Colourful closing ceremony as Beijing lets its hair down

The Beijing Olympics were brought to a colourful close last night in a ceremony featuring the spontaneous celebration of athletes and a hip performance by London, the next host city.

Following a countdown in fireworks, a circle of 200 drummers at the centre of the 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium started the ceremony with a performance entitled 'Reunion'. As two massive drums floated overhead, more than 1,000 dancers with silver bells on yellow costumes surrounded them.

They were joined by performers on glowing unicycles weaving in and out, and acrobats jumping with bouncy stilts strapped to their feet. Eight carts carrying more drums then encircled the ensemble, with acrobats clinging to the moving vehicles helping to beat out the rhythm.

The first act recalled the opening ceremony, but it soon became much less formal, with the flags of the 204 participating countries and regions entering the stadium, followed by a surge of athletes carrying video cameras and banners.

Zhang Ning, a double gold medal winner in badminton, carried the flag for the Chinese team.

Following the medal presentation ceremony for the men's marathon, which was run yesterday morning, representatives of more than 1 million volunteers who made the Games possible and new members of the International Olympic Committee's athletes' commission entered the stadium.