Yes, great shame about the silver, but fab to get a bronze! Tennis and equestrian all going well too! Now enjoying the swimming. If only I didn't have to work tomorrow with all the tennis to watch!

I just felt so gutted for them. I did watch the disputed 'off mount'  vs falling off and did say that I thought they had a point until I realised that it meant we were back to bronze and changed my mind as he did fall after watching it in slow motion ;-)

Yes, it was a fall turned into a bad dismount. Tricky decision I guess. At least we still got bronze - those poor Ukrainians!

Just watching the news and they did look gutted !

They interviewed the team this morning and they all looked rather jaded as don't think they got much sleep last night !

Just watching the show jumping very exciting !

I love the design of the fences! Very inventive. :-)

The fences are good,  enjoying this whole time so far.   :)

Oooh it looks like the silver maybe on !!

Do they have any replays or highlights programmes in the evenings? I keep coming home from work and finding nothing on except wrestling, basketball, beach volleyball etc. I would like to see the highlights of the tennis, rowing, and the 3 day equestrian, none of which I've managed to see any of! :-(

You should be able to watch on BBC Sport on the computer.

Ah, thanks. I see lots of live and only one catch up at the moment, but presumably will be able to get more catch ups later on. :-)

> "Sorry but the whole thing bores me rigid - sport is simply someone else's hobby ...and no-one is funding mine to the tune of nine BILLION pounds !! -it's a complete and utter waste of money particularly so when we are in the worst recession for over 50 years and with so many people losing their jobs and so many local  facilities closing or being cut back"
>
>

Oh so agree, and I have a husband who hates sports more than me.

I have to admit I do like watching Equestrian events, skating and gymnastics.  Occasionally rowing (used to compete at school).

The Closing Ceremony is not doing it for me. It's just a pop concert really and I haven't even heard of some of those artists.
After the triumph of the Opening I do wish it had been more imaginative and I pity all those people who bought a ticket who may not be into modern pop culture.

I don't want to agree with you as I was so looking forward to this, but I do, it's not what I was expecting, I loved the opening, but I wanted the end to be all about the athletes not a blooming pop concert!

My hubby who has been glued for the whole of the Olympics has just gone to bed!!! Says it all really. :-(

Oh I don't know I am really enjoying it! Always look on the bright side of life ;-)

:-D :-D :-D

Well, I'm multi tasking so it is just background noise for me, not a good sign either. Looking forward to something spectacular at the end. Don't let me down, staying up for this.

It has moments of brilliance but overall it feels a bit hit and miss...

> Always look on the bright side of life ;-)

Well, that was one of the better bits :) 

>I pity all those people who bought a ticket who may not be into modern pop culture.

Surely this is the end-of-term party for the athletes who, let's be honest, are the younger generation! This is for them as much as us oldies! :-D I loved it all, even the artists I've never heard of before.

> Surely this is the end-of-term party for the athletes who, let's be honest, are the younger generation!

I suppose so but I still pity those that bought a ticket who may not be into modern pop culture :)
I suppose if it had been billed as a pop concert to celibrate the end of the games it would not have been a disappointment to anyone.

Does it matter? I saw a lot of people dancing and singing. It was much more happy than the end of Beijing. But the Chinese were allowed to do what they wished, and so were we.

It was the games of smiles and I think that these games captured many a persons heart. A few friends from the US said its been the best so far. Watching the countries enjoy themselves at the end singing along, the Dutch clearly were having a ball!!
Hats off to those volunteers as when I was up there they never stopped smiling and asking if we needed any help... And to think people from around the world had come here to volunteer... For me the whole games wrapped up in one word ~ Magical x

I wasn't too sure about the Brazilian bit but the Who finished it off very well, old Roger can still churn a good song out but George Michael definitely needs to hang his microphone up !

> Does it matter?

Of course not :)  I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed it, it just wasn't for me. 
It did get a bit better towards the end as far as I was concerned but according to my paper it should have finished at 11.30.  Hubby, having to be up at 5.30 gave up then and I didn't last much later and didn't see anything past Darcey Bussell swooping in.

I've loved the Olympics - every single second. In just two weeks I've forgotten what else there is on tv !. Closing ceremony, well I enjoyed most of it, not all to my taste but hey ho !. Couldn't see the point of the models tottering around in high heels - who wants to see those overpaid clothes horses when we've just had two weeks of healthy, active and enspiring athletes who have shaped their bodies rather than starved them ?. Loved The Who - raw, basic and fun. I admired Gary Barlow, a brave man, but how weak are Take That when you hear them, made me cringe. Spice Girls - well not my cuppa but they were a giggle !. Very very low point - I used to love George Michael as a singer but I grew tired of the news about him outside his music. I can't understand why he was there - a drug taker, he's been caught drug driving more than once and served a jail term. The Olympics are anti drugs so it made no sense at all - between him and Russell Brand, what a mixed message to send to youngsters.

