Beijing ? The United States said Sunday it was disappointed the Olympics had not brought more “openness and tolerance” in China as the games ended and eight American activists were deported during the closing ceremonies.

The blunt U.S. criticism – and China’s harsher treatment of foreign activists – came at the end of 16 days of Olympic competition that generally went smoothly for Chinese organizers who had been nervous about security and protests.

No rallies were held during the entire Olympics in three parks designated as protest zones after Chinese officials declined to issue permits to 77 applicants, and detained some of them. But mostly foreign activists staged a series of small illegal demonstrations near Olympic venues and at Beijing landmarks.

The foreigners, for the most part, unveiled “Free Tibet” banners before being seized by officials, hustled into cars and taken away to be put on flights out of China.

A handful of journalists trying to cover the protests were roughed up by authorities then released. There were also tensions with the media over China limiting access to the Internet.

Beijing had promised the media freedom to report the games and announced the protest parks as part of efforts to address criticism that China should not have been awarded the games because of its human rights record and tight controls on internal dissent.

The White House said in a statement that eight individuals – James Powderly, Brian Conley, Jeffrey Rae, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, Tom Grant, Jeremy Wells and John Watterberg – were deported by Chinese authorities at 9 p.m. Sunday Beijing time on a China Air flight to Los Angeles.

Ambassador Clark T. Randt Jr. had pressed the Chinese government Saturday to immediately release the eight.

In his wrap-up news conference Sunday, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the games had helped to open up China. But he expressed surprise that no permission had been granted for any protests.

During the games, Beijing organizers were consistently pressed by journalists about people’s right to dissent but they routinely deferred comment by trying to focus on sports rather than politics.

In the first week of the games, several foreign protesters were put on flights out the country within days of being detained. But in the final week, at least 10 foreigners were ordered detained for 10 days under rules that allow officials to hold them without charge for up to 14 days.