China brings curtain down on epic Games

• In the final athletics race, Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru led an African sweep of marathon medals
• Despite their pedigree of distance running and big-city marathon wins, it was Kenya's first Olympic marathon title

Two golds would bring the United States up to 36 golds, level with their table-topping haul in Athens.

They would still be far behind hosts China, who have dominated the medals table from start to finish, battering all-comers into submission with 49 golds.

With one fifth of the world's population to choose from, China have poured billions into a Soviet-style training system geared to maximizing medal success.

Their new sporting superpower status reflects their emerging global economic might, and China's government feels the $43 billion investment in the Games was money well spent.

"The Chinese nation's Olympic dream has always been bound to its course of national revival," state news agency Xinhua said. "The Beijing Olympic Games have added impetus for national self-confidence."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former England soccer captain David Beckham will be at the Bird's Nest on Sunday night as the Olympic flag is lowered and passed to the 2012 hosts, a nation delighted over their fourth place in the medals table.

Beckham said in an interview on Saturday that China could be very proud of what they had done in staging the Olympics, but promised London would do even better, "without a doubt".

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder, now playing for LA Galaxy, will be joined during London's eight-minute slot in the Games finale by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Leona Lewis.

"There was obviously a lot of negativity leading up to the competition," Beckham said. "But everyone knew that once the Games actually started, that would disappear and the success of the teams and the athletes would take over."