Olimpic Games in Beijing

Olimpic Games-2008:

The Games of the 29th Olympiad are finally over and concluded with 12 finals including a new Olympic record in the Men's Marathon, China and Mongolia collecting their first-ever Olympic Boxing medals and Russia retaining its Rhythmic Gymnastics All Around crown.

The United States team waves to the crowd. (Photo credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)
(BEIJING, August 24) -- The Games of the 29th Olympiad are finally over and concluded with 12 finals including a new Olympic record in the Men's Marathon, China and Mongolia collecting their first-ever Olympic Boxing medals and Russia retaining its Rhythmic Gymnastics All Around crown.

But to most observers there was only one question that remained to be answered before the veil came down on Beijing 2008: could Team USA redeem their country's wounded pride at missing the Men's Basketball gold medal in Athens four years ago?

Indeed, even the star-studded NBA players in their ironically monikered "redeem team" joked they'd better not bother going home unless they had nice new gold medals safely tucked inside their suitcases – few major sports, if any, have one nation in the psychological grip that basketball has over the US public.

And the US Women's team, led by Lisa Leslie who scooped her fourth and almost certainly final consecutive gold medal, also retained their Women's Basketball title yesterday. So there was some pressure on the boys.

Redeemers, dreamers, daydream believers, call them what you will, today they were simply winners -- and Beijing 2008, alongside the big name footballers and tennis players who came here, was all the richer for having these major sporting stars in its midst.

They responded magnificently by weighing in with 118 points to Spain's 107. Not that it was ever a walk in the park against a determined Spanish team which, just like China had done in the US team's opening encounter of the Games, led early on.

But after a shaky start, Team USA soon built a seven point advantage by the end of the first quarter, then a half time of lead 69-61.
Inspired by Marc Gasol, Spain chipped away the US lead in the third and fourth quarters, reducing the deficit to just four points at one stage, but the "redeemers" pulled away for an 11 point victory margin that reflected the overall balance of the game.
As you might expect, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade were the top scorers for Team USA, weighing in with 20 and 27 points each.
Afterwards, Lebron James described the joy within the Team USA camp: "It means everything to me. We're the number one team. We've been so blessed with this opportunity. It's so rewarding to see your hard work pay off. This is something I've waited for, for four years."
Earlier, defending Olympic champion Argentina won the bronze medal after a comfortable victory against Lithuania 87-75 with Carlos Delfino top-scoring with 20 points for Argentina.And there was plenty of other action on Day 16.

Samuel Kamau Wansiru set a new Olympic record in the final Athletics event of the Games -- the Men's Marathon -- in which all the medals went to African runners.
Wansiru's victory in two hours and 6.32 minutes was Keyna's first Olympic Men's Marathon win and smashed Carlos Lopes' 24-year-old previous record of two hours and 9:21 minutes, set by the Portuguese runner at the 1984 Olympics.
Jaouad Gharib from Morocco also broke the former record to take silver in two hours and 7.16 minutes, with Ethiopia's Tsegay Kebede crossing the finish line in two hours and 10 minutes to claim the bronze.

To be Continue........