The Greatest Show on Earth

Well London did it. The Games of the 30th Olympiad will go down in history as the greatest ever.

In practical terms, logistically they got it right, OK there was some major delays on the roads on the first couple of days then everyone steered clear of the main arterial roads into town and London's mean streets had tumbleweed blowing down them. The tubes were busy but manageable and it was fun speaking with a small Frenchman whose head was lodged beneath my chin on the Jubilee line last Monday evening heading for Stratford. The Javelin train was fab once you got to the front of the queue. Talking of queues we had been led to believe that getting into the venues was going to make the carnage at T3 five weeks ago look like a stroll in the park. My experience, and that of everyone else I have spoken to, was the polar opposite. The longest wait I experienced was under two minutes to get through the scanners run by our brilliant Armed Forces.

People-wise London got it right. Lord Coe and his team delivered more than we could have hoped and his emotional closing ceremony speech reflected what the nation felt. The volunteers were brilliant, no wonder they got the loudest cheer on Sunday; tireless, endlessly cheerful and always engaging with the crowds.

So who got it wrong? Well the doom merchants top the list here! I have no issue with someone who says "I have no interest in sport, I'm out of here", I happen to think they are certifiable but then again I would. No, the one thing that grated with me the most was that oily rag of a publication - the Daily Mail. Two weeks before the Games they were lambasting the BBC for employing 750 to cover the Olympics. HOW IN GOD'S NAME DO THE DAILY MAIL HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE NEEDED? From the coverage I watched (every second when I wasn't actually at an event), Auntie (an institution that regular readers know I am not above laying into heavily) needed a few more! There were screens showing venue after venue with things about to start without any commentators. The main presenters seemed to spend half their time charging around London's transport system in order to present first Equestrian, then Beach Volleyball and finally Water Polo all in the space of two hours. My favourite moment, however, of the Mail's insidious attempts to stir up the chattering suburban middle class wretches into a froth of indignation was the inside back page on Wednesday 1st August. They produced a chart showing what funding had been given to various sports and the returns on that investment. Among others they laid into both canoeing and judo. The following day GB won a gold and silver in the canoe slalom and Gemma Gibbons won judo silver. The Mail no doubt will claim it was down to them, but in reality all it appears to do is lay into Britain and then claim glory when we win, it really is a pretty odious publication.

We are now just under two weeks away from the Paralympics, which has already smashed all records for ticket sales. It will, one hopes, be another remarkable triumph for London and the country as a whole and will, I am sure, prove again that this nation has an amazing appetite for great sporting drama.

So as a personal round up of the finest 17 days of sporting drama ever, a few of my own highlights and additional observations:

Best celebration: Jade Jones winning Taekwondo gold.
Most emotional moment: Katherine Grainger finally shaking the silver monkey off her back and getting gold in the double sculls.
Biggest cheer: Gemma Gibbons when she defeated the French world champion in her semi in the Judo.
Dullest gold medal winner interviewee: Accountant Ed Mckeever, but boy can he make a canoe travel fast!
Biggest cheer for a non-Brit (who wasn't called Bolt): Cheering Phelps on to his final individual gold in the 100m fly in the Aquatic Centre, it was truly deafening.
Top lump in throat moment: Sir Chris Hoy, no wait, Mo. No, no, no it's Katherine, ooohhh perhaps it's Laura? I give up, it felt like there was one every 20 minutes.
Person least likely to be invited to dinner: the cycling Commissaire.
Best facial expression: Katherine Copeland having won the lightweight double sculls.
Best smile: Easiest one of the lot this - Boxing's Nicola Adams.
Biggest shock: Was tempted to say Greg Rutherford, but actually it was big Roger not really appearing in the tennis final, even if Andy Murray did play brilliantly.
Latest crush: Charlotte Dujardin.
All the girls' latest crush: Tom Daley (again!).
Coolest Brit: Bradley Wiggins, just over Ben Ainslie.
Coolest non-Brit: Usain Bolt, obviously....
Best quote: Bradley Wiggins commenting on the shape of endurance cyclists "I think one of the great things about being a sprinter like Chris Hoy is that you have got an amazing body to show off. I just look like Rodney Trotter."
Favourite non-athlete quote (as provided by one of you): "Until Sunday they thought we were shit at sport and good at music!"
Favourite image of the Games: Difficult to say anything other than Usain and Mo sharing a podium and mimicking the other's celebration.
My favourite bit: All of it! But as you all know I have a weakness when it comes to a girl from Sheffield, so if there has to be JUST one, then it has to be Jess coming off the final bend in the 800m, knowing she had won the gold already but she just had to win that final race too....

Good luck to Rio and Pele rather trumped the Spice Girls.

Thank you London, thank you Seb, thank you to all the athletes from all the countries, thank you to all the people who came to Britain to watch, thank you again to the brilliant volunteers and to our Armed Forces who made us all feel safe. Thanks also to all the people around the country for supporting the games in such numbers, we all made ourselves proud of our nation.

Finally the biggest thank you goes to the IOC delegate who apparently hit the wrong voting button on 6th July 2005 and gave London the Games by a single vote over Paris, you gave me the best two and a bit weeks of my life and it is difficult being grumpy when you are enjoying yourself.