Fourth-Place Medal, a Yahoo! Sports blog covering the Summer Olympics in Beijing

Fourth-Place Medal

Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:07 pm EDT

The Closing Ceremony was ... interesting

By Maggie Hendricks

If the Opening Ceremony were a compelling, visual masterpiece showing off China's history, the Closing Ceremony was a mishmash of Olympic traditions and Chinese randomness. It started off well enough, with drummers who had wowed us during the Opening Ceremony. They were joined with girls covered in jingle bells, as giant drums descended from the sky. Giant neon bicycles soon followed, then weird hot air balloons turned on their sides, and people on urban rebounders, and well, I kind of got lost after that. The athletes showing up brought some sense to it all, and per Olympic tradition, they just streamed in from all directions. The athletes were having a fantastic time. Many showed off medals, took pictures with others and enjoyed the final moments with each other at the Olympics.

The Olympic traditions continued as the men's marathoners were given their gold, Jacques Rogge's address, and the raising of the British flag. During the hand over to London, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page teamed up to perform "Whole Lotta Love." Yes, it was as random as it sounds. David Beckham, looking incredibly uncomfortable, then came out and kicked a soccer ball into the crowd. After London finished their presentation, China let loose. Literally.

They climbed an elaborate tower to extinguish the flame, and then China put on a "We Are the World"-type production. Everyone sang, including Jackie Chan. The whole evening was ended with a duet between Placido Domingo and Chinese singer Song Zuying.

I don't think that this was a bad production, but in comparison to the Opening Ceremony, it just didn't measure up. The symbolism and connection between the different elements of the Opening Ceremony made sense, but that was not the case in the Closing Ceremony. It seemed disjointed and just a little weird.

The Olympics are officially over now -- in real time and NBC time. We are going to continue for a few more days here at Fourth-Place Medal, so keep checking with us as we review the Beijing Olympics and look ahead to future games.

Photo via Getty Images 

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158 Comments

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  1. B
    1. Posted by B Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:12 pm EDT

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    first to comment!! anyways, this was a really weird closing ceremony. i like the handoff to london, though
  2. Gina J
    2. Posted by Gina J Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:09 pm EDT

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    The best part of the ceremony was the British stuff. I'm sorry but the memory tower was scary with people doing the back bending wavy thingee . Kind of like the tower of babel.
    Go London 2012! Wicked!
  3. EmeraldJade
    3. Posted by EmeraldJade Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:00 pm EDT

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    The opening ceremony was awesome but, the closing was such a disappointment. I agreed with the writer on paragraph four of her blog here.
  4. kppenguin1
    4. Posted by kppenguin1 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:53 pm EDT

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    I just have to say you did a great job during the Olympics with your coverage! I'm proud of you. And not to be picky, but, it's "Whole Lotta Love". Just had to get that in there! Again, great job!!!! Kar
  5. cmt c
    5. Posted by cmt c Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:00 pm EDT

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    i really like london's production except for the lewis-page part!
  6. poolguy
    6. Posted by poolguy Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:35 pm EDT

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    You know,only in our country,,we actually allow someone who commited adultry and rape to play and compete on the basketball team..incredible,,not what you know,but who you know!!$$$$$$$$$$$$
  7. noway
    7. Posted by noway Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:34 pm EDT

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    I really want to see JP and the band , too much Chinese stuf...
    btw, Thanks Chinese for the job well done, the best olympic show ever!
    Now .... FREE TIBET !!!!!!
  8. fencegal
    8. Posted by fencegal Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:48 pm EDT

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    What was the director thinking for NBC during the closing ceremony? This was a time to keep with the wider shots and still... so we at home could enjoy the ceremony as it was choreographed for the audience. NBC's coverage has been dismal to say the least. I'm not sure about other time zones, but on the West Coast, there have been constant interruptions to the ceremony for replays of US athletes and commercials... Didn't NBC make enough money on this to just let us enjoy the ceremony as a whole? I'm sorry, I guess I'm venting. But in response to the above comment (post) The ceremony probably wouldn't have seemed too weird if we could see it as a whole shot, instead of piece at a time. Thanks for listening... and thank you Maggie for your contributions!
  9. fencegal
    9. Posted by fencegal Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:48 pm EDT

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    In regards to comment #9... I was referring to Comment #1!
  10. Zippo
    10. Posted by Zippo Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:01 pm EDT

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    Well if the opening ceremony in London has performers like Jimmy paige and other rockers of the type in it then that just might get me to go over there in 2012 to at the very least see the opening ceremony. BUt yeah everything else was some kind of hodge podge of events. The performers were timed impecably and all but the actual collusion of events had no real cohesion
  11. gymnastics fan
    11. Posted by gymnastics fan Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:09 pm EDT

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    The Closing Ceremony was not as impressive as the Opening Ceremony. It was meant to be in that way - to give way to the next host nation (Britain - London) to showcase what will be offered in 2012. It is time for celebrations by the athletes that participated in the games and a time for friendship, support and togetherness.
  12. NorteGrande
    12. Posted by NorteGrande Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:06 pm EDT

