The powerful performance in Athens by China and Japan marked the "awakening of Asia" that heralded a strong showing by Asians at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge said on Sunday.
"This is really the Games where Asia has awakened and I believe that this is a very strong sign that Asia will be at full strength for the Beijing Games in four years," Rogge told a news conference on the final day of competition.
Rogge hailed the "major progress of China", who had captured their best-ever haul of 31 gold medals by Saturday and held second place in the medals table throughout the Games. China won 28 golds in Sydney, but set a modest target of 20 for Athens.
China's record haul and the 15 titles from Japan's best Games in 40 years gave the world's most populous continent two of the top five spots in the medals table. South Korea were 11th with eight golds, led by unbeatable women archers.
China dominated their traditional strongholds of diving, grabbing six out of eight golds on offer, and table tennis, with three out of four titles. They also took three of five badminton golds on offer and cleaned up in weightlifting and shooting.
The next Games host also advertised their increasing breadth by taking golds in swimming, athletics, volleyball and rowing.
Liu Xiang matched a world record and set an Olympic one in the men's 110m hurdles, declaring that he had shown that Asians could run as fast as Europeans and North Americans and vowing to "create more miracles in the future".
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