2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on Sunday night, 24 August 2008. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.
The Ceremony also included the handover of the games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. There was also a performance organized by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG).
While the opening ceremony was described as an artistic and serious introduction of China's ancient past, the closing ceremony was described by Western media as "much more lighthearted", "silly," and "fun" than the opening ceremony.
By the end of the 16 days of NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics in the United States, it had also become the most-watched U.S. television event of all time, with over 211 million American viewers tuned into the Olympics on NBC according to the Nielsen Media Research; this is 2 million more than the 1996 Atlanta Games, the previous all-time record-holder.
Chinese leader Hu Jintao entered the stadium, accompanied by Jacques Rogge. They were followed by the entrance of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah. The countdown started from "29", indicating the 29th Summer Olympics. From "29" to "11", highlights of the Olympic Games were shown with countdown numbers on the screen. Accompanied by sound effects, the atmosphere reached its countdown to number digital millennium terminator. Guided by volunteers, the entire audience counted down from 10 together for 10 seconds to starting at 19:59:50 China Standard Time in the country and the sky above the stadium is the same as the countdown started in a unison voice "10" to "1" with all voice screaming as "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" or "Shi!!!, Jiu!!!, Ba!!!, Qi!!!, Liu!!!, Wu!!!, Si!!!, San!!! Er!!!, Yi!!!" is used to release large-scale fireworks above the stadium to the Games and herald the start of the officially opening time at 20:00:00 China Standard Time with the fireworks burst immediately when the countdown ended, forming a great circle in the sky which symbolized the success of the Beijing Olympic Games. The starting countdown is the same used during the opening ceremony 16 days earlier by 2,008 PLA members. The PLAGF Honor Guard Soldiers prepared the national flag of China. The soldiers then carried the flag, in a slow, goose-stepping march, to the flagpole and the Chinese national anthem,the March of the Volunteers, was sung by a 224-member choir while the flag was unfurled and raised.
All lights were extinguished in the stadium. A video was played on the large screen in the north and south to explain the theme of the Closing Ceremony. The video reviewed the exciting and memorable moments during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. A grand celebration began:
Next, silver bell performers danced in time to the beat of the heavenly drums on the Main Stage to greet the guests.
The closing ceremony was attended by at least 30 heads of state and dozens of other dignitaries. Notable faces included:
International organizations:
Host nation:
Foreign dignitaries:
Led by guides and placard holders, the flag bearers of all delegations entered the stadium, divided into two groups. One group (1–102), headed by Greece as per tradition, entered from Gate 4 in alphabetical order and stood along the main stage. The other group (103–204), headed by Saudi Arabia, entered from Gate 3 and also stood along the main stage. The Chinese Flag bearer entered last and stood at the designated place. Greece entering first and China entering last symbolizing the first and the most recent Summer Olympics host nations.
After all flags were in position, the athletes entered the stadium in no particular order. All athletes entered from four gates without differentiation of nationality. While the athletes were entering, a women's percussion band and two children percussion players played cheerful music. The entire stadium was in raptures.
Finally, the medal-winning athletes entered the stadium.
At this point, Samuel Wanjiru received his gold medal. He was very excited as he climbed to the first position. Three flags, including the flag of Kenya, were raised as the national anthem of Kenya was played.
Afterwards, twelve children led twelve representatives of volunteers to walk from Gate 2 to the stage. Then, four children led four new members of IOC Athletes' Commission (Moon Dae-Sung of South Korea, Alexander Popov of Russia, Claudia Bokel of Germany and Yumilka Ruiz Luaces of Cuba) to walk together with four people for the ceremony from Gate 1 to the Main Stage.
The final medalists are listed below:
The People's Liberation Army then enter the stadium, holding the national flag of Greece. While the Greek flag was being hoisted, the Greek national anthem "Hymn to Liberty" was performed.
Rogge and Liu Qi walked to the main stage from the VIP corridor. During his speech, Rogge praised the Chinese for their warm reception and effort. He also stated that the Beijing Games were "truly exceptional". Finally, he declared in French that the 2008 Olympic Games were officially closed.
The British flag was then raised and the British national anthem God Save the Queen was played. Shortly thereafter, the soldiers slowly lowered the Olympic flag and Chinese and foreign child singers sung the Olympic anthem in Greek. Afterwards, the PLA soldiers folded the Olympic flag and exited.
