2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony

Scene from the closing ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on August 24, 2008. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.

The musical acts included:

• Chinese mainland singer Wei Wei and Sun Nan singing Beijing Beijing (wo ai Beijing).
• British singer Leona Lewis, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page (with football player David Beckham making an appearance, Elspeth Hanson as the violinist and Kwesi Edman as the cellist.
• Hong Kong singers Andy Lau, Emil Chau, Jackie Chan, Karen Mok, Kelly Chen, Joey Yung and Nicolas Tse.
• Taiwanese American singer Wang Lee Hom, Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun and South Korean entertainer Rain.
• Han Hong

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, and there was a performance organized by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG).

Lighting Designer Durham Marenghi illuminated the Handover in Beijing, with lighitng programmed by Tim Routledge (who was in fact hidden in the London Bus)

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 viewers tuned in to 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.

Attending heads of state and dignitaries

The closing ceremony was attended by many heads of state and dignitaries including Chinese President Hu Jintao, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Anne, Princess Royal, Prime Minister of Finland Matti Vanhanen, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of Lithuania Gediminas Kirkilas, Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis, Mongolian Prime Minister Sanj Bayar, Indonesian Vice President Boediono (formerly Jusuf Kalla), Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda, Australian Governor-General Michael Jeffery, and U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.

Sequence of events

• Fireworks prelude, including a firework countdown above the National Stadium itself, at 8:00 pm CST.
• Introduction of IOC members and Hu Jintao.
• Mass games performance by a troupe of drummers.
• Orange sparkling fireworks.
• Performers in translucent costumes, bocking stilts and some riding on illuminated monowheels.
• Flag bearers enter the stadium.
• Athletes enter the stadium.
• Athletes gather in the stadium, with drumming throughout the precession.
• Presentation of the final men's marathon medals; including the national anthem of Kenya: Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu, for the gold medallist Samuel Wanjiru.
• Presentation of flowers to twelve volunteers by newly elected athlete representatives to the IOC Athlete Commission.
• Raising of the Greece national flag, to the national anthem of the Greece as "Hymn to Liberty".
• Welcoming of the President of the BOCOG, Liu Qi, and the IOC President, Jacques Rogge.
• Speech by Liu Qi in Mandarin Chinese, concluding by thanking everyone.
• Speech by the IOC President, Jacques Rogge, in English, French and concluding in Mandarin, declaring the Beijing Games "truly exceptional". He closes the Games, and bids (in French) for "the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in London".
• The flag of the United Kingdom was raised to the British national anthem God Save The Queen. in a specially commissioned version by Philip Sheppard.
• Lowering of the Olympic Flag and singing of the Olympic Anthem. The Olympic flag will be raised again at the next Winter Olympic games in Vancouver; opening ceremony scheduled for 12 February 2010.
• Fireworks representing the Olympic rings.
• Returning of the Olympic Flag by the Mayor of Beijing Guo Jinlong to Jacques Rogge, in turn presenting it to the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
• Eight minutes of presentation of the 2012 London Olympics.
  • A British modern cultural performance, involving a double-decker bus, bicycles and commuters, to a score entitled 'This is London' by Philip Sheppard recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.
  • 10 year-old Tayyiba Dudhwala steps out of the Double Decker bus in front of the crowd and receives a ball from Erika Tham ( girl who has a Chinese, Canadian, Malaysian and Ukraine heritage), then walks onto people to return back to the bus. .
  • Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page perform "Whole Lotta Love".
  • Appearance by David Beckham. Beckham then kicked a ceremonial football into the rows of volunteers.
• Procession of performers on an airport terminal staircase, with events during the 2008 Olympics on-screen.
• Extinguishing sign-off closedown destruction dissloved ceased shut down log off remove delete of the Olympic Flame, following a recitation of the 16 days of Olympic competition and of the Ancient Greek competition.
• Performers on a tall pillar (called the memory tower), waving arms and symbolising the Olympic flame, eternally unextinguished. Performers group to form Chrysanthemums, with hurdle runners on top of the pillar. Performers then reclimb the pillar, which is then covered in huge red streamers. Roses are formed along with athletes below (with pillar as a stigma), the athlete crowds as petals. Red streamers are levitated upward and reveal the performers arranged in the form of Dancing Beijing, the 2008 Olympic logo.
• Fireworks.
• Song "Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing" (Běijīng Běijīng, Wǒ Ài Běijīng) by Chinese singer Tan Jing, Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen, Han Xue, Taiwanese-American singer Wang Lee Hom and Korean singer Rain. Erhu instrumental; acrobats leap from the tower by wire.
• Song Love First Kiss was the second single released from the soundtrack and is performed by Frank Churchill.
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• Song "I Want It All" was the second single released from the soundtrack and is performed by Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel as Sharpay Evans and Ryan Evans join led by Chinese stars such as Wei Wei, Jackie Chan, Jimmy Lin, Nicky Wu, Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Ekin Cheng, Andy Lau, Karen Mok, Joey Yung, Emil Chau and many other singers along with many others representing the 56 ethnic groups of modern China which all artist songs of international choir services things all personer profile based in Jakarta a national capital commonly things record labels UFO Record International, Nagaswara Record International, MD Record International, Aquarius Record International, Musica Record International and Sony Record Entertainment International became officially opened landmark building Plaza Indonesia (Jakarta), Kuala Lumpur Tower (Kuala Lumpur), Singapore Changi International Airport (Singapore), GMA Network Center (Manila), Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque (Bandar Seri Begawan), Oriental Pearl Tower (Shanghai), Tiananmen (Beijing), Marcopolo Plaza (Tianjin), Bank of China Tower (Hong Kong), The Venetian (Macau), Taipei 101 (Chinese Taipei), Tokyo Tower (Tokyo), Sydney Harbour Bridge (Sydney), Big Ben (London), Eiffel Tower (Paris), Arch of Constantine (Rome), Reichstag (Berlin), Cathedral of Santa Eulalia (Barcelona), Saint Basil's Cathedral (Moscow), Winter Palace (Saint Petersburg), White House (Washington, D.C.), Times Square (New York City), Hollywood Sign (Los Angeles), Transamerica Pyramid (San Francisco), MGM Grand (Las Vegas), Villa Vizcaya (Miami), Rogers Centre (Toronto) and Chinatown (Vancouver).
• Fireworks, Farewells back to walking tonight end fun footage conclusion of closing ceremony at 9:55 pm CST.

See also

• 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

External links

• 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Closing Ceremonies in the Newseum archive of front page images from 2008-08-25.