I predicted on this blog 17 days ago that these would be the biggest, most lavish, most over-the-top Olympics in history.

I believe that prediction came to fruition.

China had great new facilities. Just some wonderful, awe-inspiring venues, from the National Stadium (for track) to the Water Cube (for swimming). Other brand new venues included those for fencing, gymnastics, baseball, softball, cycling, shooting, field hockey and tennis.

Almost all of these were serious, permanent structures. Not the sort of temporary stuff Olympics on a Budget do. Impressive facilities.

The logistics here were seen after by an enormous army of volunteers, and I’m not sure I heard of a single missed bus, any screwed up hotel reservations, any lost credentials. Beijing just nailed that side of things.

They have set the bar very very high, when it comes to the production of the Games.

However, these Games don’t warrant gold-medal status on the “great to be at” scale.

I have been to seven Summer Olympics now.

I would put this one in the lower half. Ahead of Atlanta.  On a par with Seoul. But behind Sydney, Barcelona, Athens and Los Angeles.

These Games had very little soul. There was almost no sense of excitement, of “this is a big event” at any of the venues other than the track stadium for Opening Ceremonies and at some of the venues the Chinese athletes dominated.

At the other venues, many of them even more widely spread out than L.A.’s oft-criticized Games … there were far too many empty seats, passive crowds and no apparent involvement of the ordinary Beijing resident.

It was almost as if these Games were for anyone other than the Beijing man on the street. For him, there was TV, thank you very much.

Contrast that to Sydney, where all of Australia seemed involved in the Games — competing, hosting, shouting themselves hoarse. Or Athens, which pulled things together at the 11th hour and rode the momentum of reliving Olympic history in its Greek homeland, or Barcelona, which was one long party in a great city just emerging from decades of fascist repression.

Even Los Angeles, an Olympics run on a shoestring, generated real excitement and big crowds — though they were spread from Orange County to Pasadena, Long Beach to Los Angeles. And those Games left many of us giddy because they saves the Olympic movment. On time, safe, under budget … after the disasters of Munich, Montreal and Moscow.

Beijing worked. But it too often left us uninspired. Results were put up, events went off, the buses ran on time. But at the end of the day there were too many instances when you could honestly ask, “Did anything memorable happen today?”

Usain Bolt gave it a shot. So did Michael Phelps (though the Chinese hardly cared about him, or swimming).

And what is strange about this? Beijing built this whole Olympic Green area … acres and acres around a half-dozen of the key venues. Meant to be a gathering place for people, to walk and hang out and feel like they were a part of things.

And a week into the Games, nobody was there. It was if the locals had never heard of any of it.

There was a disconnect. China had great enthusiasm for these Olympics, but it seemed TV-generated. It didn’t seem to translate to the venues, nor communicate itself to the athletes or the spectators.

Give China an 10 for “technical merit” … but a 5.0 for “expression.”

These kinds of Games are a joy to cover, as a journalist. Things work.

But in terms of inspiring memories. No. Didn’t really hit the mark.