London bid a triumphant farewell to the Olympics last night as the curtain came down on its widely acclaimed staging of the global sporting spectacular.
A star-studded closing ceremony was staged in front of 80,000 spectators, packed into the Olympic Stadium to crown an event hailed by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge as a “dream for sports lovers.”
“I am a very happy and grateful man,” Rogge told reporters ahead of the ceremony.
“London promised an athletes’ Games and that’s exactly what we got.”
Artists performing in the ceremony included the Spice Girls, George Michael and Muse in a show featuring a cast of more than 4,000.
Prime Minister David Cameron meanwhile said Britain’s staging of the Games had “shown the world what we’re made of.”
“We reminded ourselves what we can do and, yes, we demonstrated that you should never ever count Team GB down and out,” Cameron said, referring to the success of British athletes, who enjoyed their best performance for 104 years.
Cameron said the Games had reflected the best of Britain’s multicultural make-up, taking the example of Mo Farah, the winner of the men’s 10,000 title who went on to claim gold in the 5,000m on Saturday.
Farah came to Britain as a refugee aged eight after spending his early years in Somalia and Djibouti.
“It’s a Britain where a boy born in Somalia, Mo Farah, can come here, seize opportunities, and run his way into the nation’s heart,” Cameron said.
“It’s a Britain where we cheer ourselves hoarse not just for Team GB but for Team Jamaica or, as people have just done on the Mall, Team Uganda,” he added, referring to the winner of yesterday’s men’s marathon Stephen Kiprotich.
“Over the past couple of weeks, we have looked in the mirror and we like what we have seen as a country,” he said.
The ceremony was also marked by an athletes’ march past with Malta’s flag at the Olympic Stadium carried by sprinter Diane Borg.
The final day of sport saw 15 medals decided, with the United States’ Dream Team wrapping up victory over Spain in the basketball final as the Americans cemented their place on top of the medal table ahead of China.
Britain finished third in the standings.