The End

Over, finished, done. The London 2012 Olympics can be summed up by 'it's been emotional'. Never as a nation have we been more engaged and moved to weeping on mass. With the exception of a few, who were not enthralled by 16 days of Olympic fever (and each to their own) we have benefited by the endeavours of athletes the world over. One of my favourite tweets was yesterday when I man I do not know Simon Rickets tweeted 'I'm cheering this Ugandan marathon runner like he is my son. I'm officially Olympics bonkers. Go ON.'

There was so much to blog about but instead I just got on with being a spectator. There are so many moments to pick but mainly the memories and feel good factor of being here, of having the Olympics on your doorstep is hard to put into concise words.

 Incredible! 

Incredible x 2

I even watched all of the closing ceremony which was totally naff but it had to be done. The 'fashion' moment had to be the worst thing ever. Naomi, Kate,Lily, Stella at all in lorries with billboards of fashion adverts which were ripped off revealing...wait for it... a model in an outfit. And....the names of the businesses were read out like the announcement of the countries the athletes were from. It was utter dross and after a couple of weeks of sporting endeavour it seemed the most shallow, narcissistic, pointless moment of the evening. Yes fashion is a big industry, yes I love fashion, yes of course we should promote it but ...like that and at an Olympic closing ceremony. Pointless and sad. Lucinda Chambers styled the girls well..in...err gold dresses.. but for what end? I don't know what the answer is to mindless glorification of materialism. Yes we have talented designers, yes fashion is an expression of the individual, society and I wouldn't be without it but how can we contextualise it better in such events. I suppose it is hard to get it right and I have no idea what the brief was or the budget but I'm guessing Naomi wasn't free.

London Catwalk

In conclusion, the women of the games, of London 2012 were the best. They were amazing from all nations and all nations sent women for the first time ever. I prefer Sanya Richards-Ross's fashion moment to anything contrived as representative. I want Jess Ennis's abs, I want Katherine Grainger's belief and the attitude of Jade Jones.

Let's hope that the images and words of united endeavours forges a new path for humanity represented by this photo taken by Brad Haverley at the wrestling medals ceremony...

...and the best joke on twitter 'A red haired man, a mixed race woman and a Somalian refugee went into a bar...everyone bought them a drink.'