The Olympic flag was handed from Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, to Count Rogge, the President of the IOC. It was then handed to Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. The Olympic flag was next raised again in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on February 12, 2010.
A demonstration entitled "From London, 'With a whole Lotta love." was then staged by the British. It featured the urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet, and Candoco, a disabled dance group, all dressed as typical London commuters waiting for a bus by a zebra crossing, whilst Olympic Champions Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Jamie Staff cycled around the stadium. A double-decker bus drove around the stadium to the music 'This is London', composed by Philip Sheppard and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, before eventually stopping and transforming into a privet hedge featuring famous London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis then performed the Led Zeppelin classic Whole Lotta Love and David Beckham kicked a football into the crowd of athletes, accompanied by violinist Elspeth Hanson and cellist Kwesi Edman. Page recalled:
An airport electronic flight screen appeared on the large screen of the Stadium. An athlete about to leave walked up the boarding ladder and turned around affectionately. In special-effect lighting, the boarding ladder truck with the logo of Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games was slowly elevated. He slowly took out an exquisite painting scroll and unfolded it. In the dark, a huge mechanic device — the landmarks including the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome and Big Ben in London at the center of the field — rose slowly, with two "sports sculpture" performers standing on top of it and showing various athletic gestures.
The rim of the bowl changed into a red track. Special lights cast scenes of the games from the opening ceremony to now onto the track in the air. At the center of the field, two "sports sculpture" performers rise gradually and show different athletic gestures slowly in the air, conveying the noble Olympic spirit. The athlete on the boarding ladder looks at the burning flame in the distance, and slowly folds the painting scroll, just as the flame was about to be extinguished. Landmark including the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome and Big Ben in London as the Olympic flame took its final breath.
The torch lights in the hands of the marshals and the 90,000 audience members were turned on at the same time. In the passionate far-reaching music, 16 lucky cloud yarn strips slowly Landmark including the Statue of Liberty in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome and Big Ben in London on the main stage. The top ends of the lucky cloud yarn strips extended towards the sky and changed into a lucky cloud tree symbolizing friendship and joy.
The concert section started. Tan Jing, Kelly Chen and Han Xue, Wang Lee Hom and Rain sang together the song "Beijing, Beijing, I Love Beijing", a song about Beijing.
Next, seven singers walked from below the steps to the Main Stage and sang "The Moon is Bright Tonight". Two Chinese and foreign singers on the mobile singing performance car went from Gate 1 to the front of the VIP corridor, and sang "The Flame of Love". Two singers on the main stage sang the joyous and passionate song "Surpass It".
At this point, there were 50 young singers together. At the same time, 75 aerobatic performers wearing luminous flight clothes performed elevation and rotation in the air.
The final performance ended with a closing farewell musical song "Please stay, Guests from afar", 50 male dancers holding Fuwa lucky cloud yarn strips and paper flower launchers and 120 other dancers danced on the Main Stage in tune with the rhythm of the song. Also, 600 female performers in festival clothes entered the stadium, flew around the athletes and danced with all athletes in the stadium and 1,046 marshals in tune with the rhythm of the song, forming a spectacular dance circle.
Performers threw Fuwa's lucky cloud yarn strips into the stadium, interacting with the athletes to fireworks at closing ceremony "sign-off". At the same time, innumerable dazzling fireworks were launched from the top of the "Beijing National Stadium". All full festival fireworks formed a huge circle of extravaganza all full fireworks were fired in a one-off event from all Beijing launching from the top of the building outwards above the many spectators and well wishers below farewell in the year in which Beijing went on to host the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games say farewell. All full fireworks were launched in the shape and colour of the see you 2012 London Olympic Games in a display that all full minutes compared to being reduced to all full minutes along with 2008 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony symbolizing the successful back to home at closedown of 2008 Summer Olympics. The closing ceremony ended at 21:55 CST because after closing ceremony ended due to all full firework displays.
Estimates of the global television audience varied: "around one billion" (Reuters), "experts estimated ... more than two billion" (The Wall Street Journal), "2.3 billion" (MindShare), "Billions...probably the largest live television audience in history" (Bloomberg), "3 billion" (Sky News), "nearly 4 billion" (Xinhua), "as many as 4 billion" (The Washington Post), "estimated 4 billion" (McClatchy). This included an estimated 842 million viewers watching on host Chinese broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), with polls ranging from 63 to 69% of the Chinese viewing population, exceeding that of the 51-58% who watch the network's annual closing ceremonies forms.