Your Top 3 London 2012 Memories

[paul92]

So, for those who are confused by the very simple title to this thread - What is your favourite 3 memories from London 2012.

No, please, you lot go first. No no, I couldn't possibly - ah..well if you insist...

1. The opening ceremony rehearsal - even though it was the rehearsal, they did the first main 3 acts as if it was the actual night. The Industrial Revolution scene had my mouth wide open, and the moment in the NHS scene where all the Mary Poppins' fly in from above was..well..yeh...quite magical.

Plus there was an Asian guy, about 18, who was so so excited. Every 10 seconds he would say "wow", whilst smiling the whole time. How adorable.

2. Mo Farah winning the 10k and 5k. With the crowd in the stadium going crazy, Mo Farah winning his golds will be many British people's main highlight. Truly amazing scenes.

3. (Greatest ever Olympic sailor) Team GB's Ben Ainslie's story was fanstastic. After being beaten in the early rounds by the Danish sailor, Ainslie fought back and went on to win gold at his home games.

(Take That and The Who's performances at the closing ceremony were also very impressive)

Skip to 51:20 for that Mary Poppins moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4As0e4de-rI

[Olympic Fan Darcy]

Well as an Aussie my favourite moment was waking at 5:55am to see Sally Pearson get gold it was inspirational and probably something i will always remember from these games. My parents enjoyed it and said it was one of there highlights of all olympics up there with Nadia Comaneci.

My 2nd favourite would be Usain bolt, to be able to watch one of if not the best runners of our time is just amazing to know and to win 3 golds and the 100m and 200m!

My 3rd is the whole closing ceremony. I loved it to pieces. I love Emeli Sande now, great singer, i love all the music and everything about it.

An amazing games <3

[Gangwon]

3. Watching Phelps redeem himself from his earlier losses, and seeing the reaction of his family

2. Hearing the Canadian anthem when Rosie MacLennan won trampoline gold (brought back memories of Vancouver)

1. Soccer bronze (both for the Canadian women and the Korean men)

Worst memory: Justyn Warner crying after losing the 4x100 relay bronze. He especially ran a hell of a race

[DannyelBrazil]

1 - Handover ceremony

2 - Female Volleyball final match (Brazil vs. USA)

3 - Brazilian children in James Bond segment of OC

[Scotguy]

1. Andy Murray winning Olympic Gold at Wimbledon

2. Being able to watch parts of every sport over the 16 days

3. The Closing Ceremony - i loved it

[Citius Altius Fortius]

3rd - the Olympic Spirit in London: everybody was happy, helpful, friendly (a special thank to the volunteers, first aid helpers and the soldiers/policemen ) - it was an international event and London offers the stage for that with a heart

2nd - the opening and the closing ceremony

1st - to see three gold medals for Germany (C2 Canoe Sprint, 1,000 m, M; K2 Canoe Sprint, 500 m, W and Beach Volleyball, M) on one day in Eton Dorney and in Horse Guards Parade

[krow]

1 - kellie wells and dawn harper being interviewed, pretty much at any time ever. they were so gracious after winning silver and bronze and really seemed happy to stand their with their medals. and then when they chastised the media, rightly so, for focusing on lolo jones at their expense, which was pretty unfair. and jesus safecracking christ, lolo jones is so freaking annoying.

2 - larissa and juliana melting down vs the chinese during the bronze medal beach volleyball match and then coming back to win it.

3 - BMX semis and finals. never watched it before. it reminded me of vancouver when we all saw ski cross for the first time and the next day everyone was like, wow, i think i have a new favorite sport. of course, i've seen BMX before but never in an olympic context, and it was a fantastic addition.

honorable mention to missy franklin and gabby douglas for just being absolutely boss throughout the whole thing, even though there isn't one moment that sticks out.

and nothing to spain, which gave me three gold medals that were hard fought but not particularly interesting to witness.

[Sir Rols]

This is a really hard one for me to pin down. And all day long, it's what I've been asked (or rather "what was the highlight?") by work colleagues. It's like trying to rate a "best" games, it's just impossible, especially if you've attended in person.

