With the flash and the bang of a few hundred thousand fireworks, the games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing draw to a close, and I have to say that they've been excellent.43 world records broken, 132 Olympic records broken, and the first ever medals for Afghanistan, Mauritius, Tajikistan and Togo.
The Brits of Team GB finally ended up in 4th place overall in the medal table behind the superpowers that are Russia, USA and China.
The UK's performance has been spectacular, and it's great to see that it was some of the lesser known athletes who really upped their game and brought home a medal as a reward.
I still don't think we should be hosting the games in 2012, but I'll definitely be hoping to get along to some of the events in Olde London Towne in a few years time.
Part of the credit for the Beijing games being so enjoyable has to go to the BBC. Their coverage has been spot on, with, for the most part, informative and intelligent presenters, and extremely professional pundits like Michael Johnson, who's made more sense in two weeks than Gordon Brown has in his career.
The interactive 'red button' has finally found a place in my life, and High Definition video came into it's own during Chris Hoy's performance in the velodrome.
I just wish our national anthem was a bit more inspiring.
