***I rom the witty to the sarcastic. the dry to the juicy writers from inside and outside the borders of our land strived to bring us the best possible coverage of sports across the calendat year. He it cricket, football, the Olympics or any of the numerous other razzmatazz that went on throughout the year, your favourite writers were there while if happened doing either hard reports, opinion stories or perspective pieces.

Went The Daily Star S/rort. decided that this was the best of the lot****

It was the perfect end to a perfect Olympic Games for China as the Olympic flame was handed over to London in one of (he world's greatest stadiums last night. As memories of a sensational Games faded, China celebrated achieving its ultimate aim of heading the Olympic medals table for the first time. Unless you are in America, where you will discover that Team USA remain the force in world sport.

The race for the Olympic title is measured in medals, it just depends on which medals you consult. The IOC issues its league table based on the number of golds won, which gives China the honours, but then admits that there is no official system in place to decide who is top dog. So the American public is reading tables counting the total number of medals, including silver and bronze, won at the Games On that measure, the US keep the whip handover the home nation.

The undeniable fact, though, is that this has been China s Games in every sense. A century ago at the 1908 Games in London. China did not even field a team. Now they have overtaken Russia and loom in the US's sights. In Beijing. China contested almost every event and. even where they could not win medals, showed signs that they will be a formidable force in I .ondon.

Even in their weakest sports, there were breakthroughs. In sailing, lor example. Yin Jian won China's first medal when she took windsurfing gold. She is just the start. in Qingdao, (he venue for the Oly mpic sailing regatta, there are already HO yacht clubs with 42 schools offering specific courses in sailing for more than 2.000 children. China plans to take over from Britain in ruling the

Olympic waves.

Whatever way they count, the fact remains (hat Beijing was the first time in hi years that the US have not headed the gold-medal standings - and it has clearly hurt, never more so than on the track, where US officials were talking up the team's performance while quietly launching an internal inquiry into what went wrong.

The answer was Usain Boh. of course, the phenomenon w ho ended America's grip on the 100 metres. Jamaica blasted the US off the podium at Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium and claimed dominance of the high-speed events for men and women. Six golds and a total of 11 medals was an impressive performance from a country with a population of three million, a fifth of the number of residents of Beijing.

Like Australia, who sank from fourth in Athens to sixth in Beijing on the It K medals table, the US will have to accept that the rest of the world is catching up fast and that they will not be able to flex their sporting muscles for much longer.

The US may feign ignorance, but there is a new Olympic order led by China, whichever league table you read.