The wait for each Olympics is, for me, a strenuous test of my own patience. The Olympics have always been about the celebration of sport itself, and anything worth celebrating usually involves some kind of controversy. Despite claims of cheating, totalitarian control over almost every public and private facet of the 2008 Olympic games, and a 12-hour time difference, China proved to the world that at least when it comes to putting on a show, nobody does it bigger than the Chinese. Before Michael Phelps made history, before Latvia beat the U.S. men’s beach volleyball team (who knew Latvia had beaches?), even before the world stood in awe at the immense scope of the opening ceremonies, controversy shrouded Beijing.

Terrorism and political unrest held most of Beijing’s attention leading up to the games, while the rest of the world worried over air pollution. Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world when it comes to air pollution, and all this particulate matter coupled with the intense heat and humidity of the Beijing summer posed a significant problem for endurance athletes especially.

To combat the oppressive smog, Beijing leaders shut down factories across the city, took almost 200,000 taxis and buses off the congested roads, and even forced citizens to drive only every other day, depending on whether the last digit on their license plate was odd or even. Even with such emergency measures, Beijing was only able to slightly improve air quality by the beginning of August, according to the BBC.

Foreigners bore the brunt of attention in Beijing, as state police cracked down on permits and visas, deporting many ex-pat foreigners, as well as denying a few Olympic athletes visas, based on connections to human rights organizations and Free Tibet movements.

Due to the hostile reception of the Olympic torch in Paris, French products and stores were widely boycotted by Chinese nationals, including the French supermarket giant Carrefour.

And while the number of Chinese in Beijing who were “displaced,” or forcibly removed from their homes and paid ignominious reparations, is undeterminable, figures range from a staggering 1.5 million estimated by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, to a paltry six thousand and thirty seven by China’s Foreign Ministry.

Then there are those tiny little Chinese gymnasts, claiming to be sixteen to a world that knows different. While a two-year age difference may not seem to matter so much in a sport that is overstuffed with underage competitors, a 14-year-old girl simply can spin faster and bend farther than a 16-year-old, according to Bela Karolyi, former U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach.

But what would the Olympics be without all this hype and media blitzing?

So the Chinese snuck little girls into the Olympics, and half of the fireworks in the opening ceremony were faked, but the world still cheered and roared on with humanity. China outdid itself, pushing the limits of what we think of as truly epic, and tried to show the world it was an upstanding world power, not only in the hosting and production of these games but also by winning the medal count, knocking the United States off of our ivory pedestal.

There will be those who will take these games and use them to fuel tensions against this wakening dragon (to use that cliché); but despite it all, sport lives on. National pride has been reaffirmed across the globe, and we all got one hell of a show.