Michael Phelps receives a victorious party

Michael Phelps can officially start the countdown to his next Olympics. The American swimmer marked Beijing's handover of the Summer Games in the next host city, London. On Sunday, he received a warm welcome from the estimated 40,000 people gathered in front of Buckingham Palace for the Visa London 2012 party that took place as the Beijing Olympics came to an end. In an interview onstage, Phelps, 23, summed up his experience in Beijing, where he took home a record-breaking eight gold medals: "It was the perfect week, the perfect races – couldn't ask for anything else." receives a victorious