Kung Fu for Closing Ceremony

If there’s one thing the organisers of London 2012 know, it’s to bring out the Big Gun for the handover at the Olympic Closing Ceremony…And guess who that it?

Football superstar David Beckham is tipped to be part of the Beijing Closing Ceremony.

Editorial Review

The Beijing Games organisers made a bit of a rod for their own back two weeks ago when they presented to billions of TV viewers around the world the most spectacular and awe-inspiring Opening Ceremony ever seen. Now that was a hard act to follow.

Fortunately, as is the nature of the Olympics, the sporting events have provided a different type of entertainment, in many cases no less magnificent and more dramatic.

But now the time has come for the next ceremony, the Closing on Sunday. What do they do for an encore?

Well, they have promised it will also be the best ever, but unlike the Opening Ceremony there have been no dress rehearsals – and they will have only eight hours to prepare the main stadium, the Bird's Nest, after the conclusion of the athletics program with the finish of the men's marathon.

A few details have leaked out, including that Spanish tenor Placido Domingo will perform a duet with Chinese star soprano Song Zuying and there will be a kung fu display featuring 350 practitioners from a Bejiing martial arts school.

And having seen how creatively and stunningly they lit the cauldron with the Olympic flame as the climax of the Opening Ceremony, you have to wonder how they will extinguish it.

As is the tradition, there will also be a segment presented by the organisers of the next summer Games, in London in 2012, and there's been plenty of speculation as to what and who that might involve (and how it will compare with the Chinese elements either side).

The strong tip is that football superstar David Beckham will be involved – he is worshipped in Asia, after all – as well as one of the female British BMX riders who has been picked as one of the faces of the London Games.

Talent show winner Leona Lewis is expected to perform, too.

The big question is: will there be a double-decker London bus involved?

Murray Brust in Beijing for Citysearch

View Citysearch's TV guide for details of Olympic Games coverage.