Beijing finale has star power

BEIJING — The curtain falls today on the Beijing Olympics, setting the stage for the 2012 London Summer Games.

Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, who directed the opening ceremony, does the same for the closing, set to air via tape delay after 7 p.m. on NBC. Canada's CBUT will show it live, starting at 5 a.m. and again delayed at 3 p.m.

"It's just unlike any other closing ceremony I've ever seen," said David Neal, executive vice president of NBC Olympics, who saw the rehearsal held outside the city.

Lighting up the stage at the Bird's Nest will be a lineup of top Asian megastars including South Korean pop singer Rain, Taiwanese crooner Jay Chou, Chinese-American singer Wang Lee Hom, Hong Kong celebrities Jackie Chan and Andy Lau, according to reports in the Hong Kong press.

American swim sensation Michael Phelps also will play a role, and London organizers have revealed soccer icon David Beckham will star in an eight-minute handover segment of the ceremony, entering the stadium on a red double-decker bus and kicking a ball into the crowd of 95,000 at the Bird's Nest.

British pop star Leona Lewis will sing with rock legend Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and hundreds of dancers will perform ballet and breakdance routines as the British lighten the mood of the ceremony.

Looking ahead to 2012, London organizer Bill Morris said: "We will not compete with the [Chinese] ceremony. It will be simple, youthful, athletic, loud and proud like London, entertaining and fun."

The Brits can't compete with the overall Olympics budget, either. They have $17 billion tagged, while China spent $40 billion.

As usual, Beijing's organizers have been secretive about the Chinese elements of the event, but several media reports revealed it will have a more relaxed edge than the opening ceremony, though with another show of manpower.

Some 7,000 Chinese are expected to take part — half that of the opening — including 350 kung fu practitioners and 60 players of the Chinese string instrument erhu.

An expected highlight will be a duet between Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and local soprano star Song Zuying. Earlier this month, the ceremony's director told Chinese media the climax of the show would come as the Olympic flame was extinguished.

"We are dedicated to creating a happy atmosphere at the closing ceremony," he said.

The athletes' entrance is expected to take a fraction of the two hours it took for the official welcome at the opening ceremony, with athletes pouring into the stadium in one group, rather than in a parade of nations.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was under pressure from human-rights activists to miss the opening ceremony, will attend the closing. He avoided public criticism of China's human-rights record during meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao last week.

The ceremony will be concurrent with celebrations in Britain, including a giant party in London's Mall in front of Buckingham Palace that will include a free concert for more than 40,000 people. Throughout Britain, a network of big screens will show highlights from the Beijing Olympics as well as the ceremony.

Note

• The American flag bearer in the closing ceremony will be Khatuna Lorig, an archer who has represented three countries in her Olympic career: the former Soviet Union in 1992, Georgia in 1996 and 2000, and the United States in 2008. Lorig, 34, who was chosen by fellow athletes, was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and immigrated to the United States in 1995, but did not get her citizenship in time to compete for the U.S. in 2000 or 2004. Her parents still live in Georgia, where Russian forces have been battling Georgian troops in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Seattle Times staff, The Associated Press, New York Times and BBC contributed.