Medals galore as GB finishes fourth

As the curtain came down on the Beijing Games, fans geared up to watch a closing ceremony that will include the official handover to London as the host of the next Olympics in 2012.

When the sporting battles finished at Beijing, the final standings placed Team GB in fourth position behind China, USA and Russia. Britons won 19 gold medals, 13 silver and 15 bronze to make an overall total of 47.

There was plenty to celebrate this summer as Britain's athletes rode, swam, sailed and ran their way to glory. Among the stars were cyclist Chris Hoy, the Great Britain flag bearer for the closing ceremony, who won three gold medals. The 32-year-old from Edinburgh said: "It is a huge honour to be carrying the flag at the closing ceremony. When you consider the standard of the team it is a very special honour for me."

The ceremony featured David Beckham and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, while Hoy and fellow cycling gold medallist Victoria Pendleton rode behind a red London bus.

The Beijing Olympics ended in a spectacular fusion of colour, light, fireworks, music, dance and technology. The Mayor of London received the banner from his Beijing counterpart Guo Jinlong, signalling the end of the 2008 Games in China.

Declaring the 2008 Games closed, Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee president, told the 91,000 people inside the Bird's Nest stadium: "Tonight, we come to the end of 16 glorious days which we will cherish forever. Thank you to the people of China."

London's slot started with a red double decker bus driving around the race-track inside the stadium, and being surrounded by dancers when it came to a stop.

Tayyiba Dudhwala, 10, from east London, who was chosen in a Blue Peter competition, came out to receive a football from another girl Erika Tham. Pop star Leona Lewis then emerged from the roof on a rising column dressed in gold and singing an R'n'B aria. As the music reached a crescendo and Page came out on a rising stage with a guitar and after a pause, the unmistakable first riffs of Whole Lotta Love blasted out, and Lewis began singing.

Towards the end of the song, Beckham - to huge cheers from the crowd - appeared on another lift accompanied by Tayyiba, plus a violinist and a cellist from the London Symphony Orchestra dressed in Team GB kit.