At the close of each day of competition, this blog will present the brackets of all active team sports.

Results of the Day 16 competitions.

"The world learned about China, and China learned about the world."

-Jacques Rogge

Much more later, but for now, a partially alternate history of the Games of the 29th Olympiad.

Day 1: Mali women's basketball comes close
Day 2: Invaded Georgia stays at the Olympics, wins a medal
Day 3: India's one-in-a-billion shooting gold medal
Day 4: Who is Second Brother on the Right?
Day 5: One-handed table tennis player Natalya Partyka
Day 6: China's archery upset
Day 7: Baseball's extra-inning problems
Day 8: 9.69 seconds
Day 9: Badminton's Super Dan!
Day 10: China's idealized hurdling hero drops out
Day 11: Synchronized swimming, so misunderstood
Day 12: Usain Bolt, the real star of the Games
Day 13: Japan's "Miracle" softball upset
Day 14: The World's Greatest Athlete doesn't fit into a narrative structure
Day 15: Argentina's architectural goal wins the football
Day 16: Kenya finally wins the marathon

Photo credit: EPA

There are now just three hours until the Closing Ceremony. The final team competitions are wrapping up around Beijing as the city gets ready for the handover to London for the 30th meeting of the youth of the world four years from now.

BASKETBALL: Any sportswriter who compares the 2008 United States men's basketball team with the 1992 "Dream Team" in any way, shape or form should be stripped of their media credentials for life. When Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson joined forces in Barcelona, the competition simply laid down and enjoyed the opportunity to get beat by the best. It was like an NBA team against rec league teams. Not only did no opponent come close, the tournament came at a time when very few international teams had identities or cohesive game plans.

A more apt parallel is the original "Redeem Team," the American basketball team at montreal 1976 that avenged the 1972 Munich debacle. A squad that included Quinn Buckner, Adrian Dantley and Mitch Kupchak was deeper and more talented and more skilled than the field -- and they knew it. But the gap between them and the rest of the field was slim enough to be uncomfortable, mostly because of a less than stifling defense. They scored 83 points a game, but only won those contests by an average of 13. (The Dream Team, by comparison, won by 43 points per game.)

Sound like the 2008 squad? Even though the Americans fielded a roster of NBA all-stars, In a 118-107 Wild East shootout with Spain, there was no fear on the other sideline -- the world champions kept attacking, running, pressuring and finding any advantage they could. In the fourth quarter, the Spaniards cut the lead to two before their fabric was frayed and ripped by bad fouls and poor decisions.

The U.S. is back on top of the basketball world, befitting its status as inventors and curators of the world's greatest sport. If the Dream Team informed the world that they had to use strategy to win, Redeem Team II showed that the best teams need clear roles and depth to overcome all obstacles. But America hasn't lapped the field, and never will again. Which is a good thing.

WATER POLO: Montenegro split from Serbia after a successful state-dissolving referendum two years ago. Water polo-wise, the conjoined nation of Serbia and Montenegro won silver at Athens 2004. Twelve of those 14 players were from the Serbian side, so a Montenegrin run seemed implausible.

But the two old friends met today for bronze. Serbia was playing without its star scorer Aleksandar Sapic and starting goalkeeper Denis Sefik, who reportedly got into a bone-breaking fight after the semifinal loss to the United States two days ago. jumped out to a 6-1 lead after three quarters. But the country's little brother wouldn't go away. Montenegro chipped away at the lead with three straight goals, but simply ran out of time. Serbia won the bronze medal with a 6-4 win.

BOXING: Chairman Mao hated boxing; he thought it rewarded individual striving and promoted capitalism. But now that he's just a portrait over the Forbidden City that gets chanced every year, the sport is able to thrive.

Whether or not his bouts are among those affected by a budding corruption and bribery scandal, there's no question that Zou Shiming is one of China's proudest sons of the Games. He earned the country's 50th gold of the Beijing Olympics with a 1-0 stopped fight in the light flyweight division at the head of today's card. Mongolian Serdamba Purevdorj retired after the first round, his arm hanging limply from an apparent shoulder injury, and his coach threw in the towel. Literally threw a towel into the ring -- that's not just a figure of speech.

Zou, the 2007 world champion in his weight class, won China's first medal of any kind at Athens 2004 with a bronze. Beforehand, only three Chinese boxers had even made it to the quarterfinals of any division. Later in the day, Xiaoping Xhang won the light heavyweight tournament with a battering 11-7 win over Irish boxer Kenny Egan.

