So now that the games are over, final thoughts?

one word...

SUCCESS!

overall games, NBC tv ratings (Phelps 8 golds) and especially for China's gold medal haul and topping the century mark for total medals.

now bring on London

bron bron made good on his gaurentee!

London's presentation was a little underwhelming, no?

Great basketball game.

Complete medal standings:

1 China China (CHN) 51 21 28 100
2 United States United States (USA) 36 38 36 110
3 Russia Russia (RUS) 23 21 28 72
4 Great Britain Great Britain (GBR) 19 13 15 47
5 Germany Germany (GER) 16 10 15 41
6 Australia Australia (AUS) 14 15 17 46
7 South Korea South Korea (KOR) 13 10 8 31
8 Japan Japan (JPN) 9 6 10 25
9 Italy Italy (ITA) 8 10 10 28
10 France France (FRA) 7 16 17 40
11 Ukraine Ukraine (UKR) 7 5 15 27
12 Netherlands Netherlands (NED) 7 5 4 16
13 Jamaica Jamaica (JAM) 6 3 2 11
14 Spain Spain (ESP) 5 10 3 18
15 Kenya Kenya (KEN) 5 5 4 14
16 Belarus Belarus (BLR) 4 5 10 19
17 Romania Romania (ROU) 4 1 3 8
18 Ethiopia Ethiopia (ETH) 4 1 2 7
19 Canada Canada (CAN) 3 9 6 18
20 Poland Poland (POL) 3 6 1 10
21 Hungary Hungary (HUN) 3 5 2 10
21 Norway Norway (NOR) 3 5 2 10
23 Brazil Brazil (BRA) 3 4 8 15
24 Czech Republic Czech Republic (CZE) 3 3 0 6
25 Slovakia Slovakia (SVK) 3 2 1 6
26 New Zealand New Zealand (NZL) 3 1 5 9
27 Georgia Georgia (GEO) 3 0 3 6
28 Cuba Cuba (CUB) 2 11 11 24
29 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan (KAZ) 2 4 7 13
30 Denmark Denmark (DEN) 2 2 3 7
31 Mongolia Mongolia (MGL) 2 2 0 4
31 Thailand Thailand (THA) 2 2 0 4
33 North Korea North Korea (PRK) 2 1 3 6
34 Argentina Argentina (ARG) 2 0 4 6
34 Switzerland Switzerland (SUI) 2 0 4 6
36 Mexico Mexico (MEX) 2 0 1 3
37 Turkey Turkey (TUR) 1 4 3 8
38 Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (ZIM) 1 3 0 4
39 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (AZE) 1 2 4 7
40 Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (UZB) 1 2 3 6
41 Slovenia Slovenia (SLO) 1 2 2 5
42 Bulgaria Bulgaria (BUL) 1 1 3 5
42 Indonesia Indonesia (INA) 1 1 3 5
44 Finland Finland (FIN) 1 1 2 4
45 Latvia Latvia (LAT) 1 1 1 3
46 Belgium Belgium (BEL) 1 1 0 2
46 Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (DOM) 1 1 0 2
46 Estonia Estonia (EST) 1 1 0 2
46 Portugal Portugal (POR) 1 1 0 2
50 India India (IND) 1 0 2 3
51 Iran Iran (IRI) 1 0 1 2
52 Bahrain Bahrain (BRN) 1 0 0 1
52 Cameroon Cameroon (CMR) 1 0 0 1
52 Panama Panama (PAN) 1 0 0 1
52 Tunisia Tunisia (TUN) 1 0 0 1
56 Sweden Sweden (SWE) 0 4 1 5
57 Croatia Croatia (CRO) 0 2 3 5
57 Lithuania Lithuania (LTU) 0 2 3 5
59 Greece Greece (GRE) 0 2 2 4
60 Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) 0 2 0 2
61 Nigeria Nigeria (NGR) 0 1 3 4
62 Austria Austria (AUT) 0 1 2 3
62 Ireland Ireland (IRL) 0 1 2 3
62 Serbia Serbia (SRB) 0 1 2 3
65 Algeria Algeria (ALG) 0 1 1 2
65 Bahamas Bahamas (BAH) 0 1 1 2
65 Colombia Colombia (COL) 0 1 1 2
65 Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) 0 1 1 2
65 Morocco Morocco (MAR) 0 1 1 2
65 Tajikistan Tajikistan (TJK) 0 1 1 2
71 Chile Chile (CHI) 0 1 0 1
71 Ecuador (ECU) 0 1 0 1
71 Iceland Iceland (ISL) 0 1 0 1
71 Malaysia Malaysia (MAS) 0 1 0 1
71 South Africa South Africa (RSA) 0 1 0 1
71 Singapore Singapore (SIN) 0 1 0 1
71 Sudan Sudan (SUD) 0 1 0 1
71 Vietnam Vietnam (VIE) 0 1 0 1
79 Armenia Armenia (ARM) 0 0 6 6
80 Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei (TPE) 0 0 4 4
81 Afghanistan Afghanistan (AFG) 0 0 1 1
81 Egypt Egypt (EGY) 0 0 1 1
81 Israel Israel (ISR) 0 0 1 1
81 Moldova Moldova (MDA) 0 0 1 1
81 Mauritius Mauritius (MRI) 0 0 1 1
81 Togo Togo (TOG) 0 0 1 1
81 Venezuela Venezuela (VEN) 0 0 1 1

