LONDON IS CALLING IN 2012

China went to great walls in putting together the perfect Olympic experience and, with a billion gold medals to show for thanks to those 14-year-old gymnasts, the host nation put its best foot forward and is now wearing the glass slipper.

A dream come true indeed for Beijing and all of China.

It started with a spectacular opening ceremonies. It was amazing how they stashed all the not-so-pretty Chinese kids and made them background singers. The night was capped by boosting former Olympian Li Ning up on the Bird's Nest to light up the Olympic Caldron. That was cool, but a 14-year-old Chinese gymnast could have done that. Would have been more impressive had Li Ning performed a triple twist off the roof of the Bird's Nest and nailed the dismount. That would have been a perfect 10.

It ranks in my top five Olympic moments when it comes to opening ceremonies. The other four were: Muhammad Ali shaking up the world and the Olympic torch in the 1996 Atlanta Games. Some Spanish archer, or maybe it was Orlando Bloom, lighting up the Caldron with his bow and arrow in the 1992 Barcelona Games. And who could forget Rafer Johnson running up the L.A. Coliseum steps and jump-starting the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.

Those were all Kodak moments.

But Beijing was recently tabbed as the "Greatest Olympics" ever. Hey, if Bob Costas said so then who are we to dispute that claim. A remarkable feat for a country that had already given us Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo, Ziyi Zhang and Bai Ling.

I would hate to be the next host nation to follow this act. But I do have a few suggestions that could help London spice things up in 2012.

[] First, get Lennox Lewis and Leona Lewis to carry the torch into Wembley Stadium. The tabloids would have a field day with this one.

[] Second, ask the Spice Girls to perform on the opening and closing ceremonies. You can't have enough girl power in the Olympics.

[] Third, convince the Spanish men's basketball team to tell fat jokes about Benny Hill.

[] Fourth, have a computer generated image of David Beckham kicking a flaming soccer ball across the stadium and having it land perfectly on top of the Olympic Caldron. Talk about bending the rules!

[] And fifth, have Sir Elton John sing "God Save the Queen" before every gold-medal event.

Actually, why not just have Queen revisit one of their famous anthems before, during and after each event. That would be splendid.