The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad are over. Athens 2004 was not the shambles that many feared. Neil Horan, looking like a reject from an un-filmed Father Ted screenplay, was the only intrusion when far, Far, worse was feared. Yay.

The closing ceremony was a closing ceremony. A blend of solemnity and party, and the obligatory cultural piece from the host of the next Games. Memories of the inflatable kangaroos on bicycles at Atlanta 1996 have scarred my brain. Beijing’s balletic presentation on Sunday night was far more tasteful. At least until a Chinese Nikki Webster appeared out of a giant red lantern at the climax.

No less a director than Zhang Yimou was at the helm of the eight-minute Chinese spectacle. Coincidentally, his 2002 Jet Li martial-arts opus, Hero, topped the US box office this weekend.

Here’s the list of flag-bearers for each country at the closing ceremony. The one other comment I’ll make about the evening is to congratulate Jacques Rogge for not adopting the JA Samaranch sycophancy of calling each Games “the best ever”. For a report of the closing ceremony, I’ve chosen Deutsche Welle (in English).

China got 32 gold medals at Athens, three behind the US. Just think what they’ll be like at home. Maybe they should split China into separate provinces for the purposes of Beijing 2008. And start with Tibet.

I couldn’t help but note that if you add together the gold medals of Russia (27), Ukraine (9), Belarus (2), Georgia (2), Uzbekistan (2), Kazakhstan (1), Lithuania (1) and Azerbaijan (1), the old Soviet Union totalled 45 gold medals and would have finished on top.

More perverse statistics: of the eleven nations with populations of 100 million or more (source: CIA fact book), China, the USA, Russia, Japan and Brazil all did fairly well. And then there’s:

• India (pop. 1065 mil): 0 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze
• Indonesia (pop. 238 mil): 1 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze
• Pakistan (pop. 159 mil): nothing
• Bangladesh (pop. 141 mil): nothing
• Nigeria (pop. 137 mil): 0 gold, 0 silver, 2 bronze
• Mexico (pop. 105 mil): 0 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze

On the other hand, a total of 57 countries claimed at least one gold, and 75 claimed at least one medal. There’s a good piece in Monday’s Christian Science Monitor about the greater distribution of medals internationally.

Only 1439 days till the start of Beijing 2008. Here’s the BOCOG website… spot the non-Y2K compliance!

What is it about the marathon that attracts serial pests? It was bad enough in 2000 when Peter Hore ran onto the course, but at least he didn’t get to do anything. Neil Horan went one better at Athens, by charging onto the course at about the 35km stage and tackling Brazil’s Vanderlei de Lima, who was the leader at the time. De Lima managed to carry on but faded away to third place.

Horan’s previous claim to fame was running onto the track during the 2003 British Formula One Grand Prix to, in his words, “promote the Bible”. Personally, I think Horan should have shown a bit more flair and did his thing, not at the marathon, but during the swimming leg of the triathlon. Go and swim out and drag the leader underwater. Good advertisement for the baptism segments of the Bible, that one.

Italy’s Stefano Baldini finished in first place. He said afterwards that he would have run de Lima down regardless of the incident. Reports on the race from La Gazzetta dello Sport, Jornal do Brasil, and the Sydney Morning Herald. Plus the UCLA’s coverage of Meb Keflezighi’s silver.

Marcel Matinin of Slovakia was last of the 81 to finish, with a time of 2:50:26. Timor Leste’s Gil da Cruz Trinidade was one of 20 runners who didn’t complete the race.

Earlier in the day, Denmark won a ripper of a women’s handball final over South Korea. It was 29-29 at full-time and 34-34 after extra time before the Danes won the penalty shootout 4-2. Handball is a wonderfully fast sport that is virtually unknown in Australia, and the screening of the game live in the early evening on SBS would have really opened some viewers eyes I suspect. Here’s the play-by-play of the game, a report from Reuters, and a Danish report from Politiken. Croatia beat Germany in the men’s final, 26-24.