I suppose I would say:

1: The middle weekend - "Super Saturday" through to Monday 6th. From heading to Stratford for the first time for the first morning session of athletics in the stadium, to Wimbledon the next day for the Ten nis final to Greenwich Park the day after that for the equestrian finals, these were definitely the highpoints of my actual events watching. Terrific competition and terrific venues.

2: I agree with Martin, the volunteers really made the games. They may not have had an answer for everything (I sometimes found I could plot a course to a particular location on the Tube better than they could), but the enthusiasm and friendliness of them all was just so infectious.

3: Funnily enough, I'll nominate for my third an event I wasn't even in London for - the closing ceremony. It hit all the right notes and ended the games on such a high. My favourite closing ceremony of all time. The Brits just couldn't go wrong highlighting the gems of their pop culture!

[DaneSwan36]

My top three moments.

1. Sally Pearson winning the women's 100m hurdles (Thank god for Foxtel iqHD so that I can replay it over and over again)

2. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies- loved them both!

3. Usain Bolt's three-peat winning the 4x100m relay (in WR time), 100m final and 200m final.

[memorabilia]

3. Closing Ceremony : Jessy J

2. Closing Ceremony : George Michael

1. Closing Ceremony : The Spice Girls

[reindeer]

1: The middle weekend - "Super Saturday" through to Monday 6th. From heading to Stratford for the first time for the first morning session of athletics in the stadium, to Wimbledon the next day for the Ten nis final to Greenwich Park the day after that for the equestrian finals, these were definitely the highpoints of my actual events watching. Terrific competition and terrific venues.

Funny that these were the exact days that I spent in London watching the events live. Of those the Super Saturday in the Olympic Stadium is surely the highlight of these Games as it was the first live Olympic event for me ever and I saw the hosts win three Golds in less than an hour. On the other hand, the watersports that I witnessed on Monday were honestly very boring and I even left early on those occasions.

[SkiFreak]

This...

This...

And this...

And also this...

And this...

Melanie and Geri need to switch their nicknames around. Mel is now Sexier-than-Hell Spice!

And also...

...ok there were too many great moments in these games.

[Alexjc]

My three memories?

1. The train wreck difficult to understand Opening Ceremony.

2. The OLYMPIC GAMES THEMSELVES! (Bar the cheating Belarussian who stole our Val her moment...).

3. The Closing Ceremony! Fudge did that make up for thr Opening! Oh and I agree...Mel Brown is now Sexy As Hell Spice! Oh and Jessie J looked hot in that half bodysuit as well.

[Blacksheep]

Particular moments

1. Kath Grainer winning the Gold finally

2. Chris Hoy refusing to give up in the Kerin and winning gold

3. Mo Farah winning the 10K and 5K

4. Jess Ennis insisting on winning the final 800m

Both opening and closing ceremonies were quality, immense even and spectacular

[Olympian2004]

Very difficult to pick just three moments. So I pick 5.

5. A nice elderly female British athletics judge hugging Betty Heidler after she finally got the correct result for her good attempt in the women's hammer throw competition. I've never seen a judge showing so much compassion for an athlete.

4. Two moments in the velodrome: Chris Hoy winning his second gold medal, accompanied by thunderous cheers of the audience; and then Hoy being not afraid to cry his eyes out on the medal podium when they played the national anthem. Very moving - and a genuinely nice fellow!

3. The highly exciting final in the men's pole vault with both Björn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe clearing 5.91 metres putting pressure on Renaud Lavillenie, who faced the challenge by going for 5.97 metres and finally winning the whole thing. That was a final truly worthy of the Olympic Games.

2. The ceremonies, but most importantly the British humour shown there - from the hilarious "Queen jumps out of the helicopter" moment to Mr. Bean's greatness to that funny AND tear-jerking "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" performance of Eric Idle.

1. The British audience - very enthusiastic and very adept about sport, and most importantly: Very fair. In order to pick out one specific moment: The moment when the German eventing team was on its way to the gold medal - and the British audience cheered for them enthusiastically although that meant that their team had lost the much-anticipated gold medal. Incredible! And I just read that the IOC has awarded the people of London the Olympic Cup! Very much deserved!

