Beijing - American swimmer Michael Phelps and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt rewrote the Olympic record books in Beijing where the Games were detached from reality as never before.

Competition took place in a world of its own, a Planet Olympia, while host China's communist government ruled outside as if Olympic values had never come to town.  Read more »

Beijing - "Truly exceptional" Beijing Olympics ended on Sunday as London 2012 rocked to the world's attention.

International Olympic Commitee President Jacques Rogge closed the Games according to IOC tradition and then invited "the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in London to celebrate the Games of the XXX Olympiad."  Read more »

Beijing - The 2008 Olympics drew an estimated television audience of 4.4 billion in the first 10 days, setting a new viewing record for an Olympic Games, market research firm Nielsen said on Sunday.

The estimated audience from August 8-17 surpassed the 3.9 billion viewers for the whole of the Athens games in 2004 and the 3.6 billion who watched the 2000 event in Sydney, the company said in a press release.  Read more »

Sydney - Australians on Sunday rushed to embrace gold-winning diver Matthew Mitcham who emerged from the Beijing pool both giant-killer and a gay icon.

The 20-year-old charmer shed tears after a near-perfect final dive edged him above the hot favourite to the top place on the podium. It was the eighth and last medal in the diving and everyone expected China's Zhou Luxin to triumph.

"Everything, absolutely everything I have done, has been for this," he said. "Now it's happened and I never thought it would."  Read more »

Beijing - The US on Sunday stunned the defending champions Brazil in the final of the men's Olympic volleyball tournament in Beijing.

After dropping the first set 25-20, the Americans fought back to win the next three sets 25-22, 25-21 and 25-23 for a 3-1 victory.  Read more »

Beijing - Zou Shiming of China claimed the men's light flyweight boxing gold medal Sunday when he beat Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia in the final.  Read more »

Beijing - China organized an exceptional Olympics in which US swimmer Michael Phelps and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt stood out, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said hours before Sunday's closing ceremony at the Beijing Games.  Read more »

Beijing - The Russian group all-around team in the rhythmic gymnastics on Sunday successfully defended their Olympic title.

Russia won the gold with 35.550 points from the hosts China, who had 35.225. Bronze went to Belarus.

The result sees Russian Elena Posevina become a double-gold medallist after having already picked up gold in Athens four years ago.

The event brings the Beijing Olympic gymnastics competition, which the hosts and the US dominated, to a close. (dpa)

Beijing - The United States on Sunday urged China to release eight US citizens who were sentenced last week to 10 days in detention for their role in a series of protests in support of Tibetan independence.

US Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt raised the issue of the detentions with Chinese officials on Saturday and called for the immediate release of the eight, US embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson said in a statement.  Read more »

Sydney - You could set your watch by it: as the Olympics close, Australian coaches warn of national humiliation next time round unless even more money is spent on elite athletes.

In Beijing, it's no different: "We have to get more resources," sports supremo John Coates said. "I'm anxious to put this on the table now, not wheel it out in response to a bad performance here."  Read more »