London 2012

Now they're over, what did you think?

It all looked like it was going south with the G4S fiasco and then when they mixed up the North and South Korean flags in the women's football but in the end I thought they were absolutely fantastic. The opening ceremony was awesome (the closing ceremony, in my opinion, perhaps not so much); the sport was thrilling, and Team GB's performance was phenomenal.
My personal highlights were Mo Farah's second gold, the woman's team annhiliating the Americans in the final of the team pursuit in the velodrome, Laura Trott in the omnium, and beating the Dutch in the jump off of the team show-jumping (never would have thought beforehand that show-jumping is such a tense and engaging sport) - and not to forget when Jess Ennis got her gold.

Always proud to be British, but especially at the moment. Just sad they're finished (I turned on BBC One this afternoon and Doctors was on - ugh)!

Yes, I suspect I'm not the only non-sports fan but I got quite engaged at times, especially when it turned out I was watching history unfold live on TV!

Also found I cried more than once, I'm not ashamed to say.

So, Great Britain and Northern Ireland third on the table for golds and fourth on numbers of medals in toto: will that every happen again in our lifetime? (Well, maybe, if you're under 10 I suppose. I myself was born in the August when the Games were last held in London, but sadly I was too late to witness any of it...)

I absolutely loved it - gave myself time off (I'm self employed, hooray!) to watch as much as I could, and had literally one of the best days of my entire life yesterday going down to watch the men's marathon. I cried quite a lot and saw most of the really historic moments live. Made me proud to be a runner, sometimes even proud to be British (esp of such a multicultural and varied country) and just had the best time with it all. I blogged about my day at the marathon if anyone's interested http://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/my-olympic-adventure/ - we cheered EVERYONE!

I'm not usually a sport fan either, except for tennis, but I got completely wrapped up in the Olympics. I went to Eton Dorney and saw Team GB win their first gold medal of the games and, not only that, but it was won by Heather Stanning and Helen Glover - Helen is a local girl whose family runs a lovely ice cream shop! I was actually surprised at how emotional and proud the whole two weeks made me feel. I'm not sure I've cried that much in years! And, yes, I was standing in the middle of Eton Dorney sobbing and laughing and hugging people. It was absolutely brilliant.

I'm out in Vienna so was reduced to watching the bits German TV choseand following the BBC on the internet. I really loved the triathlon. I was at Uni near there and it was great to see the area and Brit gold/ bronze to the Yorkshire brothers. That was a whole deal of fun.

I don't care for sport at all, the most I watch, usually, is part of the Tour de France, but I was hooked from start to finish. I work at a school so am on holiday at the moment and had the time. My son is home from uni so I had a companion to discuss it with, which helped too. I enjoyed the sports that we don't often see on TV more, I think: rowing, equestrian events, gymnastics, and cycling (road and track). I thought my interest would tail off when the track and field events began but off course I cheered along with everyone else.

I thought the BBC coverage was wonderful and enjoyed most of the punditry and commentating, as well. I loved Clare Balding's relaxed and excited style. I also thought the athletes interviewed well - most were modest and unassuming and had a conversation with the interviewer rather than churning out clichés and soundbites and, given that they must spend most of their lives training, still seemed part of the same world that the rest of us inhabit, unlike some professional 'celebrity' sportspeople.

Only watched bits and pieces. It was all rather overwhelming, but we did enjoy the swimming and some of the athletics. I like the early part of the opening ceremony but went to bed half way through. I was not so impressed with the closing'party' but that might be due to my age and I deplore the constant use of fireworks. It seems such a waste of money when they could put on a light show with lazers and not frighten the animals.

>7 oldstick:
Phooey, Julie, you're only half a dozen years older than me but that's no excuse for being so curmudgeonly over the final ceremony! This was as much a party for the competitors (who were mostly young) as for the global audience, and was a snapshot of popular music from approximately the last London Olympics (which you may remember!) to the present.

In fact the vast majority was music from the 60s to the 80s (so you've little excuse!) and even the youngsters were singing along. (And I'm a trained classical musician, so I might theoretically have an excuse for being sniffy about the music.) Anyway, I don't think viewers will have wanted to miss George Michael's dancing...

As for the fireworks, yes, that is a lot of money, but in the overall spend a drop in the ocean and I'm sure it was appreciated as much as expected. And as fireworks are a given in any major event I'd have thought that any locals would have kept their pets indoors, as per Bonfire Night.

(PS, it's lasers, not lazers.)

Two weeks ago the world thought we were shit at sport and good at music. It's turned 180 degrees about now.

Certainly a great couple of weeks. Apart from the hours of TV, I saw, live, a football match between Gabon and South Korea, about 30 seconds-worth of the men's cycling road race and the bronze medal women's handball match between Spain and South Korea as well as sitting in the Olympic Park surrounded by happy people watching Mo Farah win his second gold and the sublime Jamaican 4 x 100m team break the world record on the big screen. All brilliant! I wish Gabon hadn't played a double flat back four and had really gone for a score but we all yelled for both sides - even a Korean couple in front of me who I swear didn't understand the clapping shouted for Gabon as well as their own side.

The volunteers were terrific - all smiles and helpful with it. The army on security and the police did aq grand job. The only mistake was rolling out some aging singers in the opening and closing ceremonies - they should let Paul Macartney retire gracefully - ditto Ray Davies, George Michael, Annie Lennox and Brian May (OK, he didn't sing).

Rio will have to work hard to beat these Games.

I'd agree about McCartney, but we don't often see Ray Davies perform these days and I've missed him!

#10 - they should let Paul Macartney retire gracefully

Not sure who the 'they' are but I'm one person who would be very happy to let him do that if only he'd take the hint.

#11 - I agree! Great to see Ray Davies there.

And let's have a quick word for the guts it must have taken for Gary Barlow to appear. I know I couldn't have done it in his situation and it seemed to me a fine tribute to the real courage shown by many of the athletes over the past two weeks that he didn't want to let anyone down.

I'm another non-sports fan who has enjoyed the Games a huge amount (though I'm also rather glad they are over; you can only watch a bunch of people you don't know running very fast so many times).

Does all this mean that I can come out of hiding now? Can I safely shout 'Pepsi!' and 'Burger King!' without being frogmarched away by the local stasi?

#13 No, not yet. We'll let you know when it's safe. Back you go now . .. .

>13 CliffordDorset: You have forgotten the Paralympics, perhaps? Keep your head down!

It was odd to walk around the eating areas in the Park - many stalls selling different 'World food', Mexican, Spanish, Crepes, Wok food, Sushi, etc., etc. - with the only brand visible being Coca-Cola which dominated all the menus. You could buy Heineken beer if you noticed the tiny printing. We avoided the enormous Macdonald's all on its own near the souvenir shop.