LOS ANGELES: The Games are over and now it is time to take stock. On the last day it was interesting to see the marathon and the basketball final in which LA Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were rivals.

China finished on top of the medals table and have done very well in winning so many golds.

What happened in swimming was also very interesting. China have struggled for the last eight years but now they are back and I believe in the next ten years, they will be a dominating force.

Incredible

As far as athletics goes, Jamaica and Usain Bolt have been incredible. The US team has reason to be worried about the rise of the Jamaican team.

If Bolt wants to celebrate something exciting in a spectacular way then he should be allowed to do so. Why not? But it is also important to recognise other competitors and say 'well done' to them. They all know each other and it is important to be sporting and to always show respect towards rivals.

It is not athletics that is causing controversy in the US, it is the age of the Chinese gymnasts and the possibility that they are younger than is legally allowed. People are asking for medical controls. But what can be done? The Chinese girls look about 11 years old! But I don't know how it can be proved.

I remember that some years ago there was a Korean athlete who was 15-years-old for three years running! It is a big worry for the International Gymnastics Federation.

Dope trouble

As far as doping is concerned, it is a problem. I am not an expert but I believe that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is putting in a lot of effort to put pressure on the national Olympic committees to carry-out independent testing in such a way that all athletes who go to the Games arrive cleanly.

The key was a few months after the Athens Games when various substances were added to the list of prohibited medicines. The fact that there have only been six cases is a good sign.

It was very positive in terms of the new substances, when they uncovered the BALCO scandal and discovered the stars; such as Marion Jones; who were implicated.

The political situation in China has put the IOC in a complicated position.

It was known from the start how the games were going to be. I think that the IOC believed from its heart that giving the Games to China would provoke changes and I believe that there have been results but the government is not going to change. There will only have been a change for the duration of two weeks.

I don't believe that the IOC should have been more active in the fight for human rights. Once they decided to give the Games to China the IOC lost all of its power, all its capacity to tell the Chinese government what they should do " in the same way that they cannot tell the US government what it should do.

That is not the purpose of the Olympic Games. It's not about changing governments, rather it is to make people, for at least two weeks, put down their weapons, something that they have not been able to do this time.

The Games represent the expression of the best of sport and it has been that way for the last 100 years.

Phelps' Olympics

The Beijing Games will be remembered for the records of Michael Phelps and for other great performances. But in 20 years time all that will be remembered is Michael Phelps. Just as all that people remember of Munich 72 is Mark Spitz and the tragedy of the attack on the Israeli team.

The Games remain in the memory for the sporting performances not for the things the governments of the time promise to do and then don't see through.

Remember: These have not been the Chinese Olympics. They have been the Olympic Games celebrated in the city of Beijing. People talk about the Munich Games or those of Los Angeles, Athens etc. They are not the games of any country or of any government.