Tue, Aug 14, 2012 page1

• ‘Happy and glorious’ Games come to rocking conclusion

  • AP, LONDON
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  With a little British pomp and a lot of British pop, London brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on Sunday in a spectacular, technicolor pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun.

  The closing ceremony offered a sensory blast, including rock ’n’ roll rickshaws, dustbin percussionists, an exploding yellow car, and a marching band in red tunics and bearskin hats.

  The Spice Girls staged a show-stopping reunion, and Monty Python’s Eric Idle sauntered through Always Look on the Bright Side of Life — accompanied by Roman centurions, Scottish bagpipers and a human cannonball.

  

  A Swiss athlete holds a sparkler as Taiwanese athletes look on inside the Olympic stadium during the closing ceremony of this year’s London Olympic Games in London on Sunday. Rio de Janeiro will host the next Games.

  Photo: AFP

  It all made for a psychedelic mashup that had 80,000 fans at the Olympic Stadium stomping, cheering and singing along. Organizers estimated 300 million or more were watching around the world.

  What a way to end a Games far more successful than many Londoners expected. Security woes were overcome and traffic nightmares never materialized. The weather held up, more or less, and British athletes overachieved.

  It all came with a price tag of US$14 billion — three times the original estimate — but nobody wanted to spoil the fun with such mundane concerns, at least not on this night.

  

  Fireworks explode over the Olympic Stadium during the closing ceremony of the London Olympics on Sunday.

  Photo: AFP

  “We lit the flame and we lit up the world,” London organizing committee chief Sebastian Coe said. “When our time came, Britain, we did it right.”

  International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge declared the Olympics over with praise for the athletes.

  “Through your commitment to fair play, your respect for opponents and your grace in defeat, as well as in victory, you have earned the right to be called Olympians,” he said. “These were happy and glorious Games.”

  

  Monthy Python actor Eric Idle, center, performs at the Olympic Stadium in the closing ceremony of the London Games on Sunday.

  Photo: AFP

  However, the night was about splash more than speeches.

  Festive and fast-moving, the ceremony opened with pop bands Madness, the Pet Shop Boys and One Direction, a shout-out to former British prime minister Winston Churchill and a tribute to the Union Jack — the floor of the Olympic Stadium was arranged to resemble the British flag.

  Monochrome recreations of London’s landmarks were covered in newsprint, from Big Ben’s clock tower and Tower Bridge to the London Eye ferris wheel and the chubby high-rise building known as the “Gherkin.”

  

  An image of a swimmer is displayed on the Houses of Parliament as part of the festivities for the closing ceremony of the London Olympics on Sunday.

  Photo: AFP

  Street percussion group Stomp built the noise into a frenzy and dancers brandished brooms, in a nod to the spontaneous popular movement to clean up London after riots shook neighborhoods not far from the Olympic Stadium just a year ago.

  Liam Gallagher performed Wonderwall, a 1990s hit by his former band Oasis, Muse rocked the house with the hard-edged -Olympic -anthem Survival and Queen guitarist Brian May was joined by singer Jessie J for a crowd-pleasing We Will Rock You.

  The headline performers were each paid ￡1 (US$1.57).

  

  Lee Thompson of Madness plays the saxophone at the Olympic Stadium during the closing ceremony of the London Games on Sunday.

  Photo: Reuters

  The night ended with the extinguishing of the multi-petaled Olympic cauldron and a supercharged rendition of My Generation and other classics by The Who that had the crowd dancing in the aisles. Confetti rained down and fireworks lit up the sky.

  Prince William’s wife, Kate, and Prince Harry took seats next to Rogge. They sang along to God Save the Queen, but there was no sign of the queen herself, who made a memorable mock parachute entrance at the July 27 opening ceremony.

  Following Olympic tradition, the 10,800 athletes of the London Games marched in as one rather than with their nations, symbolizing the harmony and friendship inspired by the Games.

  As the crowd cheered their heroes and flashbulbs rippled through the stadium, the Olympians cheered back, some carrying national flags, others snapping photographs with smartphones and cameras.

  They held hands, embraced and carried each other on their shoulders, finally forming a human mosh pit on the field.

  The ceremony had something for everyone, from tween girls to 1960s hippies. The face of John Lennon appeared on the stadium floor, assembled by 101 fragments of sculpture, and just as quickly gave way to George Michael, Fatboy Slim and Annie Lennox.

  Eight minutes were turned over to Brazil, hosts of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, which delivered an explosion of samba, sequins and Latin cool. Following tradition, the London Mayor Boris Johnson handed the Olympic flag over to his Rio counterpart.

  Britons, who had fretted for weeks that the Games would become a fiasco, were buoyed by their biggest medal haul since 1908 — 29 golds and 65 medals in all.

  The US edged China in both the gold medal and total medals standings, eclipsing their best performance at an Olympics on foreign soil after the “Dream Team” narrowly held off Spain in basketball for the country’s 46th gold.

  While the Games may have lacked some of the grandeur of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, there were more than a few unforgettable moments.

  Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt became an Olympic legend by repeating as champion in both the 100m 200m sprints. Michael Phelps ended his long career as the most decorated Olympian in history.

  British distance runner Mo Farah became a national treasure by sweeping the 5,000m and 10,000m races and favorite daughter Jessica Ennis became a global phenomenon with her victory in the heptathlon.

  Female athletes took center stage in a way they never had before.

  US gymnast Gabby Douglas soared to gold, the US soccer team made a dramatic march to the championship. Packed houses turned out to watch the new event of women’s boxing and women competed for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei for the first time.

  Then there was Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee from South Africa running on carbon-fiber blades, who did not win a medal, but nonetheless left a champion, while sprinter Manteo Mitchell completed his leg of the 4x400m relay semi-final with a broken leg, allowing his team to qualify and win silver.

  Britons seemed exhausted and exhilarated after two glorious weeks in the world’s spotlight, and just months after the country celebrated the queen’s 60th year on the throne with a magnificent pageant and street parties.

  Some at the Olympic Park acknowledged the happy surprise that not much had gone wrong and so much had gone right.

  “I was a bit worried we wouldn’t be able to live up to it, but walking around here it’s just unbelievable,” Phil Akrill of Chichester said.

  Even non-Britons were proud of their adopted homeland.

  “It’s just been a really nice thing to see,” said Anja Ekelof, a Swede who now lives in Scotland. “The whole country has come together.”
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