See http://www.london2012.com/news/articles/london-2012-organisers-awarded-olympic-orders.html

[FDLondon]

My top 3.... yikes, this is hard!

1. Mo Farah's gold in the 5k where I was in the Stadium shouting myself hoarse and jumping up and down with excitement

2. Jade Jones gold medal; the first GB gold I'd seen in person being awarded and her joy in winning.

3. Being part of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and so watching the Games from the very start to the very end. And the friends I made throughout rehearsals etc.

Close 4ths are partying at the beach volleyball, the fun of meeting random people at Tap East or on the Jubilee line and chatting to them about what they'd seen or were going to see, watching events at Park Live where you could hear the roar of the crowd - the men's cycling pursuit stands out there.

[Citizen-Seth]

Choosing just three is like picking a favourite child . . . but here it goes . . .

3) Singing "The Star Spangled Banner." This was my third Games, but my first to ever seen the USA win gold. Singing the national anthem for the first time in the Aquatics Centre still sends shivers up my spine. By the end of it all, I was able to sing it 4 times. Twice from swimming, once at athletics, and once because of beach volleyball. There's a video out there of me singing it once, but I don't think it shows the tears in my eyes.

2) The Olympic spirit that was everywhere in London. From the Park in Stratford to the dancefloors in SoHo, the Olympics filled everyone with joy, and I loved basking in it every minute of every day.

1) Sharing these Games with people I loved. In Beijing I attended the Games alone, and in Vancouver I only went with one other person. For London, I was able to attend events or meet up with so many of my close friends. Being able to share my passion and love for the Games with them is something that will stay with me forever.

[hufus]

I had to have a top 10...

10. It's horrible that it had to happen, but great that it did: Nadzeya Ostapchuck being caught and being stripped of her Gold.

9. James Magnussen's silver. I simply don't like the James Magnussen the world was presented with before his race, and maybe I will like the new one. But before his race I thought he was a bit of a ****, and I'm glad the gold evaded him, even if he is an Aussie.

8. Sally Pearson's gold - she's a true champion, and whilst she's very confident, she had the work to back it up, and didn't go around bullying the letter T and talking down her opponents. Great moment for her, and for Australia. Also good on the yanks for being so gracious.

7. The children's choirs in the OC. By the time they got to Wales, I knew this was going to be an excellent Olympics.

6. Britain's first gold, flanked by Australian and New Zealander flags, in the women's pairs. I'm a republican, and I can't wait to lose the Union Jack from our flag, but that moment was great for the heritage of the Commonwealth, and a very appropriate way to kick-start Britain's gold rush.

5. Kirani James swapping bibs with Oscar Pistorius.

4. David Rudisha's World Record. Simply incredible.

3. Belinda Snell's 3 pointer. Absolute legend.

2. The Aussie men's K4 win, spent the last 30 seconds just yelling ''Go boys! Go boys! C'mon boys!" with a massive fist-pump.

1. The moment of silence in the Opening Ceremony. Moved me to tears.

[runningrings]

1. Australia on it's toes. It was the first really exciting Olympics to watch as an adult Australian, every medal felt appreciated, and a dark part of me quite enjoyed seeing attention turn away from the pool.

2. Anna Meares, and the mutual respect and sportsmanship between her and Victoria Pendleson. True Olympians.

3. Lighting of the cauldron.

[dancingbrogues]

1) Rudisha breaking the 800m WR in stunning fashion, and breaking the 1976 OR to boot.

2) Sepp Blatter being heartily booed at a victory ceremony. Football's dominance relies on its ability to generate huge crowds; Blatter has consistently treated fans with contempt. Payback.

3) One of the cauldron lighter's desperate attempts to hold his trousers up all the way around the running track. This is the kind of thing that would have happened to me, and it gave, in my opinion, a rather over-rated ceremony a bit of a human face.

[Mainad]

For me personally:

1. Andy Murray winning the gold medal on Centre Court at Wimbledon (I'm a great tennis fan).

2. The star runners: Mo Farah, David Rudisha, Usain Bolt and the US women's relay team that broke a 27 year-long world record.

3. Tom Daley's bronze-medal winning dive (a truly popular achievement after the heart-breaking year he went through).

[Alexjc]

Ohh yeah! Totally forgot Sepp Blatter getting boo'd...Good job!

