The last day...
It was perhaps the most guaranteed gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games - and in previous Olympics, too - and it's gone, as expected, to Team USA. It was the men's basketball and the team of NBA superstars has delivered, beating out Spain 107-100 in a hard-fought game and, in it's aftermath, LeBron James hailed the current version of the "Dream Team" as one of the best basketball teams ever. Maybe not quite as good as that first incarnation of the American men's team that featured, amongst others, Jordan, Barkley and Bird, but certainly a very good one, with Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant alongside the man known as King James. The Spanish were very good, but could not quite match the firepower that the Americans could put on the court, and the final margin was closer than what I expected. All credit to Spain.
For Kobe Bryant, his final Olympics ends as so many knew it would: with another gold medal. It's his second, to go handily with a World Championship title, 5 NBA crowns - and maybe another, given the blockbuster trades his team, the Los Angeles Lakers have made during this off-season - and, of course, a bank account balance that gets bigger by a figure well north of $20 million each year. Oh, and if you believe those rumours, he might have Steph Rice, too.
And so ends the Games of the thirtieth Olympiad and perhaps the best Olympics ever - I can't believe that I'm writing this - in London. It's an Olympics that's been marked by amazing performances by incredible athletes and people, from Usain Bolt and Mo Farrah on the track to Michael Phelps in the pool, the afore-mentioned Team USA men's basketball team, the British rowers, the British cyclists led by Sir Chris Hoy, Andy Murray at the tennis to name just a few.
For Australia, it hasn't quite been the Olympics that we expected. Already, Swimming Australia has announced a high-level review of the team's performance, led by former gold medalist Suzie O'Neill, in the wake of a meet that yielded not even a single individual gold medal, almost unheard of for Australian swimming of recent times. Let's not forget, though, that James Magnusson came awfully close to winning gold, and there were other Aussie swimmers who weren't far away, either. It will be interesting to see how things transpire in Rio 2014 for a swimming team on whom there will be extraordinary pressure.
On the track, it was a different story, with Sally Pearson taking gold in the 100m hurdles, Jared Tallent bringing home a silver in the men's 50km walk and, on the last night of track competition, our men's 4x100m relay team featured in the star-studded final, that forty seconds of fierce sprinting that saw Jamaica smash the word record by half a second. For those four boys, just being in that field was a massive achievement in of itself.
In the wash-up, it will be said that our sailors and track athletes saved Australia from finishing outside of the top ten in medals. Tom Slingsby and Malcolm Page, our closing ceremony flag bearer in 2012, will forever be a part of this country's sporting lore. There was the heroics of Anna Meares, taking down 'Queen' Victoria Pendleton in the women's sprint on the last night of track cycling competition at the incredibly fast velodrome, where world records fell like there was no tomorrow. Meares' race against Pendleton and, it seemed, an entire country, was an amazing achievement.
Certainly, it will also be suggested that the Opals and Kookaburras threw away chances to win gold or silver, but bronze medals are nothing to sneeze at. At the same time, the Boomers provided us with a great moment - Patty Mills' three-pointer to beat Russia - and so did the Opals, when Belinda Snell knocked down an impossible buzzer-beater to send their contest against France into overtime.
it's been a wonderful Olympics!! Winning less gold than usual has made each triumph seem that much sweeter.
This blog has exploded during the sixteen days! Thanks for reading, for commenting, for the Tweets and e-mails. It's all greatly appreciated!! Enjoy the Closing Ceremony! Go Australia!!
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