In which I am rather patriotic about the Olympics.

We're a somewhat self-deprecating nation and London 2012 is over.

Now there's a statement.

A Dutch band outside the Olympic Stadium on 11th August

Our [beloved] Boris's waving of the flag in stark contrast to that of Rio's mayor was telling. The Olympic and Paralympic Games are no longer ours; Rio has taken them from London with the vitality one would only expect of Brazil, but let their spotlight shine a few days from now. What a great Games we staged. I was about to add "am I right?" but I don't feel it necessary in the slightest.


Before the Games began, I was pretty despondent. My own personal experience with the Games Maker organisation had caused me to withdraw from my position at the ExCeL Centre in sheer annoyance and frustration (yes, before you ask, I am somewhat regretting it now) and the news stories surrounding the security team and G4S in the days leading up to it lead to a sense of dread. Regardless, I held my own small British party on the night of the opening ceremony with some friends and was at least a little hopeful we would pull something out of the bag...

Well didn't I just turn into an Olympic junkie? The opening ceremony was fantastic - I did greatly look forward to hearing the reactions from abroad on its 'eccentricity' or 'quirkiness' - capturing most everything I consider to be British and what I love about this country. Once that was over I fast settled into a routine of TV-watching (this was extremely difficult for me...) and keeping track of the medal table, probably vastly irritating most of my family in the process. Sorry, family. I broke my habit only to be lucky enough to see some divers in the flesh, yes that was as exciting as it sounds, and a second gold medal for Mo Farah. I rather enjoyed the display of music for the closing ceremony too (although they could have done something better with Bowie).

But most of all, and spurred by comments in the closing ceremony of the Paralympics, I really hope Britain can take the spirit of the Games now that they are over into our ordinary lives. My own story shows how easily we can run ourselves down and yet we almost always seem to come out with something really rather marvellous. Maybe they were not the flashiest or the most glamorous (and I have to say they were grand enough for me!) but just look at the heart and soul in the Games we produced for evidence. We saw records broken, we saw fabulous volunteers, we won more medals than most of us have ever seen us do, and in doing so finished third to countries with five and twenty-one times our population - with the USA coming first and China second.

Yes, I too found the empty seats at least a little aggravating however, whilst I cannot speak for everyone, I genuinely felt part of a greater, wider community in being part of the home nation of London 2012, even when just watching on television. Despite my enthusiasm going against the stereotype, I loved and commented on how brilliant it was to situate lots of our venues within already-iconic British landmarks, and developed a love affair with new sports (especially dressage - how fantastic is that?) "Inspire a generation"? I don't know whether I count as being part of that generation, but I think it safe to say that was accomplished. And so, in the scheme of things, what would be wrong with being a little more self-congratulatory? Only that it isn't the British thing to do. But the occasional, more frequent "jolly good show, old chap" in our everyday lives wouldn't do too much harm, right?

And if we could extend this spirit worldwide, so much the better..!