Was a great Basketball game. Spain played damn good!

Funny enough, I think my favourite Olympic moments all involved Americans


-the swimming, esp. Phelps obviously
-gymnastics with Nastia and Shawn
-men's and women's volleyball
-basketball final. so good to see lebron and kobe and the others on one team


I'd say the Olympics were a success overall, but the whole thing with the protesters was an utter sham, and the Georgia-Russia thing was just bad. Also, several of the judging choices were questionable at best.

I think my biggest issue with the games and their coverage was how disingenuous it all seemed. NBC with its stupid narratives, emphasizing time and time again Michael Phelps' utterly uninteresting life story or that of someone else from Sudan or South Africa or whatever, and then showing the match or competition, and afterwards asking them what it meant for them to win in light of their life story. Pure Hallmark bullshit. And I never got the sense that anything that was happening in Beijing was spontaneous.

Terrible games. China blinded everyone, the doping fight has been pushed back a decade, half empty stadiums where you looked. An epic failure!

I hope Chicago doesn't get the Olympics. I love the city too much to see it being subjected to these games. And it's big anyway, so they don't need the Olympics.

You're so sexy when you're bitter. But lighten up sometimes

The most enjoyable Olympic games in decades. The fakery and scandals were good comic relief. I enjoyed the diverse, interesting mix of personalities and stories. Were the stadiums not always full? Were there a bunch of athletes who had advantages from banned drugs? Sure. But while I don't approve of it, I don't care enough to let it bother me that much.

As to China, you don't have to approve of China to enjoy the games. I don't see the games being successful as meaning anything other than a few bureaucratic organizers put on a good show.

And the Academy Awards which a lot of people here worship are partly fake too, often with agents, publicists, spouses and children of the stars filling out the ballots for them. That's life.

I do too, because it's one of the most boring big cities in the world. I hope the US in general doesn't get it for another 10 years, it's just not exciting to me. I'd like to see a major South American city get it soon.

You're one of the most boring cities in the world! You!

Can you remember any olympics in recent years where the stands were that empty?

Yes, give the games to Bogota!

i guess NBC did a good job of not showing the empty stands cause i did not notice them.

I didn't see any empty stands. I want pics!!!

There was an article I read this afternoon via Yahoo in which the guy talked about how the games became more and more about China and less and less about the world, so that there were fewer spectators for games not featuring Chinese teams/players. Is this true?

neither did I.....which matches are you talking about Levy? The track and field was INSANELY packed.

The ones Germans participated in

No, there were empty seats at various venues, just as there were in Torino, just as there will be in Vancouver. They can't give away large blocks of seats to olympic sponsors and expect every one of those to be filled.

Here is the updated chart: Comparing 2008 medals to 2004

The yellow countries have won over 10 medals in either 2008 or 2004.

