Dream Olympics closes »

Dream Olympics closes

BEIJING, China (CMC):

A dream of an Olympic Games for the Caribbean in Beijing ended with a glittering closing ceremony at the Bird's Nest Stadium watched by 91,000 fans yesterday.

Led by the astounding talent of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, the English-speaking Caribbean captured a whopping 15 medals including six gold - a performance unparallelled by the region in Olympic history.

Bolt could have been foremost in the mind of Liu i, the Beijing Olympics Organising Committee chairman, when he praised the competitors, saying: "Let us congratulate the athletes on their great achievements."

Bolt stunningly smashed world records in every event in which he participated. He clocked 9.69 seconds to win the men's 100 metres, lowering his own world mark, before smashing Michael Johnson's formidable 200-metre world record with a staggering run of 19.30 seconds.

Bolt, who turned 22 years old during the Games, also helped Jamaica obliterate a 16-year-old American world record when their men's sprint relay team stopped the clock at 37.10 seconds.

Stirring show

The highly praised opening ceremony on August 8th was almost matched by another stirring show from the Chinese that complemented the brilliance in sporting competition over the last two-and-a-half weeks.

Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, also acclaimed the quality of the Games, at which Bolt and the American super star swimmer Michael Phelps, with a record eight gold medals, were the standouts.

"New stars were born," Rogge said. "Stars from past Games amazed us again. We shared their joys and their tears and we marvelled at their ability. We will long remember the achievements we witnessed here."

The IOC reported that 43 world records and 132 Olympic records were broken.

CARICOM countries left the world stunned with their outstanding sprint performances.

With the exception of the women's 4x100-metre relay, which the Russian Federation won after the hot favourites and defending champions Jamaica botched a baton changeover, the Jamaicans won every sprint medal on offer in track and field.

In addition to Bolt's sprint double and the men's sprint relay, the Jamaicans won the women's 100 and 200 through Shelly-Ann Fraser and Veronica Campbell-Brown, respectively.

In four of those events, CARICOM runners finished in medal-winning positions. Trinidad & Tobago's rising star Richard Thompson clocked a fabulous personal best 9.89 seconds for silver in Bolt's 100-metre record run and helped T&T collect silver in the sprint relay behind the Jamaicans.

In the women's sprints, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson tied for second behind Fraser in a unique gold-silver-silver sweep in the 100 metres.

Second medal

Stewart secured a second medal when she placed third in the 200 metres.

Melaine Walker picked up the sixth Jamaican gold medal with an Olympic record 52.64 run in the women's 400-metre hurdles.

There were six silver medals and three bronze for the region. Jamaican Shericka Williams, in the women's 400 metres, and the Bahamas" 4x400-metre men's relay team claimed silver medals and other bronze medal winners were Bahamian Leevan Sands in the men's triple jump and Jamaica in the women's 4x400-metre relays.

The quality of medals allowed the region to celebrate its best ever showing, surpassing the Sydney 2000 Games at which they belatedly picked up 15 medals.

CARICOM countries had gathered a combined total of 12 medals in Sydney, but subsequent placing upgrades following the disqualification - due to doping infringements - of Americans Marion Jones and Antonio Pettigrew, lifted the tally to 15, three gold, six gold and six bronze.

Striking third

Here, the region picked up six gold, six silver and three bronze medals.

Jamaica celebrated six gold, three silver and two bronze for 11 medals and 13th in the overall medal standings.

They placed a striking third in the track & field standings behind the Unietd States (7-9-7) and the Russian Federation (6-5-7), while other Caribbean nationals Cuba (1-2-2), T&T (0-2-0) and Bahamas (0-1-1) finished seventh, 25th and 27th, respectively.

Hosts China emerged No.1 in the overall medals with 51 gold, 21 silver and 28 bronze medals, to top the United States (36-38-36) and the Russians (23-21-28).

The customary teaser for upcoming hosts at Olympic Closing ceremonies came in the form of a lively presentation by London, whose new singing star Leona Lewis joined veteran guitarist Jimmy Page and delighted the fans with a lively performance.

International football star David Beckham, emerged on top of a red double-decker bus that unfolded into a hedge-clipped outline of London and kicked a football from the bus into a cluster of closing ceremony performers on the infield.

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