The amazing 2008 Summer Olympic Games have already come to a close in Beijing, China today where it is well past the finish of the Closing Ceremonies. All of the medals have been handed out, a few World and Olympic Records have been broken and reset and Beijing bid farewell to the World … our thanks for their amazing job hosting these Olympic Games. Here are a few pics from a portion of today’s Closing Ceremonies (which will be broadcast tonight here in the US on NBC):

BEIJING handed the Olympic flag to London today in a spectacular closing ceremony. Rock legend Jimmy Page and singer Leona Lewis starred in the eight-minute slot for London, while footballer David Beckham was also involved. London mayor Boris Johnson received the Olympic flag in the handover ceremony, which featured a red London double decker bus driving around the Bird’s Nest stadium being pursued by Team GB cyclists Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade. Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee president, told the 91,000 people inside the Bird’s Nest stadium: “Tonight, we come to the end of 16 glorious days which we will cherish forever. Thank you to the people of China.” PM Gordon Brown, who spoke yesterday of his hope that a UK football team could compete in the next Olympics, also attended the closing event. Beckham, who kicked a football into the crowd during the ceremony said he believed the London Olympics in 2012 would be even better than the spectacular events this year. The England footballer said Team GB’s astonishing medal haul will spark a wave of interest in taking part in sport. Beckham said: “I’m an East End boy and I’m proud that it’s happening in London. I was very proud to be involved in the first place bringing it back to England and to London. It’s going to generate so much interest in sport and kids are already getting excited about it. We have seen what the Chinese have done here and I’m sure we will better that, without a doubt.” Team GB won three more medals yesterday with boxer James DeGale leading the way by winning the men’s middleweight title. The 22-year-old Londoner came out on top in a hard-fought contest with Cuban Emilio Correa at the Workers’ Stadium. The boxer’s gold medal followed other success for British athletes on the penultimate day … Team GB has had its most successful Olympics for a century. Britain currently lies in fourth place in the medal table behind China, USA and Russia, after notching up 19 gold medals, 13 silver and 15 bronze to make a total of 47 medals. The Queen today congratulated British and Commonwealth athletes for their success at the Beijing Olympics and said she was looking forward to the London Games in 2012.

After the jump, check out more photos from the Closing Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games including pics of David Beckham and his contribution to the spectacle and the extinguishing of the Olympic Flame …

Becks, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page were all inside a Double Decker bus that is “bound for London” and as the bus opened up, it turned into a performance stage where Leona sang, Jimmy played guitar and Becks, well, he just looked hawt and then kicked a soccer ball into the crowd:

And then the time came to extinguish the Olympic Flame so that it can wait to be replenished in Greece and then make its way to London, UK where it will shine over the 2012 Summer Olympic Games:

OK, that’s not entirely true … the Olympic Flame will be carried to Vancouver, BC in 2010 for the Winter Olympic Games but … well, now that the Summer and Winter Games are separated it seems like they are each their own entity these days. In any event, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games are dunzo … but, boy, wasn’t it a great ride? The US Olympic Team won the overall medal race with 110 Medals with China coming in second with 100 Medals. China won the Gold Medal race with 51 Golds and the US came in second with 36 Golds … not too shabby on either account.

And that, folks, is that. I must confess, these Olympic Games seemed much shorter to me … when I was younger, it always felt like the Games would go on forever … this was the shortest 2 weeks for me, I think. It really was a great Games … Michael Phelps really proved that Olympic History can still be made and in a big way. I can’t wait to see what other records and boundaries are going to be broken at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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