2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest.[1] It was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on Sunday night, 24 August 2008. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.[2]
Date
24 August 2008
The Ceremony also included the handover of the games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. There was also a performance organized by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG).
While the opening ceremony was described as an artistic and serious introduction of China's ancient past, the closing ceremony was described by Western media as "much more lighthearted", "silly" and "fun" than the opening ceremony.[3][4]
By the end of the 16 days of NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics in the United States, it had also become the most-watched U.S. television event of all time,[5] with over 211 million American viewers tuned into the Olympics on NBC according to the Nielsen Media Research;[5] this is 2 million more than the 1996 Atlanta Games, the previous all-time record-holder.[5]
