With or without a medal, the athletes are always the Games' heroes. Without distinction of nationality, they entered the National Stadium en masse on Sunday night, amid thundering cheers from the stands and unique welcoming tunes -- a mixture of drum beating and the ringing of numerous tiny silver bells on the costumes of 1,148 dancing girls.

The athletes, totally relieved of the competition pressure, all smiled broadly and waved hands or flags toward the stands in excitement. Many gave thumbs-up or made faces in front of the camera lens, while some even carried their fellows on their shoulders in celebration.

The last three medals of these Games were awarded to the winners of men's marathon, with Samuel Kamau Wansiru of Kenya taking the gold, and the silver and bronze going to Jaouad Gharib of Morocco and Tsegay Kebede of Ethiopia respectively.

"To the athletes tonight: You were true role models," said the IOC chief, who personally presented the marathon gold. "You have shown us the unifying power of sport."

And the athletes have their heroes to laud and thank, too.

In an unprecedented gesture of gratitude, three newly-elected members of the Athletes' Commission of the IOC presented flower bouquets to 12 Chinese and foreign volunteers serving the Beijing Games, who represented not only the 70,000-strong volunteers working at the Games facilities, but also some 1.4 million others who helped the Games organizers in security, transport, information and lodging services.

"We hope you will bear in mind the vigour and vitality of Beijing and the co-host cities, bear in mind the Chinese people who are deeply faithful to the Olympic Movement, and bear in mind the smile and dedication of the volunteers," said Liu Qi, the BOCOG chief.

Shortly before the extinguishing of the Olympic flame in the Bird's Nest, a brief ceremony was held to mark the passing of the host baton from Beijing to London.

Via the IOC president, Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong handed over the Olympic flag to his London counterpart Boris Johnson, who waved the flag to signal the start of an eight-minute handover performance from the Games' next host.

The two-million-pound (3.74 million U.S. dollars) show, designed to showcase London as a "young and vibrant" city, drove the crowd wild, especially when soccer superstar David Beckham kicked a "welcome ball" from atop a red double-decker bus, the city's icon.

Winning its bid for the 2012 Olympics in July 2005 over Moscow, New York, Madrid and Paris, the British capital will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and 1948.

Interestingly, the Chinese believed it was the 1908 London Games that first ignited their Olympic passion. Historical archives showed that shortly after the London Olympics, a magazine based in north China's port city of Tianjin published an article and first raised the question: When will China be able to host the Olympic Games?

And when this century-old dream finally came true, the Chinese have shown the world that they would give everything to guarantee the complete success of the Beijing Games.

While there had been worries about the air quality in Beijing even days before the Games' opening, the host city answered such concerns with consecutive days of high, blue skies over the past two weeks, which "reminded many European visitors of Mediterranean conditions" - as described by some international media - and made a few athletes coming to Beijing with facial masks find their equipment totally useless.

Behind this were the host city's seven-year efforts to minimize pollution, highlighted by the thorough relocation of a gigantic steel company, and a pre-Games traffic ban that rested two thirds of the city's 3 million vehicles, with most local residents readily accepting it and turning to public buses for commuting.

The Beijingers and people in the six co-host cities also took with little complaint the great inconvenience caused by strict security precautions, imposed by the authorities amid mounting threats of terrorist attacks and violent crimes.

And with the Games' successful conclusion on Sunday night, all the efforts, sacrifice and endurance of the Chinese have paid off.

"The Beijing Olympic Games is a testimony of the fact that the world has its trust rested upon China," said chief organizer Liu Qi, with pride. "The Chinese people, teeming with enthusiasm, have honored the commitments they solemnly made."

"These Games are going to be spectacular and I say that with some trepidation because they are going to be setting high standards for the future," commented London 2012 Chief Executive Paul Deighton ahead of the Beijing Olympics, adding that he thought "the Beijing Games could end up being unique."

"High-standard and unique," that was just the target the Beijing Games organizers had set for themselves.

"Give Beijing an opportunity, and harvest a pleasant surprise!" This was what Beijing told the world when it first bid for the Olympic Games 15 years back. While the world might have forgotten this bidding slogan after Beijing's defeat to Sydney by the slightest margin of two votes in Monte Carlo 1993, the Chinese have not -- and they have kept their word.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2008)