Barbara Kendall was our IOC rep at the Sailing and she got wolf whistled and cheered! Then again she can still wear a swimsuit!

[Olympian2004]

I have to add this moment - which I hadn't seen until now. It's the medal ceremony for Félix Sánchez who won the gold medal in the men's 400 metres hurdles for the second time after Athens 2004. He wanted to win that medal for his late grandmother who died during the Beijing 2008 Games. Skip to 2:32:00 for the whole ceremony and switch to the "natural sound" audiotrack to hear it at full volume. It's so moving how he breaks into tears another time in the middle of the national anthem and the audience encourages him with its applause. I wonder whether you can keep a dry eye watching this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If7Q9FfsXgA

[Chateau Petrus]

Not sure for my 3 top memories, but certain for my worst.

Being at the Stadium right in front of the canadian 4X100m relay team and taking pictures of them celebrating, and then ...

I was so , I quit immediatelly the stadium without staying for the medal ceremony with Uhain Bolt

[Mercator]

My three are pretty similar to others, but on a personal basis, I would like to share the following anecdotes with you:

1. I took a "plane" from Luxembourg airport to London City, arriving on 9th August in the afternoon, only a stone's throw from all the action. I put the word "plane" in inverted commas because it was a biscuit tin really, and we were being thoroughly shaken about as if the Creator wanted to see how many biscuits there were... Anyhow, instead of how I envisaged the landing (coming in to land directly from east to west), we needed to land from west to east, meaning this Fokker Chokker Kookkie Tinn had to swing round over the centre of London. Well... Is it possible to combine the words "spectacular" and "terrifying" in the same sentence? It must be, because that's what happened. We flew over the wonderful marshes of Essex and the Medway delta, before heading in to the city, over Greenwich Park to starboard, with views to the Olympic Park, then Tower Bridge, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, I could see as far north as Wembley, and then we flew over the City itself. It was amazing. I even saw the very f°reskin of the Gherkin itself! But we were being chucked around like dice in a caster. I know how my cats feel when I put them in their boxes to go to the vet!!!! And here's the point - whilst seeing the London skyline in such a spectacular way, knowing I was about to land minutes from the epicentre of the greatest show on Earth, looking out over these most glorious buildings, I was crying like a baby. Sobbing my heart out, I was. Whilst at the same time, my wife duly told me upon landing, I was repeatedly using the most abominable expletives she had ever heard me say.

But...

To this day, I don't know if I was crying like a rejected teenager and swearing like a builder with his foot caught in a bag of cement because of the experience or because I was utterly terrified. Or both. In any case, I look back and laugh now, but at the time I almost involuntarily went to the toilet on the seat...

In any case, we immediately booked train tickets for the way home.

The Flying Biscuit Tin

2. The city itself. It was one giant circus. On the South Bank from Westminster Bridge, all the way to Bermondsey, it was insane. The rest of Europe must have had to endure an amusement-free summer as they had all found their way to the Thames...

One of the many acts spread along the river

But not only that, it was so imaginatively decorated, and yet so understated, like always:

The day after the Olympics, the clouds rolled in...

3. Greenwich Park. I loved the truly splendid setting, the way it had been fit into the landscape, the views from the top of the grandstands and the panorama of the London skyline will forever be embedded in my memory. However, watching the closing ceremony outside the venue on a huge TV in the park grounds was pretty awesome. Strangely though, the fireworks were nowhere to be seen when we rushed to look at them across the river... Must have been a huge time delay!!

The top of the grandstand

From that night, the two outstanding moments were firstly when the thousand-odd people there stood up to sing the National Anthem and my (Belgian, phlegmatic) wife was reduced to a sobbing wreck by it, and the outstanding amount of times we were all impressed by the fact that the closing ceremony, and the whole Olympics, were in Britain, that my fellow countrypeople had organised this. We wet ourselves laughing at, for example, Eric Idle being bamboozled by the dancers and the truly jaw-dropping splendour of the view from above. The Union Jack. Nobody will ever doubt where that was in future quizzes!

Singing the National Anthem - no photos of my wife though!