IOC president Jacques Rogge, in his address at the Olympic Closing Ceremony over three weeks ago, stopped short of calling Beijing 2008 the Greatest Games Ever. He chose instead to deliver nearly the same "truly exceptional Games" line that his predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch had used at the end of the troubled, over-commercialized Atlanta 1996 event. International Paralympic Committee leader Philip Craven was far less reserved. "These are the greatest Paralympic Games ever," he said in his speech.

London will be the next host of this gigantic two-stage festival in four years' time when Beijing 2008's letter to the future finally arrives by post. While the city's Closing Ceremony presentation -- Leona Lewis, David Beckham and a bus full of grass -- met with decidedly mixed reviews in the next host country, a guitar player dressed up as a glam-rock version of the one-armed 1st Viscount Nelson (picture here) undoubtedly sent British cynics into paroxysms.

London mayor Boris Johnson, who was besieged by Chinese media for his hands-in-pocket, one-handed-flagbearing, open-jacket slouching at the Olympic closing, was on better behavior.

Yang Wei, a 10-year-old deaf Chinese child, signed the words "Sacred flame, you are burning in my heart; are you hearing me? I'm singing for you." And then the torch was extinguished, this time for good.

The final medal count for the 2008 Paralympics, ruled in every possible way by the host Chinese, follows. With the final fencing (dominated by China and Hong Kong), athletics and 5-a-side football events accounted for, 473 podium ceremonies were held over 11 days. A total of 1,431 medals were awarded, far more than the 958 given out at the Olympics last month for 302 events. The difference was due to many different events held for various disability classes -- for instance, there were five separate marathons held on the games' final day.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China	89	70	52	211
2	Great Britain	42	29	31	102
3	United States	36	35	28	99
4	Ukraine	24	18	32	74
5	Australia	23	29	27	79
6	South Africa	21	3	6	30
7	Canada	19	10	21	50
8	Russia	18	23	22	63
9	Brazil	16	14	17	47
10	Spain	15	21	22	58
11	Germany	14	25	20	59
12	France	12	21	19	52
13	South Korea	10	8	13	31
14	Mexico	10	3	7	20
15	Tunisia	9	9	3	21
16	Czech Republic	6	3	18	27
17	Japan	5	14	8	27
18	Poland	5	12	13	30
19	Netherlands	5	10	7	22
20	Greece	5	9	10	24
21	Belarus	5	7	1	13
22	Iran	5	6	3	14
23	Cuba	5	3	6	14
24	New Zealand	5	3	4	12
24	Sweden	5	3	4	12
26	Hong Kong	5	3	3	11
27	Kenya	5	3	1	9
28	Italy	4	7	7	18
29	Egypt	4	4	4	12
30	Nigeria	4	4	1	9
31	Algeria	4	3	8	15
32	Morocco	4	1	2	7
33	Austria	4	1	1	6
34	Switzerland	3	2	6	11
35	Denmark	3	2	4	9
36	Ireland	3	1	1	5
37	Croatia	3	1	0	4
38	Azerbaijan	2	3	5	10
39	Slovakia	2	3	1	6
40	Finland	2	2	2	6
41	Thailand	1	5	7	13
42	Portugal	1	4	2	7
43	Norway	1	3	3	7
44	Cyprus	1	2	1	4
45	Latvia	1	2	0	3
46	Singapore	1	1	2	4
46	Venezuela	1	1	2	4
48	Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	2
49	Hungary	1	0	5	6
50	Chinese Taipei	1	0	1	2
50	Turkey	1	0	1	2
52	Mongolia	1	0	0	1
53	Israel	0	5	1	6
54	Angola	0	3	0	3
55	Jordan	0	2	2	4
56	Lithuania	0	2	0	2
56	Serbia	0	2	0	2
58	Argentina	0	1	5	6
59	Slovenia	0	1	2	3
60	Bulgaria	0	1	1	2
60	Iraq	0	1	1	2
60	Colombia	0	1	1	2
63	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	1	0	1
63	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
63	Papua New Guinea	0	1	0	1
63	Romania	0	1	0	1
63	United Arab Emirates	0	1	0	1
68	Lebanon	0	0	2	2
69	Belgium	0	0	1	1
69	Estonia	0	0	1	1
69	Jamaica	0	0	1	1
69	Laos	0	0	1	1
69	Malaysia	0	0	1	1
69	Namibia	0	0	1	1
69	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
69	Syria	0	0	1	1

(Photo credit: Reuters)