2012, the year of the 30th Olympiad, and the city of choice this time was none other than London, England.  With this announcement came both great anticipation, and expectation; the city had not hosted the games since 1948. The question on everyone’s lips was would Great Britain deliver?  For the most part, I believe the games were a huge success (opening ceremony aside).

First things first, possibly the foremost reason that people watch the Olympics is to witness records representing the pinnacle of human achievement being shattered by the world’s most elite athletes, and this year there was no shortage of this spectacle.  No fewer than 66 Olympic, and 30 world records were broken throughout the course of the games, including Usain Bolt’s 9.63s 100m run, Team GB’s 42.6s cycling sprint, Missy Franklin’s 200m backstroke, and countless others.

Moreover, despite the unparalleled commitment and dedication given by all athletes both during, and in training for the games, some shone brighter than others. These included supreme performances by Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and younger teammate Yohan Blake, who looks ready to set the track alight, come the Rio games in 2016.  Other notable names include the USA’s unmatchable Michael Phelps, as well as Missy Franklin, who assured that their country dominated in the aquatics center.  Finally, although any number of competitors could be brought up, I personally believe that congratulations are in order for Félix Sánchez of the Dominican Republic.  Having previously won in Athens in 2004 and countless other events prior to this, his career was plagued by injury and misfortune.  At the age of 34, he made his triumphant return to track, winning the 400m hurdles, and ending his career on a high note.  Although Bolt may be more adored by the public, for me, Sánchez is so much more of an inspiration.

Leaving the subject of athletes and moving onto the facilities and stadium itself, however, the engineering behind the games is breathtaking, and far more technical than merely filling a pool with water.  Apart from the stunning design of the aquatics centre, countless engineers worked for months on end perfecting the pool itself.  One might think that there’s not much to a pool, other than it being of the correct dimensions, but there’s far more to it than that.  Each tile was laid using laser guidance to ensure it was precisely 90o from the wall, and a small indent just under the water level ensured almost no waves would be reflected, which would slow down the athletes.

Another facility which most would think cannot be changed is the running track itself.  Costing over £1million, this too was designed specifically to allow competitors to break as many records as possible.  The surface itself is made of a synthetic material, engineered to rebound as much energy as possible when the runners’ feet hit the ground.  Once this substance was created, it was laid with the assistance of GPS and laser guidance in order to ensure it was perfectly level.

Having now covered the impressive aspects of the games, it is to my discontent that I must bring up the subject of the opening and closing ceremonies.  Although I must admit that the closing ceremony was fairly imposing, the opening ceremony cancelled out any positivity that ensued.  What was attempted was to show the entire history of an empire within a two hour window; an ambitious idea to say the least.  As a result it appeared to be somewhat chaotic and disorganised (although I must say Rowan Atkinson was extremely amusing, and it was nice to see the Queen trying out extreme sports as well).