Photos: Olympics 2008 closing ceremony

XXIX Summer Olympics closing ceremony at the main arena Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing.
China won 51 gold medals, 21 silver medals and 28 bronze medals. The U.S. won 36 gold medals, 38 silver medals and 36 bronze medals. Russia won 23 gold medals, 21 silver medals and 28 bronze medals. The next Winter Olympics will be hosted by Canada’s Vancouver in 2010, and the next Summer Olympics will take place in London in 2012.






Reuters, AFP, Getty Images.

Sports schools China

The German magazine Stern published a series of photographs of children in sports schools in China to train them to become future champions. Parents give them to these schools at the age of 4-5 years.

Photo: Sean Yong/Reuters, Nir Elias/Reuters, China Photos/
/Getty Images, Guang Niu/Getty Images

2008 Olympics in Beijing

In central Beijing Tiananmen Square yesterday was colourful show, which celebrated the entry of China in the past the year. Celebrations also took place in many other cities and provinces of China.
Thousands of Beijing residents gathered at the square where exactly at 8:00 pm, eight minutes and eight seconds on the clock local time on the electronic scoreboard, due to the entrance to the National Museum of China, told that before long the opening of the 2008 Olympics remain exactly a year .
Start time celebration is not a coincidence. Number eight, according to traditional Chinese numeral, symbolizing luck and prosperity. That is why the opening ceremony of the Games will be held at 8 pm on August 8, 2008 at the main Olympic stadium Beijing "Avian nest."

Photo: Kyodo News/AP; China Daily/Reuters; Feng Li/Getty Images; Jason Lee/Reuters; Frederic J. Brown/AFP; Teh Eng Koon/AFP; Guang Niu/Getty Images