The closing ceremony for China’s spectacular Summer Olympic Games didn’t begin until 8 p.m. local time yesterday.

But they pretty much summed up the whole experience at 6:47 p.m. when the loudspeakers at the Bird’s Nest stadium blared out a certain mega-hit by Queen.

We Are The Champions, indeed.

The Chinese gave their Games a rousing send-off yesterday in Beijing with another indescribable display of pyrotechnics, pride and pomp. With a world-beating 100 medals, 51 of them gold, to their credit, you could hardly blame them.

It lacked the pageantry of the opening ceremony from 16 days prior, but that’s to be expected. After all, it’s London’s turn for the summer festival next time around.

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, took the Olympic flag from IOC president Jacques Rogge and waved it in the air as part of the handover for 2012.

Trampolinist Karen Cockburn of Toronto, one of only five athletes in Canadian history to win medals in three straight games (bronze in Sydney and silver in Athens and in Beijing), proudly shouldered the Canadian flag into the cavernous Bird’s Nest stadium.

“It’s a great honour and I’m very proud to be able to carry the flag on behalf of the entire team Canada in the closing ceremonies,” she said. “I’ve gone to three Olympics now and they’ve all been special in their own way,” she said. “But I think Beijing has just done a superb job of all the little details and my entire team has enjoyed themselves here and it seems that Team Canada has had a wonderful time as well.”