Chinese press and bloggers have been less than favourable about London’s contribution to Beijing’s Olympic closing ceremony – criticising contributions from the London Mayor Boris Johnson and David Beckham.

As the torch was put out in the "Bird’s Nest" stadium, one blogger described Mr Johnson as "arrogant, rude and disrespectful" when he accepted the Olympic flag. There were mixed opinions too about the eight-minute cameo performance featuring a London bus, Beckham, the singer Leona Lewis, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page, dancers and singers.

The Titan Sports Daily contrasted the "neatness" of the Chinese performers with the "outrageous outfits" worn by the Britons. Unlike the Chinese custom which tends not to reveal their weakness to the outsiders, "the British seem to like to laugh about their stupidity in a funny way", it said.

"During the performance, when the London bus pulled over, all the passengers waiting for the bus rushed into the door at the same time, which truly damaged the British image," it added.

In the run-up to the Games, Beijing officials had run a campaign to "civilise" the city’s inhabitants, teaching them of the importance of queuing in Western culture.

It also complained that Lewis and Page were not A-list celebrities. "Unfortunately, the singer and Jimmy Page are absolutely not famous enough to be known or recognised by millions of the Chinese audiences. As for David Beckham, he was supposed to kick the football towards the red circle in the centre of the ‘Bird’s Nest’. In the end, just like any of his penalties at a football match, he totally missed it. He kicked the ball to the left and dropped in the crowd, then was picked up by a lucky Chinese volunteer who would not let go of the ball."

The Daily First praised the use of a red London bus, but questioned whether the performance had anything to do with sport or the Olympic Games. Mr Johnson was also criticised for accepting the Olympic flag with one hand only.

Olympics closing ceremony draws more viewers than IPL and T20 WC finals

NEW DELHI: Thanks to India’s best-ever showing at Olympics, the closing ceremony of Beijing 2008 was a blockbuster hit with Indian TV audiences. According to data from TV viewership measurement agency Audience Map, the extravaganza unfolding at Beijing’s national stadium was watched by about 30-million viewers on TV all over India (Cable & Satellite, 4+ years audience), much more than the 24-million viewers who watched the Indian Premier League final and the 26-million viewers who watched the T20 World Cup Final 2007.

The closing ceremony of XXIX Olympics had gross rating points (GRP) of 5.1 among the 15+ age group of males in C&S homes all over India. The opening ceremony, in contrast, was watched by just 18-million viewers. Clearly, interest in the Games mounted as the Indian contingent returned with the richest haul ever.

Says Mudramax president Chandradeep Mitra: "India had a great performance, particularly towards the later days of the Olympics. After the startling opening ceremony, there were huge expectations among viewers of seeing another extravaganza that no one wanted to miss."

Lintas Media Group joint president and COO Sudha Natarajan reasons the greater popularity of the ceremony over cricketing events: "Cricket is watched only by cricket fans whereas Olympics cut across all kinds of people and age groups as they involve myriad sports."

Ad spot rates for the Olympics on DD Sports were Rs 10,000 per 10 seconds, though they were higher, Rs 25,000 per 10 seconds, for the opening and closing ceremonies. Samsung India that weaved a multi-million dollar campaign around the Games also got more than what it had expected. "Our advertising around Olympics is a tribute to the spirit of competition and the pulse of sport," reveals Samsung mobiles marketing head Asim Warsi.