For what it’s worth, here is the Australian Handball Federation website.

In the men’s volleyball, Brazil beat Italy 25-15, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22. Reports from Xinhua, and once again, Jornal do Brasil and La Gazzetta dello Sport. Tournament MVP was Brazil’s Gilberto Godoy Filho. And yes he has a personal web site.

Hungary dominated the men’s water polo yet again with an 8-7 win over Serbia and Montenegro.

Great Moments in Socialism Update: Chinese track gold medallists Liu Xiang and Xing Huina will be given a million yuan each by a Beijing real-estate agent.

Finally, Bimbo Report: Let’s go shopping in Athens with Jennie Finch (Windows media video.)

Final wrap of Athens 2004 to come (as if I can restrain myself to one wrap, yeah right).

You can just see Steve Cram dribbling over his keyboard as he wrote his BBC Online recap of Saturday night’s athletics. But you can probably close off the polling for the 2004 BBC Sportsperson of the Year right now. Kelly Holmes has it in the bag. She won the 1500 metres to add to her 800 crown earlier in the week.

Another of the leading candidates for Athlete of the Games would have to be Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco. He completed an extremely rare double on Saturday night, winning the 5000 after taking the 1500 last Tuesday. It’s so rare a double that only Paavo Nurmi has done it before, at Paris 1924. “Magnifique, explosif, époustouflant” says Morocco’s Le Matin. Mais oui.

Great Britain, who started their gold medal so slowly in these Games, added the men’s 4×100 relay to their treasure chest in another upset loss by the Americans.

Yelena Slesarenko is the new queen of women’s high jump, with a mark of 2.06 metres. Hestrie Cloete of South Africa took silver, which was immediately tarnished by the conduct of her family and friends as NOC president Sam Ramsamy presented Hestrie with her medal. South Africa’s Sunday Times reports what happened next.

Argentina had failed to win a gold medal at any olympics since Helsinki 1952. Saturday, they won two. Their soccer team beat Paraguay 1-0 in a final which had a 10am kickoff. This event was a milestone for Paraguay as well, being their first ever Olympic medal. Paraguay’s La Nacion picks up the story in Spanish.

Argentina’s second gold for Saturday was the climax of an extraordinary men’s basketball tournament, as they defeated Italy 84-69 in the final. Here are the match stats, reports from Argentina’s La Nacion, Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, and NBCOlympics.com. The San Antonio Spurs are the only NBA team with an Athens gold medallist on their roster, namely Manu Ginobili.

The Team Formerly Known As Dream took the bronze medal by defeating the hapless Lithuanians. A moment of farce (well, 45 minutes actually) as the start of the match was delayed while a clash of uniforms between the two teams was resolved with the US having to change theirs. This game was but an anticlimax, as the US women had earlier beaten the Australian Opals 74-63. Here’s the match stats and Sydney’s Sun-Herald’s report.

Back to the men’s basketball one last time, Team Espana maintained their record of being the only team in the tournament to lose only one game. They beat China 92-76 on Saturday morning to finish seventh. Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies averaged 22.4 points per game for Spain in the Olympics.

Ginobili and the USA’s Lisa Leslie were voted MVPs of the men’s and women’s tournaments respectively.

A thrilling women’s volleyball tournament finished on Saturday night with China defeating Russia 28-30, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23, 15-12 in two hours 19 minutes. Here’s the play-by-play and the Xinhua News Agency report. Cuba beat Brazil in four sets to take bronze.

Australia had their most successful Games in diving this year, with six medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze). Sailing was a different matter. Twenty countries picked up medals in the regatta. Australia was not one of them. A remarkable turnaround from tradition. So much for Colin Beashel carrying the flag at the opening ceremony!

Finally, there is no truth in the rumour that Waterford Crystal will be carrying the flag for Ireland in Sunday’s closing ceremony. Or that George W Bush is on his way to Athens to congratulate Georgia’s two gold medallists, and to lend his support for the 2012 Olympic bid by Paris, Texas.