Hand over of Olympic flag

The lowering of the Olympic flag



Jacques Rogge hands the Olympic flag to London Mayor




London Mayor Boris Johnson waves the Olympic flag

London 2012 preview performance

London 2012 preview performance




a red double-decker bus during the eight-minute performance prepared by London, host city of the next summer Olympic Games in 2012




eight-minute performance prepared by London, host city of the next Summer Olympic Games in 2012

Fireworks light up night sky

Fireworks go off





Fireworks illuminate the sky



Fireworks light up night sky






Fireworks illuminate the sky

Vos laps field to win first Dutch gold on Cycling Track

Vos laps field to win first Dutch gold on Cycling Track




Marianne Vos of the Netherlands erased her disappointment of finishing sixth in the Cycling Road Race with a clear victory in the Women's Points Race at the Laoshan Velodrome on Monday.

Vos lapped the field and won the first of 10 sprints to lock up the gold medal in the 100-lap, 25-kilometre race featuring 10 point sprints. It is the first Olympic medal of her career.

Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba won the second, eighth and 10th sprints to take the silver medal and Leire Olaberria of Spain took the bronze with 13 points. Gonzalez's silver was the first Olympic medal in Cycling Track for Cuba.

Olaberria tied Maria Luisa Calle of Colombia on points, but the tie-breaker was the position across the line in the final sprint. With second in the final sprint, the Spanish rider claimed the final spot on the podium.

Sarah Hammer of the United States, Wadami Satomi of Japan, Verena Jooss of Germany and Li Yan of China crashed just after the second sprint when riders touched wheels in the bunch. Only Li could continue.

Great Britain's Rebecca Romero, a day after winning the Women's Individual Pursuit gold medal, was active throughout the first half, chasing down breakaways, but every time she tried to pull away from the pack, someone marked her wheel.

Calle chased her down to pull to a tie with Vos after six sprints.

Vos went on to the attack to lap the field ahead of the seventh sprint to gain a decisive, 20-point bonus. Gonzalez surged into second with two sprints to go, leaving Calle and Olaberria to race for third.

Bekele wins Olympic Men's 10000m gold

Bekele wins Olympic Men's 10000m gold




Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele clocked 27:01.17 to win the Olympic Men's 10000m run here on Sunday.

Great Britain sets world mark and wins gold in Team Pursuit

Great Britain sets world mark and wins gold in Team Pursuit




Great Britain rewrote the history books with an Olympic and world record in winning the Men's Team Pursuit at the Laoshan Velodrome on Monday.

Great Britain nearly caught Denmark in the final lap to claim its first Men's Team Pursuit gold medal since the London 1908 Olympic Games and improved on the previous record it set Sunday (3:55.202), finishing in 3:53.314.

Denmark (4:00.040) was out-gunned from the beginning of the 4km, 16-lap test against the clock, taking their first Team Pursuit Olympic medal since a bronze in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.

In the bronze medal round, New Zealand (3:57.776) scored an impressive victory ahead of defending Olympic champions Australia (3:59.006).

The race was nearly a dead heat at the midway point, but New Zealand slowly pulled away to win their first medal in Men's Team Pursuit competition in the Olympic Games.

Australia was hoping to win its sixth medal in seven Olympic Games, but failed.

Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins was the key motor for Great Britain and scores his second gold medal of Beijing 2008 after winning the Men's Individual Pursuit.

He will line up with partner Mark Cavendish in the Madison in Tuesday's final day of competition at the Laoshan Velodrome.

Chinese gymnast He Kexin wins Uneven Bars gold

Chinese gymnast He Kexin wins Uneven Bars gold



Chinese gymnast He kexin claimed the Women's Uneven Bars title with 16.725 points at the Beijing Olympics on Monday.

Nastia Liukin from the United States, who also collected 16.725 points, had to stand second according to a tiebreak rule.

Yang Yilin from China got the bronze with 16.650 points.



(L-R) Nastia Liukin, He Kexin and Yang Yilin