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    Notice how much alike rhythmic gymnastics and pole dancing are? Typical of this garbage display of laughable 'sports'. I feel sorry for Londoners that their magnificent city must be contaminated by the hypocrisy and filth that is the IOC. At least now Yahoo's sports pages won't be awash in this joke known as the olympics, and we can get back to reading about actual sport, like the kind with no 'judges'.
  13. great olympics
    13. Posted by great olympics Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:08 pm EDT

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    The Opening Ceremony will go down in history as a masterpiece. The Closing had some good visuals but strange artistry, kinda like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory type. NBC did edit out some performances, just like they edited out some from the Opening Ceremony. I think the edits were appropriate for American audiences. The Closing Ceremony became more of a farewell sing and dance party. I thought the Beckham soccer kick was cool...appropriately symbolic. The Phelps interview in London was silly, but the planes with the red, white, and blue smoke trail were cool. Go 2012!
  14. Something Something.
    14. Posted by Something Something. Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:28 pm EDT

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    NBC's coverage of the Olympics was ... really bad.
  15. mensa_tx
    15. Posted by mensa_tx Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:16 pm EDT

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    Free tibet
  16. Kamatari
    16. Posted by Kamatari Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    "The athletes showing up brought some sense to it all, and per Olympic tradition, they just streamed in from all directions."
    Do you know how that tradition started (yes, athletes used to march in by country in the closing ceremony as well)? It's one of the great stories in Olympic lore.
  17. RAYMOND F
    17. Posted by RAYMOND F Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:43 pm EDT

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    Why due the rules in the Olympics only apply to the United States and not the rest of the world. Relating to gymnastics. What is good for one should be good for China.
  18. Sn Y
    18. Posted by Sn Y Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:30 pm EDT

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    1. What would you expect for closing ceremony? The game is over. The randomness is appropriate. It is a party !
    2. NBC is the worst ever. They had not taste. They cut the best part out. They even messed up the sequences.
    3. The worst part of it is the London's part. Garbage!
    4. The worst performer is London's mayor. The 2012 will be disaster !
  19. Kamatari
    19. Posted by Kamatari Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    P. S. -- NBC rearranged the order of the closing ceremony festivities during its show, which may have contributed to some of the disjointedness. The Domingo/Song duet was actually performed very early in the evening.
  20. JC
    20. Posted by JC Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:28 pm EDT

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    I think it's just because of the opening ceremony was too great and this closing ceremony looked somewhat diminished. The beginning of the ceremony looked pretty good and the human tower also looked gorgeous. But overall, this Beijing Olympics has been fantastic with the stunning opening ceremony, Phelps' saga and the lightning Bolt. On the other hand, we have to realize that China is indeed one of the superpowers in the world. I know we won the total medal count but China did win the most gold medals. The downtown of Beijing is becoming more and more like a modern metropolitan and it's just becoming more and more like Manhattan. Besides Beijing, China also got also other cities like Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian, Guangzhou, Wuhan......Just hope China will keep growing and we'll more Olympics in more exotic locations in future.
  21. Something Something.
    21. Posted by Something Something. Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:28 pm EDT

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    NBC actually did chop up some of the sequences. I watched the Chinese brodcast of it earlier (I won't tell you how, heh) and it was much better than NBC's.
    Do they really have to show the "highlights" of the Olympics? We already saw them the days following the events...
  22. Charlie
    22. Posted by Charlie Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:22 pm EDT

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    Maybe I joined late but I didn't see much of the athletes reveling and mingling during the closing party like in other Olympics. What about showing some nice Chinese restaurants or night clubs during breaks in the competition. I guess I'll have to watch the Discovery Channel for that.
    All in all it was a good Olympics for the US. They said the Chinese would top the medal standings and they did not. The US got 10 more medals even though we got screwed in gymnastics and left too many medals on the track.
  23. Manhal Y
    23. Posted by Manhal Y Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:05 pm EDT

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    I was really happy with the olympics and China did a really good job cleaning house with the gold medals. It was a great opening and closing ceremony and I was glad the US basketball team beat those racist spanish folks. One thing I found funny was the whole issue with the ladies gymnastics. Like you can really show up China in China. They will never be able to prove the ages of the Chinese girls, so just drop it and appreciate that they are that skilled. Bolt and Phelps were amazing.
    China did very well considering all those stupid Free Tibet protesters who were threatening to boycott. Boycott what?!!?! lol suckers....
    Rather than Free Tibet, let's unite Tibet and China to be in peace and harmony. Freedom does not equal peace.
  24. Kamatari
    24. Posted by Kamatari Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    Interestingly, from reading the blogs for Reuters, BBC, et al., it seems that people who watched the ceremony on BBC and CBC had a much more positive reaction to the spectacle. Perhaps NBC's production is more at fault than the closing ceremony itself.

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