China won 51 gold medals here, to 36 for the U.S.

That isn’t close, friends, and represents the first time China has finished atop the golds standings.

The silver lining for the U.S. … is a silver and bronze lining.

Thanks to being second- and third-best quite often, the Americans actually won more medals than did the hosts, by a count of 110-100. Which isn’t a bad effort, actually, by the U.S. jocks were in an exotic locale, competing against a totalitarian regime bent on dominating the medals standings. (See, Berlin, 1936.)

Where did China get its gold advantage?

1. By sealing the deal. China had more gold (51) than silver (21) and bronze (28) combined. Our guys and gals tended to come up short when gold was on the line, settling for second and third 74 times.

2. With overwhelming domination in two sports, weightlifting and diving, that yielded China 15 gold to zero for the U.S.  China won eight of the nine weightlifting medals it contested (drugs, drugs, drugs) and seven of the eight diving medals (practice, practice,  practice).

China also got 11 golds in gymnastics (including artistic and trampoline) to two by the U.S. Leading some harsh (but perhaps accurate) observers to suggest China excelled at the “robotic” sports — those that require tens of thousands of repetitions to yield a flawless performance. (You can put gymnastics in there, by the way.)

3. By getting huge performances from their women. Chinese women won 27 golds to 15 for U.S. women, and there’s 12 of the 15-gold gap right there. My hunch? China coaches push their women harder and demand (and get) more from them.

4. By playing on their home field. Greece won zero gold and four medals here, after six and 16 in Athens. Australia won 49 medals in Athens after 58 in Sydney. The U.S. won 36 and 91 at Sydney after 44 and 101 at Atlanta. Spain won 17 medals (five gold) at Atlanta after getting 22 (15 gold) at Barcelona.

China had 32 and 63 at Athens, then jumped to 51 and 100 here.

China is almost certain to fade in its medals totals at London 2012, when it is out of its comfort zone.

5. By several key U.S. athletes failing miserably. Katie Hoff was touted for five swimming golds; she got zero. U.S. track sprinters were swept away by the Jamaica tide, and won no gold in any race shorter than 400 meters, and was DQ’d out of both sprint relays. There went a usual four gold of a potential six.

So, yes, our prediction that China would win more gold was correct. Back in the first days of the Games, we predicted China would win the gold race 55-40, and the actual 51-36 has the spread of 15 just right. (Sports Illustrated had it 49-45 for China.)

However, we had the overall numbers wrong. We had 120-100 for China (it was 110-100 for U.S.). SI overestimated the U.S. again, with a predicted 121-102 U.S. bulge.

Big picture: China is here to stay, especially in those “robotic” sports.

It still trails badly in track and field (a miserable two bronzes from 47 events; the U.S. had 23 track medals, even in what was considered a “bad” track meet) and in team sports, especially on the men’s side.

China got nothing from baseball, basketball, softball, soccer, and one each in volleyball and field hockey. The U.S. got six medals from the high-profile team sports.

China got eight in table tennis. to the U.S. nada,  and that’s just a way of life.

China is going to be around for a while. I would expect the U.S. to move back ahead of China in golds, in London, and maintain its overall lead.

But watch out for the Russians, who are coming back and finished strong — up to 72 medals by the time the track meet was over.