(Beijing, February 5) The "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Swimming China Open came to an end this morning after Sweden claimed the gold of the men's 4x100m free relay at the National Aquatics Center.

China tops medal tally

As the first swimming meet held in the National Aquatics Center, nicknamed the "Water Cube", the China Open attracted 234 swimmers from 36 countries and regions vying for titles of 32 events.

Host China, spearheaded by veteran Qi Hui and Zhang Lin, stood the first place with 12 golds, 9 silvers and 6 bronzes after six-day races. Germany, led by Britta Steffen and Helge Meeuw, ranked second overall with 8 golds, 5 silvers and 4 bronzes. Other gold-holders are: Japan, Hungary, Sweden, Korea and Poland.

Perfect show by "Water Cube"

Richard Kevan Gosper, International Olympic Committee member and Vice-Chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, complimented that the "Water Cube" was the best venue he had ever seen, and Vice-President of FINA Dale Neuburger agreed the venue was one of the best.

The venue also got thumbed up by such swimmers as Zhang Lin, Qi Hui, Britta Steffen and Stefan Nystrand with some saying it would be "fantastic" to participate in the 2008 Olympic Games here.

Successful venue operation

In addition to the elegant construction and interior decoration of the "Water Cube", the venue operation including volunteers, security, transportation, and medical, catering, media and spectator services were all very successful, according to Richard Kevan Gosper and Dale Neuburger.