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Like everyone, I have some thoughts on the recently completed Beijing Olympics. First, were you aware U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold medals? Could NBC have mentioned it more often? Seriously, NBC owes Michael Phelps a commission for the number of viewers he kept glued to their telecast. Ratings dropped significantly after Phelps picked up his final gold medal, so it seemed NBC wanted to keep reliving the moment with constant playbacks of his dazzling victories.

Of course these Olympics were about many things, but those of us watching got to witness an incredible feat with Phelps, who was the biggest story by far. I remember the dominance of Mark Spitz in 1972. I was a swimmer back then and there was just no way to aptly describe watching one person win every event and win in world record time and what it did to my sport. I do agree with Spitz that had there been a 50 free event in 1972, he would have won 8 gold medals, but I think swimmers around the world have caught up to the U.S. and Phelps had a lot more competition than Spitz did 36 years ago, as the relays demonstrated.

Besides the story of Phelps, there is really only one other story that will linger much beyond this year and it is the story of China itself. Starting with the big question mark on the age of their female gymnasts to a glimpse into their strange society, the legacy of these Olympics may be as much about the host country as anything.

Very few people are buying the canard that their gymnasts met the minimum age requirement of 16. Of course there will be a “formal” investigation, but I doubt the International Olympic Committee will do much more than verify their government granted passports and declare the investigation closed. Just the same, we’ll all know the truth and the weakness of the IOC. This is to say nothing about the skill of China’s gymnasts; for the most part they deserved their medals. But rules are rules and this is far worse than one athlete getting ahead through performance enhancing substances, this took a government to raise these gymnasts.

Instead of a single athlete cheating – and cheating themselves in the long run – for China to pass these girls off as 16 took the complicity of the government and a lot of hiding of evidence. If the rules were broken and the Chinese government was part of it, this is as bad as the East German women in the 1972 Olympics when their swimmers were systematically given steroids for years. Most people don’t know the name Shirley Babashoff, but had it not been for the East German women all juiced up, she would have won five swimming gold medals in the 1976 Olympics and eight in her career. Do American gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin feel like Babashoff did 32 years ago? Or does this only seem like sour grapes?

One of the more interesting interviews during the Games came when He Kexin, the center of the age controversy, was asked if her parents were in the stands. She looked puzzled by the question and then admitted she didn’t know where her parents were and couldn’t remember the last time she had seen them. This made the statement by the Chinese team that the parents of these girls were angry about the allegations more surreal. I don’t think these girls have a relationship with their parents, only a relationship with those on the team, the coaches and the sport itself. When someone asks what’s wrong with girls so young competing in the Games, you had to look no further than these robotic little girls looking like they had emerged from a hidden cave for the first time in years.

There was another minor story that did a good job of summing up what Chinese culture is like. In order to get the Games in the first place, China had to make a number of promises – nearly all broken. One was to allow people to speak out about the government itself. So the Chinese government established a process where people could apply for a permit to speak their minds in a designated area near the Olympic Village. Strangely, nobody spoke out. However, it was reported that there were two women in their seventies who applied to protest about their forced eviction from their homes in 2001. They applied for a permit at the Beijing Public Security Bureau and shortly thereafter were informed they had received a one-year sentence for “disturbing the public order” by China’s “Re-education Through Labor Commission.” So I guess speaking out in China is, on the surface, OK as long as you’re willing to be re-educated afterwards.

Lost in all the coverage of Phelps, gymnastics and women playing volleyball in bikinis were many stories of athletes living up to their expectations and athletes floundering under the spotlight. The American women and men’s 400 meter relays were both disqualified for dropping the baton, looking almost as if they had never practiced the exchange before. But Usain Bolt, who ran to three world records in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 relay, went beyond the hype. He was in a league by himself, winning each individual race by an embarrassing distance. Sure he was a goofball, but he’s still the fastest man on earth and deserved to be a bit cocky and clown-around. (There were some in our household who wondered if there were faster people inside the earth, but no matter).

The men’s water polo team, only briefly making it on NBC’s inconsistent coverage, took home a silver medal despite coming into the Games as only the 9th ranked team. They defeated perennial powerhouse teams such as Serbia, Italy and Croatia and were tied with eventual gold medal winner Hungary 9-9 before faltering in the final quarter and losing 14-10. The NBA is back too, winning the gold medal after throwing out groups of undisciplined teammates who found little time for practice. The gold medal match was much closer than expected, but in the end, the U.S. proved its dominance in the sport (but it’s getting much closer).

Women’s softball took only a silver medal after outscoring their opponents 53-1 and then losing 3-1 to Japan in the gold medal round. It was supposed to be the fourth straight gold medal for the U.S. and, ironically, the American women’s dominance of the sport was the reason the IOC had voted to end it following this Olympics. The IOC will vote on re-instating the sport in 2009, leaving conspiratorial thinkers to wonder if they threw the game to get the sport back in.

The U.S. men winning the volleyball gold medal over Brazil was a great story inside a horrific one. Before the Games began, the coach of the team’s mother-in-law and father-in-law were stabbed by a deranged individual, his father-in-law dying from the attack. When his team won the gold medal, the coach was so emotional he had to find a private place under the stands to let it all out. I am sure the victory was bittersweet.

There were athletes and coaches who exceed expectations – Jason Lezak’s amazing final leg to get Phelps a gold medal in the 4X100 free relay and Stephanie Brown-Trafton surprising the world by winning the women’s discus, and there were those who behaved shamefully – the coach of pole vault silver medalist Jennifer Stuczynski telling her on live TV that she, essentially, stunk, and Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian tossing his bronze medal and walking off the podium in protest at the judging in his semi-final match.

Beijing may have been the biggest winner (beside NBC and Phelps) as it looked all polished up and ready for the world to get a glimpse behind the Bamboo Curtain. The facilities were remarkable and the opening and final ceremonies were incredible and looked like something that can only be done with 1.3 billion people. Maybe it’s only ironic that China’s national anthem is titled March of the Volunteers. While it’s doubtful anyone volunteers to march, it did appear the Chinese people were ready to put on a showcase for their emerging country and they did it with volume and, perhaps, a little volunteerism.