The closing ceremonies. Photo: Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

1) Eight for Eight: Nobody doubted that Michael Phelps could win each of the eight races—five individual and three relays—he entered. But could he win all of them in the Olympic hothouse, a feat that required him to swim 17 times over nine long days? Turns out he could—seven of them in world record times. But he needed a miracle relay leg by a teammate in one race and had to survive a photo finish (and Serbian protest) in another. The biggest record—eight gold medals in a single Olympics—should stand forever. Phelps’ total of 14 Olympic gold medals is the most by any athlete in history.

Photo: Mike Powell for NEWSWEEK

3) China’s Gold Rush: It didn’t exactly come as a surprise. China almost caught the United States in gold medals in Athens and had pointed to Beijing as the Games in which they would assert their athletic supremacy. The results of world championships during the years from Athens to Beijing gave fair warning. Still, nobody was quite prepared for the landslide win, as China netted 51 gold medals to America’s 36. The U.S. still topped the charts in total medals (110-100), but with China’s population, the state sports system and unstinting investment, that seems unlikely to hold at the 2012 London Games. What keeps China-U.S. from becoming a great rivalry is that China excels at sports—table tennis, weightlifting, shooting, diving—in which American isn’t very competitive and which evoke little interest in our country. In the one sports, woman’s gymnastics, we do care about, there was plenty of consternation about the result, complaints about favorable “home” judging and allegations that the Chinese cheated with underage gymnasts.

4)Tragedy/Triumph: The tragedy at a popular Beijing tourist attraction was almost unimaginable—an attack by a knife-wielding Chinese man on the in-laws of U.S. men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon. His father-in-law Todd Bachman was killed and Bachman’s wife, Barbara, seriously injured. The killer committed suicide so it is unlikely there will ever be an explanation for the bizarre crime in a city considered highly safe for tourists. Win it for the coach never had to be said out loud. But while McCutcheon was away from the Olympics with his family (he resumed coaching duties after four games), a U.S. volleyball team that hadn’t won a medal since a bronze in Barcelona back in 1992 caught fire. It went undefeated throughout the tournament, climaxing with a comeback win over defending Olympic champion Brazil. When McCutcheon called his wife back home in the States wand heard her, she exclaimed, “You won, you won!” Then he told reporters, “There was nothing left to say. We were just kind of listening to each other smile into the phone.” We smiled too. Maybe even cried a little.

5) Ballet on Bars and Beams: For a reporter a few stories become more personal. Years ago I became captivated by a 14-year-old gymnast who performed with a lyrical beauty that I had never seen from an American.. For NEWSWEEK’s annual, year-end “Who’s Next” issue, I am responsible for picking one young athlete who will make a splash. In 2006 I picked Liukin. But she was beset by a series of nagging injuries, and an Iowa sparkplug, Shawn Johnson, became America’s new gymnastics darling and the Beijing favorite. The American duo went 1-2 in the all-around in Beijing, but it was Liukin’s balletic performance that landed her on top. Johnson, with three silver medals already in hand, finally won a very happy gold on balance beam. But it was Liukin who went home to Texas with the biggest prize (as well as five Olympic medals).

6) The ‘We’ In American Teams: There has been a sneaking suspicion that American athletes had lost their grasp on the team thing. In recent years, our all-star teams have been humbled by international losses in sports that we dominate: basketball, golf and baseball. But in Beijing, most American teams excelled. Both men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and water polo teams made it to the gold-medal games, as did the U.S. women’s softball and soccer teams. The U.S. went 4-4 in those finals, but this mother lode of team golds and silvers demonstrated that when they put their minds to it, Americans still know how to play well together.

7) The ‘Redeem Team’: The U.S. men’s basketball team had a lot to make up for--two miserable performances in the last two world championships and a dismal bronze at the Athens Olympics. But Kobe and company proved up to the task, thoroughly dominating the competition until the finals where they met defending world champion Spain. In a game far closer than the final scored indicated, the NBA stars responded to every Spanish challenge—and used their speed advantage and some clutch outside shooting to squeeze out a 118-107 win. They celebrated the gold medal with all the excitement of high-school kids who had won the state championship. Beyond the court, the NBA stars treated the competition with the respect the rest of the world gives it—and were goodwill ambassadors all over the Olympics, cheering on Americans from the women’s basketball team (undefeated gold medalists also) to Michael Phelps.

8) Going Solo: Even with the basketball team’s Olympic revival, there was no better tale of redemption than that of Hope Solo. Solo was the starting goalkeeper for an unbeaten U.S. women’s soccer team in last year’s World Cup when the American coach inexplicably benched her for the semi-final against Brazil. After Brazil thrashed the Yanks, Solo went off on him and, far worse, suggested she would have performed better than her replacement. It was an unconscionable moment by the sisterhood standards of American soccer and Solo was kicked off the team and sent home. But the new coach convinced reluctant team members—“Do you want to win? she asked them—to let Solo return for the Olympic run. Against, of course, Brazil in the finals, Solo was the standout star, shutting out a superior attack until the Americans muster a goal overtime. A jubilant Solo explained afterward that she had broken a new barrier in women’s sports: “we don’t all have to be friends.”

Photo: Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

9) China Beach: Just as it has been since beach volleyball was introduced to the Olympics, the rhythm of the beach was decidedly American—from the rock and roll to the Chinese cheerleaders in tiny bikinis. The results went America’s way too. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won gold in the pouring rain and extended their astounding unbeaten streak to more than a year. The next day, the sun was shining on Phil Dalhauser and Todd Rogers, who completed the American sweep.

