Jacques Rogge presents flowers to final medal winners at the Olympics
Last night was the closing ceremony for London 2012, and with it came the final victory ceremony, for the mens City Marathon. Taking the gold was Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, with Kenya taking both silver and bronze thanks to Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich. The medals and flowers (which we spoke about in a prevous article) were presented by Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympics Commitee.
The ceremony, “A Symphony of British Music” , included music by a variety of artists, including Jessie J, Russell Brand, Tinie Tempah, The Who, Spice Girls, Queen, One Direction, Madness just to name a few. There were also large screens erected, which portrayed the image of Freddie Mercury during his iconic performance at Wembley in 1986, and who still managed to own the crowd despite tragically passing away 20 years ago. There was also a big screen tribute to John Lennon, remastered by his widow Yoko Ono, as he sang Imagine joined by a large choir of schoolchildren.
There was also a large flag parade, with one flag bearer from each of the 205 countries who competed processed into the stadium, whilst the rest of their teams walked through the crowd up to the stage, ready to begin what I’m sure was a long night of celebration.
The flag was passed by Boris Johnson onto 2016s Olympic hosts, Rio De Janeiro, and their mayor Eduardo Paes. Brazil showed us a taste of what to expect in 2016 with a wonderful display of dancing, music and even a brief appearance by international football star Pele.
The Olympic Flame was lowered as Take That performed Rule The World, and was finally extinguished at 1 minute past midnight. The audience was initially disappointed to see the end of the games, however an appearance by The Who quickly brought the mood back up, performing a handful of songs and ending the night on a high with My Generation, joined by a number of the nights performers.
The estimated global audience was a whopping 750 million people, and it truly was a showcase of some of Britains greatest musical heroes.