China put a brave face on their worst Olympics for 20 years but they will work hard to make sure they aren't embarrassed again in 2020 — when the Games are hosted by arch-rivals Japan.
A third-placed finish on the medals table below the United States and Britain, made for a sobering Games after China triumphantly topped the standings at Beijing 2008 and finished second in 2012.
"You kidding meIJ The country which has never finished above China is about to," spluttered the official Xinhua news agency, in a tweet that was later removed.
As well as their lowest gold medals tally (26) since Atlanta in 1996, when Jiang Zemin was president, China were also left smarting on a couple of occasions.
Australia rebuffed China's demand for an apology after Mack Horton called swimming rival Sun Yang a "drugs cheat", an incident which prompted a furious response from Chinese media and web-users.
liu Peng, head of China's Olympic committee, said China would learn lessons from Rio, when rising standards in other teams had taken them by surprise.