London 2012 Olympics - A Retrospective Look

London 2012, was a major international multi-sport event, celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games, as governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that took place in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012.

The results of this Global sporting spectacle was in lines of the expectations of the experts and institutions all over the World with US emerging as the winner with total 104 medals ( 46 G,29S ,29B) ,China 2nd with 87 medals( 38G, 27S ,23S) and Great Britain achieved its highest tally of gold medals since 1908, finishing third in the medal table with 65 Medals(29G ,17S,19B).

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games  used  a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and other facilities were reused in their Olympic form,while others were  Horse Guards Parade.Some of the new facilities were reused in their Olympic form,while others were resized or relocated with the total cost of financing at 9.3 billion euros. A bird's eye view of the Olympic Park below.

The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 27 July and called "Isles of Wonder". Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle was its artistic director, with the music directors being the electronic music duo Rick Smith and Karl Hyde of Underworld.

The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

 Months before Olympic flame lighting ceremony was done in a traditional Olympic style in Olympia,Greece on 10 May,2012.

The Olympic Cauldron was lit  at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games by a  group of young athletes nominated by British Olympic champions.

In total  4,700 Olympic and Paralympic medals have been produced by the Royal Mint at Llantrisant.They were designed by David Watkins (Olympics) and Lin Cheung (Paralympics).Virtually all the gold, silver and copper was mined in Salt Lake County, Utah in the U.S. Each medal weighs 375–400 g (13.2–14.1 oz), has a diameter of 85 mm (3.34 in) and is 7 mm (0.27 in) thick, with the sport and discipline engraved on the rim. The value of the materials in the gold medal is about $644, the silver about $330, and the bronze about $4.71 on the current market price.

The grandest highlight of the games was Michael Phelps ,US swimmer becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals.

British Olympic athlete Mo Farah clinching his twin Gold feat of 5,000 metre and 10,000 metre title.

Athletics became the centrestage of attention and action with  South African double amputee runner  Oscar  Pistorious  events of 100m ,200m ,400m & 4 * 100 m titles ,stupendous performance by British atheletes ,records smashed  by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt in all the events he had the competition with perfect lead and new Olympic records in the making.

Oscar Pistorius aka Blade Runner left behind a memory and inspiration to every athlete and spectator spellbound by his dedication and sporting spirit with which he dealt his atheletic events.

Usain Bolt became the first sprinter to retain all three sprinting gold medals at consecutive Olympics.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female atheltes for the first time ,meaning every country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games.Sarah Attar ,the 1st Saudi field and track athelete in the Olympics.

Andy Murray ,the British tennis player winning Gold medal beating numero uno of tennis Roger Federer easily in the finals and becoming the  biggest reasons for host Britons to cheer about the London Olympics.

Hot favourites Russia winning the synchronised swimming gold mainitaning their total domination of this game in Olympic history.

India's Olympic campaign ending with 6 medals ,2 silver and 4 bronze medals doubling up the last Beijing medals tally .Amazing achievement by any scale for the Indians to proud of.

Era of Chinese domination in diving came to an end with world diving champion Qiu Bio beaten by American David Boudia.

Gabby Douglas becoming the first African-American to win Gold in women's all around Gymnastics event.

Perhaps ,on the downside there were some sad moments and happenings ,most talked about  among them being South Korean fencer Shin-a-Lam crying after losing a chance at the Gold.

This Olympics also symbolised a cohesion of World sporting fraternity with hardly any stray events of fights ,quarrels between sportspersons or any doping scandals throughout the event schedule.

Equestrian events dominated by European giants (Germans & Britons).

North Korea`s Kim Un Guk broke the world record in men`s 62 kg category weight-lifting on the way to win gold

Apart from the dazzling sporting events, there was the advent of interactive Google Doodle which ruled the hearts of every Olympic enthusiast whether it was basketball ,atheletics etc with Facebook wall posts and tweets galloping the internet space in no time .

Well every good thing/phenomenon needs to come to an end.So was it. The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics was held on 12 August 2012.

 The ceremony featured a flashback fiesta to British music with The Who along with other prominent Musicians and Celebrities finishing out the performance.

The ceremony also included a handover of the Olympic flag by Boris Johnson ,Mayor of London ,to Eduardo Paes ,Mayor of Rio de Janiero ,the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

   Bye London ,the sucessful hosts of Olympics 2012.

So catch the next level of Global sporting exuberance in 2016 at Brazilian city of Rio de Janiero with the Olympic flag already reaching the  host city this week.