China Savors Olympic Afterglow as the World Moves On

BEIJING - A week after the fireworks faded over the Bird's Nest, Beijing is savoring the afterglow of a Games its leaders declared a triumph — even as the city reverts to the rhythms, and the air quality, of normal life.

The Olympics ended Aug. 24 with China atop the gold-medal table for the first time, 51 golds to America's 36, and with the smooth execution its organizers had promised: gleaming venues, flawless logistics and an opening ceremony watched by an estimated billion people.

For the athletes, the Games belonged to Michael Phelps' eight gold medals and Usain Bolt's joyous, record-shattering sprints. For China, they were a coming-out party a decade in the making.

The legacy questions arrived quickly. The draconian measures that cleared Beijing's air — half the cars off the road, factories idled — are being relaxed, and residents have already noticed the haze's return. Protest zones set aside for the Games approved no demonstrations; several would-be protesters were detained.

Attention now shifts to the Paralympics, which open Saturday, and to London, whose 2012 organizers watched Beijing's spectacle with a mixture of awe and quiet relief that the standard for Olympic theater has nowhere to go but different.

"They said the world would remember these Games," a Beijing taxi driver said, gesturing at the Olympic Green. "We will remember them too. The city felt like the future for two weeks."

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Associated Press writers contributed to this report.

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