My original plan when the London 2012 Olympics started was that I would blog at least every event I went to, if not every day. Unfortunately I completely failed on this – in fact managing to blog only my first few event days successfully. I also wanted to post my pictures/videos on Flickr and YouTube as quickly as possible but making sure that they were tagged and labelled appropriately. For the most part I managed to get my stuff online with tags but it’s all unlabelled and uncommented and (thanks to burst mode on the camera) probably far too many of them!  If you’re feeling brave, you can see my Flickr Sets here…

The reason for this? The fact that the Olympics were on at least 18 hours a day and travelling to and watching the Olympics was a lot more tiring than I thought it would be! I therefore find myself at the end of the two weeks very tired, and well behind in my plans though I have managed to go through the  2000-odd photos I took of the final night of athletics, the marathon and the closing ceremony today and trim them down before I posted them online!!

So what can I say about the Olympics that hasn’t already been said?! Well nothing probably! It was fantastic, compelling, heartbreaking, motivational, inspiring, tense, nerve-wracking, sensational, happy, lively, and above all else just plain FUN as London welcomed the world and their athletes as part of the ‘Greatest show on earth’. Never in our (and definitely Locog and Lord Coes) wildest dreams could we have imagined that the two weeks would go so well, with hardly any problems (bar the odd tube issue) and with pretty much everyone saying how good it was – they must be breathing a huge sigh of relief now .. and then moving on to the Paralympics of course!

Two of the biggest successes (outside of the sport) have to be a) the way the police and army were received and how friendly they all were – definitely good to have some good PR on that front – and b) the absolutely amazing people that were the volunteers. They always seemed to have a smile on their face and be willing to help (or find someone who could) no matter whether it was first thing in the morning or last thing at night, and to think they did all of this for FREE often having to get up really early and having very long days. The sport may have had the stars like Bolt, Farah and Ennis but those two groups we’re collective stars in their own right!

I suppose I really should talk about the actual sport at the Olympics! The fact that Team GB (Let’s Go GB, Let’s Go!) did so well was actually above my expectations – I thought we might just beat Beijing in terms of Golds and overall medals and maybe finish 4th in the table. To come third (we’re the best country in Europe!), and to easily outperform in every discipline (apart from maybe swimming which underperformed and athletics which did okish) was just amazing! Who can easily forget Super Saturday(s) or Magic Monday?? I feel very privileged to have been there to witness some of these events in person (though I only saw TeamGB win two Gold medals live) and the rest on TV or via the BBCs very efficient and extensive online coverage (hats off to the staff at the BBC and especially Claire Balding).

Obviously to go with the highs (what a double by Farah, Beth Tweddle getting a medal at last, and a dominant performance all round in the Velodrome), there were also some disappointments (one day we will get the 4x100m relay round reliably!) but on the whole our athletes gave their all and delivered above and beyond performances even if sometimes they felt they’d failed us by ‘only’ coming second or by not getting a medal when we could all see they had done their best and that’s all we asked. I can still picture our rowers having to be helped out of their boats as they were so exhausted for example, but then minutes later (still unable to stand up unsupported) giving a tearful apology – no need for it from any of you!

It was also good to see some of the less popular sports have so much coverage – for example Handball (hands up all those who had heard of it before the games!) which did a lot to raise their profile and hopefully get more people taking part in them.  The initial reports are that lots of clubs for every sport have reported an increase in interest which is fantastic!  I know it will tail off after the paralympics and peoples memories fade, but I hope at least some of the people who were enthused stick to it.  My health precludes me from being one of those people unfortunately but otherwise I think I would be getting into Archery which I find fascinating and I was so glad that I got to see it at Lords.

I know that a lot of established athletes performed well at the games, but what was also encouraging was the number of young athletes coming through which certainly gives hope for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and of course the 2016 Olympics in Rio and beyond.  Some are already Gold medal winners (stand up the womens team pursuit cycling team for example), whilst some show lots of promise (i.e. Katrina Johnson-Thompson in the Hepthalon – in fact there seemed to be quite a few in athletics).  Now they just need to get the backing, support and coaching they need to continue to improve and be able to keep it up and represent the country in the future.

Looking back over the two weeks, I’m hard pushed to pick my ‘best’ moment – there were so many of them!  Kath Grainger winning Gold at last, Chris Hoy winning Gold and crying on the podium, Mo Farah doing the double, the roar in the Stadium whenever TeamGB were involved, etc, etc so I think I’m just going to have to go with the whole atmosphere at the Games – everyone seemed to just have a good time, not grumble (too much) about the queues, be friendly and (I’ll say it again because its so true) just have a fantastic time!

I feel so privileged that I was able to go, and that I got to experience something which I don’t expect to happen again in my lifetime (a home games that I can get to).  Special thanks to my boss for letting me take the whole two weeks off so I could immerse myself in the experience – I think he knew that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate otherwise as I’m such a sports nut!  I still can’t really believe that its all over, and that all the athletes have headed home, but I guess all good things do have to come to an end…

Except they don’t as I can now look forward to the Paralympics – woo hoo!!  Roll on the 29th August and Lets Go GB, Lets Go!!!