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To be perfectly honest..I'm not sure why there should be a minimum age for the gymnasts.There isn't for most of the other Olympic disciplines. I understand about past abuses involving puberty-suppressing drugs etc.but surely the younger gynmasts could be tested for these before being allowed to take part!

I don't speak Korean,but according to the translation (unless I'm not reading it right): It says 44 parachutists landed in the circle on the stadium field,broken down as 22 from Korea and 22 from the CIP. 22 + 22 = 44. Of these,just 30 parachutists performed the ring jump,broken down as 23 from the USA,4 from France,2 from Canada and 1 from Switzerland. 23 + 4 + 2 + 1 = 30. If not,maybe we could get Kim Jong Il to razz in and translate for us!

Probably about the same as athletes from the UK team!

My overall impression is of efficient and well-organized Games with splendid and glittering ceremonial.Very impressive to watch and witness.Undoubtedly China doing what it does best which is what we had all expected! I was even more impressed by what Beijing has done for the Paralympics.I think there was much more of a relaxed and festive atmosphere present where the heavy security measures put in place for the Olympics were relaxed somewhat and ordinary people could meet and stroll on the Olympic Green and soak up the atmosphere.I was impressed by the care and attention which BOCOG lavished on them.They were not treated as a sideshow at all and they managed to raise public awareness and enjoyment of them to a level not seen before (certainly in my case)! I wonder what the athletes themselves thought? I think they could not complain about the standard of the facilities and venues which Beijing created for them.I suspect they will rate these as one of the best Olympics they have ever competed in! So congratulations and well done Beijing.You have set a standard which future Olympic hosts like London will have to measure up to which I'm sure they will..in their own unique and different ways!!

I take your point but on the other hand I suspect that that the IOC and host cities would be reluctant to allow the elaborate opening ceremonies and associated fanfare for the Paralympics to be shown ahead of the main Olympics ceremonies for fear they would steal the thunder away from the Olympics ceremonies to some extent.And the Olympics are always going to be the main event and attraction for both hosts and spectators!! Maybe they could allow a greater amount of time to elapse between Olympics and Paralympics so that one will not necessarily overshadow or be treated as a sideshow to the other?

Indeed.South Africans may be disappointed with the performance of their Olympic team but their Paralympians have more than made up for it with a truly superb display (especially from Natalie du Toit and Oscar Pistorius)! Well done SA!!

I share your puzzlement.I did not expect there to be anything like the attention we give to the Olympics but I too am a bit baffled by the complete lack of interest shown here! (I guess I could have started a thread instead of waiting for others to do so)! I have been following the coverage whenever I can but it is usually recorded highlights as there has been very little live coverage.It seems strange to me that the BBC (for instance) covered the entire Opening Ceremony live and then restricted itself to edited highlights of the actual events in the evening on BBC2! They are not alone.I read somewhere that NBC had over 2,500 reporters covering the Olympics but left only 5 to cover the Paralympics!! Speaks volumes.I guess there are still too many people about who just don't like looking at disabled athletes performing amazing feats on the track and in the pool!!! And they are truly remarkable people.It's been a real eye-opener for me to see what paralympic sportsmen and women are capable of.I've seen swimmers and riders with no arms and runners with no legs.It really puts into perspective the magnitude of their accomplishments compared to their able-bodied colleagues!! I will say that the Chinese seem to have done the Parlympics proud (just like the Olympics) and have probably helped raise them in the public consciousness more than ever before.But there is clearly still a long way to go. Hopefully London 2012 will build on this and finally get them the coverage they deserve! It seems fitting therefore that the Chinese paralympians have been overwhelmingly dominant (far more so than even in the Olympics).They have racked up almost as many medals as the rest of the world combined! Yet another impressive demonstration of China's arrival as a true superpower on the sporting scene.Who is going to be able to challenge their dominance in years to come??

That's Aussie and Brit humour at its best! The kind of good-humoured and friendly rivalry we look forward to seeing! I wonder if there's been a similar bet for the Paralympics? Currently second according to the BBC's website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_spor...ble/default.stm

It's interesting that the US,whilst increasing its overall share of the medals, has finished up with the same number of golds (36) as in Athens and Sydney.I guess you'll be looking to move up out of that particular groove come 2012?