Rank	Country	Score
1	Mongolia	300%
2	India	200%
3	Jamaica	120%
4	Dominican Republic	100%
5	Finland	100%
6	Kenya	100%
7	Nigeria	100%
8	Trinidad and Tobago	100%
9	New Zealand	80%
10	Lithuania	67%
11	Norway	67%
12	Kazakhstan	63%
13	China	59%
14	Great Britain	57%
15	Brazil	50%
16	Canada	50%
17	Georgia	50%
18	Serbia	50%
19	Azerbaijan	40%
20	Zimbabwe	33%
21	Belarus	27%
22	Indonesia	25%
23	Slovenia	25%
24	France	21%
25	North Korea	20%
26	Switzerland	20%
27	Uzbekistan	20%
28	Ukraine	17%
29	United States	8%
30	South Korea	3%
31	Argentina	0%
32	Bahamas	0%
33	Cameroon	0%
34	Colombia	0%
35	Croatia	0%
36	Ethiopia	0%
37	Poland	0%
38	Slovakia	0%
39	Spain	-5%
40	Australia	-6%
41	Cuba	-11%
42	Denmark	-13%
43	Italy	-13%
44	Germany	-16%
45	Chinese Taipei	-20%
46	Turkey	-20%
47	Russia	-22%
48	Czech Republic	-25%
49	Latvia	-25%
50	Mexico	-25%
51	Netherlands	-27%
52	Sweden	-29%
53	Japan	-32%
54	Belgium	-33%
55	Estonia	-33%
56	Morocco	-33%
57	Portugal	-33%
58	Hungary	-41%
59	Israel	-50%
60	Thailand	-50%
61	Venezuela	-50%
62	Austria	-57%
63	Romania	-58%
64	Bulgaria	-58%
65	Chile	-67%
66	Iran	-67%
67	Greece	-75%
68	Egypt	-80%
69	South Africa	-83%

Here is the medal count change

INSANE FOR CHINA!!!! wow.

Rank	Country	Score
1	China	37
2	Great Britain	17
3	United States	8
4	France	7
5	Kenya	7
6	Armenia	6
7	Canada	6
8	Jamaica	6
9	Brazil	5
10	Kazakhstan	5
11	Belarus	4
12	New Zealand	4
13	Norway	4
14	Ukraine	4
15	Ireland	3
16	Mongolia	3
17	Algeria	2
18	Azerbaijan	2
19	Finland	2
20	Georgia	2
21	India	2
22	Kyrgyzstan	2
23	Lithuania	2
24	Nigeria	2
25	Tajikistan	2
26	Afghanistan	1
27	Bahrain	1
28	Dominican Republic	1
29	Ecuador	1
30	Iceland	1
31	Indonesia	1
32	Malaysia	1
33	Mauritius	1
34	Moldova	1
35	North Korea	1
36	Panama	1
37	Serbia	1
38	Singapore	1
39	Slovenia	1
40	South Korea	1
41	Sudan	1
42	Switzerland	1
43	Togo	1
44	Trinidad and Tobago	1
45	Tunisia	1
46	Uzbekistan	1
47	Vietnam	1
48	Zimbabwe	1
49	Argentina	0
50	Bahamas	0
51	Cameroon	0
52	Colombia	0
53	Croatia	0
54	Ethiopia	0
55	Poland	0
56	Slovakia	0
57	Belgium	-1
58	Chinese Taipei	-1
59	Denmark	-1
60	Eritrea	-1
61	Estonia	-1
62	Hong Kong	-1
63	Israel	-1
64	Latvia	-1
65	Mexico	-1
66	Morocco	-1
67	Paraguay	-1
68	Portugal	-1
69	Spain	-1
70	Syria	-1
71	United Arab Emirates	-1
72	Venezuela	-1
73	Chile	-2
74	Czech Republic	-2
75	Sweden	-2
76	Turkey	-2
77	Australia	-3
78	Cuba	-3
79	Austria	-4
80	Egypt	-4
81	Iran	-4
82	Italy	-4
83	Thailand	-4
84	South Africa	-5
85	Netherlands	-6
86	Bulgaria	-7
87	Hungary	-7
88	Germany	-8
89	Romania	-11
90	Greece	-12
91	Japan	-12
92	Russia	-20

Now all there is left to figure out is:

Why does Levy hate America so god damned much?

I will soon try to make a list of my favorite moment in these olympics.. overall I thought it was a great time and I really enjoyed it.

Levy, I think you need to appreciate the Olympics for what it is. It is not perfect and definitely has cheaters, but at least you can enjoy watching it, you have to admit some of the events are exciting to watch. or just simply ignore it. I'm curious what you hated about these games aside from the cheaters and the crowds. Did you like the opening ceremony? the stadiums?

I was under the impression that he hates all countries in which the third reich didn't develop in.