
Elena Isinbayeva
The finest piece of sporting theatre at the Games came from the glamorous Russian pole vaulter.
Already the holder of 22 world records, she defended her title, won in Athens, with ease, requiring only two jumps to nail 4.96m.
So then she aimed her pole at 5.05m to eclipse her own world best mark.
The first two attempts failed. So Isinbayeva walked across to sit on the track and pulled a duvet over her head. The only things visible were her shoes. She had a long think.
Then she emerged and with the excitement racheted to the max, sprinted down the runway, launched herself up and up and cleared the bar.
You can't fault the Russian's eye for the centre stage. Pure athletic perfection. Marvellous entertainment.
China's women's gymnastics team
Billed as the US-China showdown, the Chinese had never won the allround women's team gold. The names won't mean much - Cheng Fei, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, Li Shanshan, Yang Yilin and Deng Linlin - but they lowered the boom on the heavily-hyped Americans as the packed house erupted.
The US tottered on the beam and when things got tense, the Chinese held their nerve by 2.375 points. Doesn't sound much. But it was.
The teary-eyed little girls won places in the nation's hearts. The Americans did well in the individual, winning all-round gold and silver, but there's no I in team.
Michael Phelps
He came, he saw, he swam, he left with pure gold. The American put Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record of seven Olympic golds in the back cupboard with his eight golds from eight starts.
Phelps triumphed in the 100m and 200m butterfly; the 200m freestyle, the 200m and 400m individual medley and the three relays, 4 x 100m medley, 4 x 100m and 4 x 200m freestyle.
It became a bit monotonous, but you can't fault his pursuit of excellence.
Will his achievement be equalled or beaten? You wouldn't bet against it, as the bar is being raised at a rapid rate by the world's best.
But it will take some time and you can bet whoever does it will be mighty tired.
Kobe Bryant
On the celebrity front, few Olympic athletes come close to Kobe Bryant. On the basketball court, there are even fewer. LeBron James, quite a dab hand at the game himself, declared after the United States' quarter-final squishing of Australia: "Kobe is the one guy on our team that's not afraid to take the final shot or guard anyone. He's the number one athlete out here."
Bryant missed out on Athens because of a sexual assault allegation, which was later dropped, but he has made the Beijing tournament his own. It's said that of the American athletes he's more popular among the Chinese fans than even Michael Phelps. "They ooh and aah every slash he makes to the basket. They shriek his name when he enters or exits the court," wrote one American columnist.
The Lakers NBA star has brought his "A" game to Beijing. In the quarter-final, he scored a game-high 25 points and then afterward declared that he was delighted to be playing Olympic champions Argentina in tonight's semifinals. "We want to play the best. We want to play the defending champions," Bryant said. "We're all about challenges. You want to play the guy who won it the last time."
Usain Bolt
The ace of pace made the track his personal playground. Gold medals and world records in the 100m and 200m made the Jamaican the hottest athletic property on the planet.
In the 100m, he made a mockery of the race by easing up 30m from the finish, arms spread doing his "Look at me Mum?" routine. He still did 9.69s, slicing .03s off his own mark. What would he have achieved if he'd kept the accelerator down?
He did in the 200m, thrusting through the line to win in 19.30s.
Bolt is the ninth athlete to complete the 100-200 double at the same Games. He's spearheaded a terrific track Games for Jamaica, including the women taking gold, silver and bronze in the 100m. He krumped on the track (parents, ask your teenagers), captivated the massive crowds and made mincemeat of world records. One cool dude.
Valerie Vili
If you don't get shot put, think of Valerie Vili's performance like this: Imagine the All Blacks in the final of the World Cup (okay, maybe that's a bit of a far-fetched concept, but you get the idea) and they come out and completely demolish the opposition, scoring three tries in the first 10 minutes and finishing the game ahead by 50 points. That's almost as dominant as Vili was.
Her first round throw, a personal best, crushed the other finalists mentally. Her main rival, Nadzeya Ostapchuk, was reduced to a muttering, nervous wreck who could only manage bronze.
Vili threw all five attempts over 20m, the best series she has ever put together - now that is performance under pressure.
The Olympics can make or break the best. Vili proved that physically and mentally she is without peer in her event.
Rebecca Adlington
It had been 48 years since Britain won a women's swimming gold medal. Then in the space of six days it had two - and a world record to boot - courtesy of amiable Rebecca Adlington.
The Nottinghamshire 19-year-old, who learnt to swim in a pool built for the miners at a colliery, won the 400m freestyle by a whisker then grabbed her second gold, and world record in the 800m freestyle.
Her time there, 8min 14.10s removed the longest standing women's swimming record from the books, American Janet Evans' 8:16.22 set 19 years ago.
She seems a top sort, unfazed by all the attention. Endorsements, sponsorship deals, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award await. The face of London 2012? The aquatic world could be her oyster.
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