Yes,I noted South Korea's great showing finishing ahead of Japan (with more than twice the population) and other usually Olympic high-performers like France and Italy.Well done! What events did you win most of your medals in (pardon my ignorance)?

Well,whichever system you want to use...GB finished in 4th place!

At least they had the grace to reverse their decision on appeal which meant Sarah Stevenson secured a bronze medal after all.But who knows how far she might have got if the original result had been judged properly??

Here's some just for you: The battle with the Russians is now over as they have inevitably pushed us into 4th place.Shame but predictable! At least we managed to hold onto that 3rd spot right up to the last day!! My worry now is holding onto the 4th spot! The Germans now seem to be creeping up on us with a late surge!

I just read this item on ITV's Teletext news: "London 2012 will unveil its blueprint to be the Cool Olympics with an 8 minute closing clot in the Beijing Closing Ceremony.Rock legend Jimmy Page and singer Leona Lewis will perform and footballer David Beckham will also be involved. The set will start with a London double decker bus circling the Bird's Nest stadium pursued by cyclists Chris Hoy,Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade."

It seems that there are always some Australians,although not all (certainly not the ones I've met here on Gamesbids) who just love to belittle Britain and put us down at every opportunity.No doubt the newspaper will claim it was just meant to be a bit of harmless fun,and no doubt that is true to a large extent,but there does seem to be an undercurrent of real bitterness at play as well (eg.what was that snide remark about the Millennium all about?).It's as if some Australians cannot stand the thought of there being anything like a successful modern Britain (especially in sports) and that they can only live comfortably with the older idea of Britain as a washed-up country that doesn't seem able to compete at anything successfully in the modern world so that they can poke fun at us which is all rather sad really and does seem to tell you more about Australia than it does about Britain! Maybe I'm exaggerating but I would like to hear the opinions of some of the Aussie posters on here about this! In any case,I've got news for the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and other like-minded Aussie publications...when it comes to poking fun at the Brits,nobody does it better than the Brits themselves.So back off!!!!

I'm still not clear what it was exactly that Bolt did that got under Rogge's nose??

A much needed extra gold from Tim Brabants in the kayak event! Well done Tim!! That's one more gold between us and the Russians as we desperately cling onto our 3rd spot.Although I expect we will get finally overtaken by the latter some time today or tomorrow,every little extra helps.(Such a pity our other gold medal hopeful Shanaze Reade couldn't have made it a double)!! But overall...it's been a great ride!!!

Shame,we could have done with that extra gold! Seriously,as she is the world champion,I don't think it was too much hype to hope she would add the Olympic title to her world title.Plus she had the fastest qualifying time.She was virtually neck and neck in the lead with the French rider Chausson and trying to overtake her on the bend when her bike hit the back wall and flung her off.Disappointing for her and for GB's medal hopes but hopefully she will recover quickly from her injuries,learn from her mistakes and be in better form for London 2012!!

I fully expect the Russians to overtake us into 3rd place at some point later today probably.It's been a great feeling having GB in 3rd position for most of this past week.I've kinda got used to it and it will be a bit sad if we finally lose it.But I always felt it was a bit unreal for us to be ahead of Russia,one of the trio of Olympic giants (along with the US and China) and always expected them to come back with a late surge which they now seem to be doing.(They have consistently been ahead of us on total medal count anyway). If we finally finish 4th it will still be a great achievement for us and will have fully justified the GB Olympic team's aims of finishing in that position in 4 years time in London!!

Is 16 the minimum age limit just for gymnasts? I ask because the British Olympic diver,Tom Daley is only 14 and there is no problem with allowing him to compete!

Why is that??

The IOC boss seems to be less than thrilled by Bolt than the rest of us! "Olympics boss Jacques Rogge has told Usain Bolt to show more respect for opponents after the Jamaican claimed the first sprint double for 24 years." Link to BBC article:

It's especially disappointing for British hopes as the men's 4x100 relay team were the defending Olympic champions! On the other hand,the GB women's team managed to qualify comfortably for their place in the final!!

Shouldn't she have received a lifelong ban in 2003? Why was she allowed to compete here at all??

It has a 24 hour licence!!