Kudos to Shawn Johnson, Bryan Clay, Yao Ming and the other classy international athletes who respected the spirit of the Games and reveled in the moment by showing up for the final ceremony.

But where were the others - all those high-profile American medal winners whose stories we heard ad infinitum over the span of two weeks? And Mr. Phelps, why were you in London rather than celebrating in Beijing?

What a rude and embarrassing slap in the face to the host country as well as to the other athletes, many of whom never got their hands around gold. If you're representing your country and proud of it, you should have been there.

London to kick off the celebration looking forward to 2012. The excitement that Phelps generates is will help promote all the US Olympic sports programs. The only slap in the face would seem to be to the British, who could not get a big enough star of their own so they had to fly in an American. As for any athlete skipping the closing seremony, it is only their loss to miss out on the amazing show.