This one goes almost to the top of the list

Well, that was pretty a pretty good bash, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t at the ceremonies, that fell to a Spice Girl-mad colleague and I don’t do ceremonies in person anyway, but that was a good way to send these Games off to the recesses of the mind, a fun show that was far more informal than the opening and a party rather than a ceremony.

Heck, even The Who came back to life; narcoleptic and, well, awful at the Super Bowl, they obviously play far better at home than on the road at things like this.

So where’s it rank?

Totally personally, I have to now put it a firm third, maybe even tied for second, behind No. 1 Barcelona and right there with Sydney for a place on the podium.

Why?

Well, there are a few reasons, some personal, some professional, some institutional.

First off, the people were just incredible. Friendly, overwhelming in their numbers, always willing and able to answer questions, point in the right direction, help a fellow out. I can’t hammer home enough how the face of the Games for people like me are the volunteers we interact with every day, the folks here were top notch.

Professionally? They went swimmingly. Buses ran when buses were supposed to run, the infrastructure worked without a hitch, never had a problem filing from wherever I was and they were a logistical dream. And, as we know, it’s all about me. And us.

Now, coming off Beijing had to be a hard act to follow. The Chinese spent more money than imaginable, built exorbitant venues that were amazing; to ask anyone to match it would have been impossible, and unfair. The Brits? They built functional and not at all over the top. They combined history (Lords) with contemporary (the stadium was pretty but not overwhelming); the legacy will be the memories, not the vacant venues. Sure, in comparison to China and even Athens they might have scrimped a little but no one was worse off for it, and the aftermath will be easier to swallow.

No, the folks here should be proud. From the people holding the clipboards at the bus stops to Lord Coe, they put on a Games of which they should be proud.

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And, why not, right?

They were good last night, they were better back then.

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Quickly, a few personal moments that I’ll remember for a while

The shot

No, not a basket or a goal or anything really to do with sports. I got to see Nic Batum absolutely pull back and drill Juan Carlos Navarro in the jewels with the punch of the Games.

The beach

Of course you can build a beach in the middle of a historic area and pull it off quite nicely. Makes for a breathtaking view, too.

What’d I see?

I was there for the lone gold medal performance of the Olympics and I’m not at all sure what Rosie MacLennan did in all those flips and turns and twists but it was impressive.

Caught in the middle

Standing inside the velodrome – and I mean right inside and almost on the field of play – while a medal ceremony went on about 30 metres away was pretty cool. Hearing God Save The Queen waft down from the stands, almost everyone singing along, was super neat.

Travelling around

By my count – and you have to realize that after three weeks the mind gets a little fuzzy – I knocked off about eight venues and the only regret was that I didn’t get to Wimbledon. The best? We’ll get to that a bit later.

What you write

When I got here, and even today if truth be told, I know nothing about Katniss Everdeen. Yet he/she/it made it into one of my stories. A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do to get something filed that’s marginally interesting.

Best moment, sports category

Has to be The Goal. The 92nd minute one by Diana Matheson to end the football bronze game. I had to ask Cathal exactly what happened but I did have my eyes up when the ball went it and that was, by far, the most dramatic athletic moment I witnessed.

Best moment, non-sports category

I was sitting on a porch at Lords watching the arrow shooting and there was a band – an army orchestra as a matter of fact – just down from me playing on one of the verandas. No, it does not get any better than that.

Yeah, this was a pretty darn good gig, all things considered.

Glad I made it.

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Okay, have one little writing thing to knock off and then it’s off to explore this wonderful city. And that’s without wearing a credential around one’s neck and not toting a computer bag.

That’s going to be odd.

See ya later, will get to any comments sometime this afternoon.

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Comments

[Andrew Potter]

Glad it was a good experience Doug.

As someone who only followed it from the couch, I think my experience was a tad different. Maybe I was still enveloped in Vancouver 2010 euphoria.

That said, I felt our men and ladies representing us did us a great service. Some will disagree and say our final tally was a disappointment - "Only one gold?" they'll cry. What I keep thinking back to is that - strength of certain national athletic programs aside - USA and China have two of the three largest populations in the world, and proportionately, they ranked in the top three for over medals.

