Seventeen days of amazing competition by the greatest athletes on the planet has come and gone book-ended by Danny Boyle’s brilliant and masterful opening ceremony and a madcap and semi-incoherent closing ceremony.
This has been in my opinion the greatest ever Olympic Games and I’m disappointed with the cynicism that I’d had in the run up to the games. But I got gripped by the Olympic fever felt in the country particularly as the Torch passed through Bath and was anticipating the start of the games from that moment on.
Amy and I regret that we didn’t get more involved and didn’t attempt to get tickets for any of the events. I only hope that the Games do return to Britain and it isn’t 64 years to wait between this and the next.
In spite of that through the excellent coverage by the BBC online I was able to watch and experience many memorable moments from these games.
Bradley Wiggins doing what the nation hoped he would and winning gold in the Cycling Time Trial and in the process becoming the greatest British Olympian surpassing Steve Redgrave’s medal haul.
Michael Phelps not dominating the swimming like he had in previous games even coming fourth in one race. Then suddenly his form came good and the greatest Olympian was back winning medals finishing off the games and his career on a high with four golds to take his overall tally to 22.
Andy Murray beating Roger Federer on Wimbledon’s Centre Court to win the Men’s Singles Gold medal having lost mere weeks before in the final of Wimbledon.
Mo Farrah’s 10 000 metre win capping off what was a truly Super Saturday for Team GB and winning the sixth gold medal of the day.
Experiencing the highs and lows with Victoria Pendleton in the velodrome. The terrible disappointment for the minor infraction in the Team Sprint which resulted in relegation, the magnificent win in the Keirin and then setting a new Olympic record of 10.724 seconds in the qualifiers of the individual sprint but losing in the final to Anna Meares, after being unjustly relegated again and earning a silver medal. A fantastic cyclist!
Ben Ainslie’s medal race in the Finn class. Having lagged behind Jonas Hogh-Christensen of Denmark for most of the regatta Ainslie had clawed back the deficit and just needed to beat the Dane. The race was already tense and then came the realisation that if Ainslie and Hogh-Christensen fell too many places behind Jonathan Lobert who was currently third overall he could beat both of them to the gold. Ainslie’s win meant that he’d equalled Sir Steve Redgrave’s record of winning medals in five consecutive Olympic games.
Usain Bolt defying the naysayers and successfully defending both his 100m and 200m Olympic titles and then paying homage to Mo Farrah by doing the Mo-bot as he crossed the line to break the World record and win another gold for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay.
David Rudisha’s World Record breaking 800m run was astonishing and his performance brought out the best in all the other runners each of whom raced a personal or season’s best time.
Then we returned to the pool to watch the conclusion of the diving competition with the Men’s 10m Platform. Could Tom Daley up his game for the final having squeezed through in both the qualifying round and the semi-final? There was little to worry about though as Tom performed six magnificent high scoring dives that put him in a position of a guaranteed medal the colour of which depending on whether the competion leaders David Boudia of the USA and Bo Qiu of China held their nerve and dived well. They did and so Tom won the bronze, a result that he and his full clothed British diving teammates were clearly elated about as they all leaped into the pool in celebration.
As well as the great successes there were disappointments and failures from South Korean fencer Shin Lam’s sit-in to a seven bike pile up on the BMX track.
All in all a truly awesome Olympic Games and I am now feeling down knowing that I won’t be able to settle in tonight to watch the latest highlights as I have for the past two weeks and a bit.