10) Butterfingers: There was, of course, one mortifying exception to all that good American team play: track’s 4X100 relay teams. The U.S. era of sprint dominance is clearly over and the Americans would have been underdogs to Jamaica in the relays anyway. Still, you don’t have a chance if you don’t get the baton around the track. And in the first preliminary heat, both the U.S. teams dropped it before the final leg. It is the third straight Olympics in which the American women have bungled the handling of the baton. If USA basketball can command Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to training camps, then USA Track and Field can force its sprinters to convene and practice their relay skills before each Olympics. It’s either that or more embarrassments on track’s biggest stage.

11) Tears and More Tears: One of the problems that led to the IOC booted softball out of future Olympics, was that the American women were simply too dominant. It certainly looked to be true as they went undefeated into the finals, including two victories over Japan. But for Japan, the third time was the charm and they beat the Americans 3-1 for the last Olympic gold medal (with the faint hope that the IOC will reconsider and reinstate softball for 2016). The U.S. women aren’t counting on it, but the loss may actually help the cause. Still, a handful of American softballers poignantly left their cleats on the field as they left the Olympics for likely the final time.

Photo: Donald Miralle for NEWSWEEK

12) 400 Strong: Track and field was a very mixed bag for the Americans with some notables flopping big-time and a few surprise winners. But the surest thing for the U.S. team is the 400 meters for men—be it runners, hurdlers or relay tams. The American men went 1-2-3 in both individual events and won the relay handily in Olympic record time. The women didn’t far quite as well at the distance. But in the relay, Sanya Richards, who had taken a disappointing bronze in the 400, ran down the Russian in the stretch to claim the gold medal.

13) The Straight Dope: Hard to imagine any Olympics in which doping wouldn’t rate a spot in the top ten. But only five athletes in Beijing have been caught doping to date. And frankly it’s hard to know if that’s good news or bad news, if the testing advances have begun to scare the cheats off or of if the cheats have become too sophisticated for the dope police. The biggest name nabbed here was Ukraine‘s Lydmila Blonska, who forfeited her silver medal in the heptathlon and faces a lifetime ban for her second offense. That is if you don’t count Yelena Soboleva, the leading 800 and 1500 runner in the world this year and one of seven Russian track and field athletes banned from Beijing before the Games even began. Athletes got sent home for other misdeeds too. A Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler lost his bronze after he tossed it on the ground to protest a refereeing decision. And a Cuban in taekwondo was banned for life when he kicked an official in the head.

14) World’s Greatest Athlete: Perhaps no title has been depreciated more than “world’s greatest athlete”. It has been the legacy of the Olympic decathlon champion since the 1912 Stockholm Olympics when King Gustav V told the American legend, Jim Thorpe, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.” Since then it has been held by some storied Ameican names--from Bob Mathias to Rafer Johnson to Bruce Jenner to Dan O’Brien. But today we Americans are more likely to consider Kobe Bryant or Tiger Woods as “the greatest” and Bryan Clay ran away with the decathlon here in virtual anonymity. Clay was the first American to win since O’Brien a dozen years ago in Atlanta So at least let it be said here: Bryan Clay is the world’s greatest athlete.

15) Lezak’s Leg: Very few athletes are destined to be remembered very long for a single relay leg. But Jason Lezak may be the exception. Lezak’s extraordinary anchor swim in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay—catching French world recordholder Alain Bernard from behind—kept Phelps’ record chase alive. They don’t hand out assists in swimming’s record books, but nobody who watched Phelps’ set his record will ever forget Lezak’s critical role.

16) Liu-sing: Ever since his breakthrough gold medal in Athens, hurdler Liu Xiang has been the face of China’s Beijing dream (and the face of all the global companies hoping to cash in on that Olympics dream). To win the most gold medals, China had to excel in sports at which they had never before competed successfully. His final was regarded as the single most important athletic moment of the Games, a national coronation of its hero. But while Liu got into the starter’s blocks, he never ran the race, pulling out with an injury. China’s sensational Olympic showing likely spared him much harsh criticism as well as tough questions about why he even stepped on the track in the first place. Still, some wondered if that was a gesture to his homeland or to his sponsors.

17) Sabre Rattling: Women’s sabre debuted in Athens and American women usually seem to get a jump-start on new sports and new disciplines in old sports. The U.S. took gold and bronze there, but here in Beijing upped its reach. Mariel Zagunis reprised her gold-medal performance, Athens bronze-medal winner Sada Jacobson took silver and newcomer Rebecca Ward completed the sweep.. This was one of the rare Beijing occasions when the parts were greater than the sum: the three women combined only to take a bronze in team saber.

Photo: Vincent Laforet for NEWSWEEK

18) Muhammad Ali weeps: This was supposed to be the Games when an American revival honored the nation’s extraordinary Olympic boxing legacy, from Floyd Patterson to Muhammad Ali to George Foreman to Sugar Ray Leonard to Oscar De La Hoya. But the Beijing team’s two amateur world champions went out early and the only medal, a bronze, went to an overhyped, underexperienced heavyweight who scored just s single point (and that in the final seconds) in his semi-final bout.

19) The ‘X’ Game: Those ‘X’ sports, the TV-friendly games invented in the U.S. and new to the Olympics, are very good to the American medal count, both summer and winter. In Beijing, making its debut was BMX, bicycle motocross, an event that figured to follow the success of snowboarding’s wild-and-wooly cross event. Americans didn’t win any gold in the two races, but they did win half the medals.

20) Marvelous Messi: Argentina wanted its brilliant forward Lionel Messi to lead its attack in Beijing. And Barcelona, his professional team, wanted the young superstar to stay with the club for Champions League contests. Barcelona went to court and won, but eventually relented. And everyone who got to watch his dazzling play here is grateful. Messi was brilliant throughout the tournament, leading Argentina to a 3-0 romp over arch-rival Brazil and then to the gold medal with a 1-0 victory over Nigeria. A happy Messi should ultimately redound to Barcelona’s benefit.