Canada ranks 35 in population and came 13th. That's a pretty substantial jump, no matter how you slice it. For a country not historically equated with any particular summer sport, and one that doesn't give the same financial support for summer sport athletes as we do for winter sport athletes, 13th is pretty darn good. I'll take that every four years.

[larrylukeeborg]

the beach must have been amazing indeed...how did all those people stay on the ground?

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:
That beach volleyball venue looks pretty impressive! How did they keep the players on the sand at the top? ;>)
Thanks for your GREAT coverage of the Games - it certainly made them very interesting for me!

[Dave B]

Great job, Doug.

As I said before you left, I saw the Olympics through your eyes. You did a great job once again.I did watch some Basketball, especially the Canadian women.

Now we can get back to regular programming.

Enjoy your day in London and have a safe trip home.

[Mike kovacs]

That is quite the view you had at Beach Volleyball. Too many Samuel Smiths?

[RC]

Nice added effect there of posting the beach picture upside down. haha

[David in Oakville]

@Andrew

Sorry, comparing medal count by population is silly when many of the countries ahead of us in population sent very small teams or none at all (Myammar, Thailand, Pakistan).
+
The fact is that we had the 11th largest team (number of athletes) at the London games and finished 13th in total medal count and 36th? based solely on Gold medal performances. For me that is a mediocre result at best. The two stand out, surprising results at these games were a bronze in ladies football (the US semi final game was their coming of age) and the DQ of the 4x100 men's relay who ran the race of their careers.
+
Sadly, never shed a tear watching an athlete try to contain their emotions as our anthem played but I shed a few watching apologies from young people who gave their best but came up short.

[Phil A]

That was another great basketball final that I witnessed yesterday. The USA demonstrated again why they are still considered the best team in the world. I knew that they would pull away in the 4th quarter. They are just too talented to lose to the Spanish team.

Chris Paul is a joy to watch. He showed in the 4th quarter why he is considered to be the best point guard in the world.

[Cluck Kent]

Ditto Andrew Potter's comments. Considering that Canada's summer athletes toil in obscurity and that the vast majority of athletically gifted individuals in Canada end up playing hockey, they did a great job. Anyone who doesn't agree should give it a go and find out how difficult it really is to be relevant at an Olympic level. I say congratulations to every participant, job well done.

And thank you, Doug, for your efforts. It was nice to get a feel for what was going on, the local colour, the venues, the alleys. Getting here each day really made me feel like an insider, getting information we'd never get from the telcasts.

[jb]

The Olympics were great. 2 things stood out for me.
*
1) Watching Oscar Pistorius race.
*
2) This letter to Simon Whitfield from Leonardo Chacón after Simon wipes out and takes out Leonardo. Instead of being angry, Leonardo Chacón writes this letter. It went beyond the Olympic spirit, it was simply beautiful.
*
"Dear Simon,

I am Leonardo Chacón, the athlete that fell down behind you on the competition on Tuesday.

I just wanted to say that you are an inspiration to millions of triathletes that just like me, dreamed about going to the
Olympics.

When I was 15, I remembered watching you win the gold in Sidney. A couple years later, silver in Beijing. Now, at my 27 years of age, these were my first Olympic Games and it was an honor to race next to you.

I also wanted to thank you for being an example of endurance and discipline which have allow you to compete to the highest level in 4 Olympic Games.

I really hope you get well soon from yesterday´s crash.

Hope to see you in Brazil 2016 and this time race you to the end for a place in the podium.

Finally, I wanted to invite you to Costa Rica, I think you would like it. I have been to Canada and it is gorgeous."

[Steve]

@David, indeed, the "Canada is relatively small population wise" argument falls over when you look at medals per capita, where Canada is even further down the list than on the 'normal' tallies (the sporting powerhouse that is Grenada with a population of 110,000 and 1 medal tops this one for anyone interested).

I'm fine with the fact that many Canadians don't care as much about the summer games, but they should at least be honest about it instead of wheeling out this old chestnut.