BEIJING--Worldwide athletes having competed at the Beijing Olympic Games and the flags of 204 participating delegations were ushered into the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, in north Beijing on Sunday night at the Games' closing ceremony.

Flagbearers participate in the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium August 24, 2008. [Agencies]

As is customary for the closing ceremony, the athletes, spearheaded by medal winners at these Games, entered the stadium en masse without distinction of nationality.