When the closing ceremony brings the curtain down on the London Games, 70,000 volunteers who helped make it happen will take home priceless memories

London 2012 has been a marathon not just for some of the runners but also for the 70,000 volunteers who have helped make it all happen.

They are the unsung – and unpaid – heroes and heroines who will take home priceless memories.

Contributing eight million hours of voluntary work behind the scenes, without them the Games would not have been possible.

With relentless enthusiasm and energy Thomas Smith, 23, from Southampton, is typical of the “Games Makers”.

Having just finished his final exams in mechanical engineering at Bath University and with a job lined up, instead of taking a well-earned rest he was giving up his last summer holiday before his working life begins to be part of London 2012.

Standing in the sunshine outside the Olympic Stadium dealing with a steady stream of spectators looking for assistance, Mr Smith was just glad to be of help.

“To be honest I never really thought of it as giving up something,” he said.

“This has been something I have been looking forward to for a year.”

Like many volunteers at the 34 separate venues, many are so near, yet so far from the action, often on duty outside the arena as the events take place inside.

“I was outside the stadium for the 100m final and could hear the roar of the crowd but couldn’t see it.

“It’s been long hours – I’ve fallen asleep on the Tube going home – but everyone has been so happy. This has been the biggest event in my lifetime.”

Sarah Collyer, 46, and Ranjana Patel, 58, were on ticketing duties at the Olympic Stadium.

Mrs Patel, a mother-of-three from Esher, Surrey, said: “I do some other voluntary work and I just wanted to be here and be part of it all.”

Stefania Giordani, 31, originally from Rome but living in Willesden Green, London, looks surprised when asked why she volunteered – as a masseuse – at the Games.

Ms Giordani has been giving free massages to some of the 21,000 media and broadcasters working at the Games.

“It is just wonderful, a great, great experience just to be here, the opportunity to volunteer for the experience and to meet other people and just to be here and lend a hand. Why wouldn’t you do this?

“It is hard work but it is rewarding. It is a great event, it’s the biggest sports event in the world and to be around and participate in it is a big, big thing.”

More than 240,000 applied to volunteer, with 86,000 interviewed before the final selection.