Goodbye London 2012: It's Been Emotional

Go GB, GO GB

Well what a fortnight, and what a time to be British. To say that Team Little Legs has enjoyed the Olympics would probably be the understatement of the century. From the touching moment that British sporting legends gave the task of lighting the torch to seven young sporting hopefuls, to the heartbreaking sight of Gary Barlow singing Rule the World at the closing ceremony, Team Little Legs has joined the rest of the nation in being utterly transfixed. After seven years of planning London 2012 got underway and Team GB did us all proud. An astounding 64 medals, 29 of them Gold, and third place in the medal table was the reward for all the hard work and dedication of the whole GB team, from the awe inspiring athletes, the coaches, the scores of workers who built the impressive venues, the gamemaker volunteers and also, though I hate to say it, the politicians, without whose support during the bid process, London 2012 would never have happened. And we needed it to happen. Its been a gloomy few months, well years, and we really needed something to distract us and bring us together. Everywhere I went over the last fortnight (on those rare occasions I could bring myself to leave the TV, why oh why do children need sunlight) people were discussing the games, talking about the Olympic success, and enjoying being part of Team GB. We really did feel part of the team, and that for me was the success of the games. When athletes stood/sat at the starting lines I shook with nerves (how they held it together I will never know), when they reached the closing stretches I shouted myself hoarse, when they crossed the line I cheered and shouted as if I had won the medal myself. When we feel part of a team, we feel as if we are not in this alone. Margaret Cartey once wrote "the nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side", and when you feel that you can face anything.

For me, one of my favourite moments of the games was Mo Farah becoming the first British long distance runner to win gold in the 5000m and 10000m. He was awesome, and his words after he won his second gold inspired me. He said you can do anything, its just hard work and graft. I must admit to a large amount of self doubt creeping in over the last few weeks about whether I can complete both the marathon and my fund raising, but seeing the GB athletes pull epic performance after epic performance out of the bag has inspired me. They trained hard for four years, I can do it for seven more months, they train for hours every day, I can manage one or two a day.

So thank you team GB, and i cant wait until the paralympic games, GO GB, GO GB

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