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'Truly exceptional Games' From the start, these Olympics were different. They opened in spectacular fashion and never slowed down. From the Water Cube to the Bird's Nest, these Games made history, Alan Abrahamson writes.
The closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Games, replete with spectacle, pageantry and parades. An on-the-scene account ...
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Nine of the eleven team sport head coaches leading the United States are first-time bosses on the Olympic stage. Instead of experiencing rookie jitters, however, these sideline-roamers succeeded at an impressive rate.
Golden era
1,000: Number of all-time Olympic gold medals USA reached after women's soccer team's win on August 21. 922 of those gold medals have been won at Summer Games. (Source: USOC)
Magical margins
0.2: Number of seconds gap between Usain Bolt and 2nd place finisher Richard Thompson in the 100m dash final. (Tied for largest winning margin in the event)
0.66: That gap between Bolt and official runner-up Shawn Crawford in the 200m dash final. (Largest ever.)
108: Margin of victory, in pounds, for Korean super-heavyweight weightlifter Jang Mi-ran, over nearest competitor, Ukraine's Olha Korobka.
World records
25: Number of world records set in swimming in Beijing
In the numbers
5.12 14:28: Official date and time of devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province
51 21 28: Number of gold, silver & bronze medals won by China at 2008 Games
“Apolo Ohno, Short trackAny athlete at this level and the elite level knows really when they should turn the light switch on and off. It's been on all summer.
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