NBC-TV Olympic anchor Bob Costas conducted an interview with IOC president Jacques Rogge in which they discussed the Games' role in China in terms of human rights, press freedoms and other hot-button issues that have come up as a result of Beijing's selection as host. Rogge gave the kind of complex, thoughtful answer that wouldn't fit in the reactionary sound-bite context that prime-time audiences prefer.

Which is, of course, why the interview was broadcast at 3:30 AM on the East Coast.

COSTAS: I think some observers say, 'We know Jacques Rogge and the IOC have limitations to their powers, all they can do is attempt to persuade,' but they'd prefer a more emphatic and direct public statement in some circumstances, and some have arisen here in China.

ROGGE: Because that would serve their needs. When Beijing was selected for the 2008 Games, I consulted with many, many Sinologues, specializers in China. Heads of state, politicians, ambassadors, businesspeople who have worked and lived in China. I spoke with the Chinese. All of them said there is one golden rule if you want to obtain something in China. You work with great diplomacy. You don't grandstand. You do not shout, it's not going to work.

We obtained the maximum that the IOC, a non-sovereign body, could obtain from the Chinese authorities. In many fields -- media freedom, the environment, and a lot of other social issues like proper compensation for expropriation, things like that, child labor. But this is not something you do by making a press conference and asking for this or that.

And by the way, let's be very honest. How could we ask the IOC to succeed when generations of heads of states and prime ministers have failed? You see here in China tens of heads of state come and sign very, very good contracts for their businesses and enterprises. Then they come back to their countries. Have they revolutionized China? They have made progress, and we believe we have contributed to that. Do not ask us to do what heads of state cannot achieve.

Photo credit: AP

On the last day of the Games, men's basketball, handball, volleyball and water polo tournaments will be finalized. The last six boxing weight classes are likely decided already, but the sport will at least provide a visual presentation for those who have bought tickets. And don't forget rhythmic gymnastics, the other sport of ball and hoop. But the iconic event of the Games is complete, the men's marathon.

ATHLETICS: Kenyans have won 16 of the past 18 Boston Marathons, the past five in London, the last five in Chicago. But never before had a Kenyan runner won the original race, the Olympic marathon -- just two silvers and a bronze here. It's one of those notable exceptions that makes bad sportswriters imagine up a curse.

It's certainly not for lack of talent. The Kenyan squad in the 2008 event was so deep that Boston champion Robert Cheruiyot was replaced at the last minute with an injury -- and the alternate, Luke Kibet, is the 2007 marathon world champion. Kibet broke a two-decade Kenyan drought at the World Championships with a 2:15:59 win at Osaka last year.

But today belonged to 21-year old, 5-foot-4 Samuel Kamau Wanjiru. n temperatures that were in the upper 70's Fahrenheit at 0730 and shot upwards into the 80's as soon as the sun was high, Wanjiru was one of the few runners who didn't appear fazed by the heat. After about 21 miles, the Kenyan pulled away from the pack and later entered a full Bird's Nest waggling his finger and waving to the crowd -- he sliced three minutes off the Olympic record and came within two minutes of Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie's recently-set 2:04:26 mark. His final time was a phenomenal 2:06:32.

It was one of those marathons in which the winner looked like he could simply turn around and arrive back at the start line two hours later.

Moroccan Jaouad Gharib, 44 seconds behind, and two Ethiopians followed -- Tsegay Kebede in bronze position and Deriba Merga in fourth. They completed a street course that was the Olympics' flattest since Moscow 1980, a 26.2-mile windaround through the streets of Beijing that featured very few grade changes, in stark contrast to the steep climbs of Barcelona or Athens, or even the gentle downhill slope of Sydney. It was specifically designed not to tax the runners any more than the city smog, humidity and haze would.

Which certainly happened -- indeed, 98 runners lined up on the start list, but three did not start and five gave up their race numbers before the halfway mark. In total, there were 18 DNF casualties along the route. One was world champion Kibet, who dramatically abandoned the race around the 18 mile mark while still in the lead pack. Atsushi Sato of Japan was the final competist, finshing 76th in 2:41:08. Which, this blog must mention, is a time would have won the Paris 1924 marathon.

A sidenote: the gold was Kenya's fifth at these Games, clinching the best-ever finish for the country with 14 overall medals. Other champions are Wilfred Bungei, who took the 800m on Day 15, Brimin Kiprop Kipruto in the 3000m steeplechase, and middle distance queens Pamela Jelimo (800m) and Nancy Jebet Langat (1500m).