Kenyan wins marathon as China tops gold tally

The curtain came down on the 2008 Olympic Games yesterday but not before the day had thrown up some pleasant surprises.

A country that has produced some great long-distance runners had to wait for Beijing to win its first marathon gold. Samuel Wanjiru did that honor for Kenya, and in Olympic record time too.

China was expected to lead the gold medal tally, and it did, taking 51 of them to end up with a total medals' tally with the wonderful round figure of 100. China's gold haul is the biggest after the erstwhile Soviet Union's 55 gold medals in Seoul 1988.