Brilliant opening ceremony,superb games and results,closing ceremony a bit patchy.

> Brilliant opening ceremony,superb games and results,closing ceremony a bit patchy.

Yep, that about sums it up for me.
Whatever other legacies come out of this it must surely have shown the world that the UK can deliver.

Not only did we deliver we showed the world and I hope ourselves that we can smile and we have a sense of humour, lets hope we do not return to moaning about everything too soon, we can greet others with a smile rather than a complaint so lets try to continue.

>lets hope we do not return to moaning about everything too soon, we can greet others with a smile rather than a complaint so lets try to continue.

That would be a fantastic legacy from the Games. :-) :-) Fingers crossed.

> we can greet others with a smile rather than a complaint so lets try to continue.

Are you complaining about Brits complaining? :-D

Are you complaining about Brits complaining?

No just hoping we realise that both are contagious and I would prefer to catch a smile how about you. :-)

> I would prefer to catch a smile how about you. :-)

Oh yes :) but I do think the Brits do have a good sense of humour but then I am one :)

I missed half of it - what I saw was OK, not great but I missed the best bits I think (I went to bed just after Elbow so quite early).

Would have been nice to have it a smidge earlier with it being a sunday night :-P

"Surely this is the end-of-term party for the athletes who, let's be honest, are the younger generation! "

Absolutely! And they all appeared to love every moment of it. I thought it was fantastic and was glued until the very end :-)

You are probably a lot younger than me :)
From what I read in the papers today there were plenty of end-of-term parties for the athletes :). 

Good point! Haven't seen it all yet, gave up around 11pm, but although it wasn't brilliant, it was mostly enjoyable so far. Hubby wasn't very interested though, but then he wasn't too keen on the opening ceremony either which I thought was very good. Will have to search Youtube as I can't really remember the Beijing ceremonies and I want to see how they compare. :-)

You have to hand it to the lighting techs and the people behind the firework displays the whole stadium looked magnificent throughout the whole Olympics, I have no idea how West Ham FC will use that stadium now it is far too big for them, it certainly gave the O2 a run for it's money.

It has been a fantastic 16 days so much hard work went into it all, Sue Barker brought a tear to my eye at the end when she was so sad it was over.............. me too, it brought our country and all the world together.

So proud of team GB and all our medals they were all wonderful.

Oh well, back to nort on tv again........... :-D

It's going to be strange not to have it surrounding us :) 
The "Queen's" tweet today:

>Now, one definitely used to do something all day before the olympics... what was it? There was definitely something. One's sure of it.

:-D

Love it!

She's brilliant. :-)

"You are probably a lot younger than me"

Probably not Stooge lol, but I still loved it all.
One of my favourite songs ever "One Day Like This" by Elbow was a highlight for me....
I enjoyed the Spice Girls (didn't think I would - I would have preferred Girls Aloud!)
Jessie J and Queen were brilliant.... I could go on, but I won't ;-)

Oh and yes, I can well imagine there were some parties going on last night!

Yes, I think Elbow was my favourite :). 
I suppose I should just be thankful they didn't just set up the cameras in Chinawhites :)

My husband would do well here :-)
" Why is it on so late?"...because they need darkness for all the lighting/fireworks
"Why is it all geared to the younger audience?" ..because the athletes, who's game it was after all....are young!
" Bet the paying customers would have been disappointed at all the pop stuff"....... Bet not one of them would have given up their ticket for all the tea in BEJING! :-)

> Bet not one of them would have given up their ticket for all the tea in BEJING

Definitely :) I didn't enjoy some of the music, didn't know a few of the 'artistes' and was a little bemused by some things - BUT, it made me feel really good and anyone who looked at it and could shrug their shoulders and turn the TV off must be a real misery :) :) :)

>I didn't enjoy some of the music, didn't know a few of the 'artistes'

The only one I disliked was the singer at the start - Emeli Someone? Her nasal style of singing made her really difficult to understand.

I wasn't bothered by her style, but more by the fact she was hideously off-tune!  Some kind of technical problem with her ear piece maybe but good grief, she was awful!

I'm glad others thought she wasn't much good, I agree!

It was so off key

She was awful at the opening ceremony too