A Triumph Beyond Belief: My Favourite London 2012 Moments

With the London Olympics coming to a spectacular end last night, this blog is going to take a look back at my favourite moments of London 2012.

On the final day of competition, Samantha Murray completed the Team GB medal tally with a silver in the modern pentathlon.

That second place took Team GB's overall number of medals won to an astonishing 65- a mammoth eighteen ahead of the medal target ahead of the games.

Of course, this Olympics hasn't all been about Team GB. There have been endless World Records broken and I have watched numerous sports I wouldn't even have given an afterthought to outwith the Olympics.

Those two statements above are what the Olympics are all about. Athletes striving for greatness by pushing themselves to the absolute limit whilst thrilling us couch-potato's at the same time.

With that in mind, I present to you my top five moments of London 2012, in reverse order.

5: David Rudisha Breaks 800m World Record- 09/08/12

Although it would be fair to say that Usain Bolt's exploits on Thursday night in the same stadium overshadowed Rudisha's remarkable run, the Kenyan's world record breaking performance has every right to be in this top five.

By running a time of 1:40:91, he blew away the field to such an extent that everyone else in the field either ran a new personal best or seasonal best.

Britain's Andrew Osagie may have finished last in a time of 1:43:77 but he shouldn't be disheartened with his efforts.

His time would have won the 800m gold in the last three Olympic games- but noone had sent that memo to Rudisha.

From the word go, he treated the race like a sprint which was absolutely incredible to watch.

The 24 year-old never let up at one point in the race and to finally see someone go under 1:41 for 800m was breathtaking to watch.

The great thing is that Rudisha promises to get even better.

4: Jessica Ennis Wins The Heptathlon- 04/08/12

It says something about how good London 2012 was when Ennis's magnificent win in the Heptathlon only comes fourth in my list.

That doesn't take any of the shine off her achievement though and especially the manner in which she got the gold.

Ennis was the Team GB poster girl before the games began. The pressure on her to deliver was absolutely enormous.

But she dealt with it beautifully. From her incredible start in the 100m hurdles when she set a new heptathlon record to the finale when she won the 800m on a 'Super Saturday' for Team GB, Ennis was a joy to watch.

Ennis strove to do her best in each event and her performances in the long jump and javelin, in which she has notoriously struggled in the past were excellent.

Ennis's performance will be remembered for a long time.

3: Usain Bolt cements his legendary status- 05/08/12-11/08-12

When Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt burst on the scene at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, I was blown away.

His world record performances in the 100 and 200m races to winning gold in both were mesmerising to watch. A new charismatic superstar had been born.

However, like many others I was concerned about Bolt before the games. Yohan Blake, his training partner had been beating him in trials and he didn't seem to be fully fit.

I shouldn't have worried. From he moment he jogged to 9.87 in the 100m semi-final, there was an air of inevitability about it.

That didn't make it any less thrilling to watch though. The 100m final was billed as the fastest ever. How appropriate then that Bolt should run a time of 9.63- breaking his own Olympic record in the process.

The 200m was billed as "Bolt V Blake Round 2". And once again Usain shut up his critics. He even had time to slowdown and still record a time of 19.32 to complete a historic back-to back wins in the 100 and 200m.

But he wasn't finished there. On Saturday as part of the Jamaican 4x100m team, he ensured a new world record of 36.84 was set as he ran the last leg in an astonishing 8.8 seconds.

This Olympics ensured that Usain Bolt is a legend and it really is a privilege to watch him race.

2. Sir Chris Hoy Becomes Britain's Greatest Ever Olympian- 07/08/12

Just missing out on the top spot, is the incredible achievements by Sir Chris Hoy in the velodrome.

It's almost become second nature that the Scot will win gold after gold at the Olympic games.

And in front of his home crowd he didn't disappoint.

On 7 August, he won the men's Keirin to overtake Sir Steve Redgrave as Britain's most successful Olympian ever, a record that many thought would never be beaten.

Hoy's speed, strength and determination are marvellous to watch. He never gives up in any race, which is a quality that I love to see in any athlete in any sport.

I found myself once again yelling at the television screaming him over the line. He has that passion to bring out similar levels of passion in viewers such as myself.

Hoy's achievements over the last four Olympic games are remarkable.

Here's hoping he can crown his career in style at Glasgow 2014.

1. Mo Farah does the long-distance double- 04/08/12+11/08/12

Everyone do the Mo-Bot. My favourite moment of London 2012 simply has to be Mo Farah's incredible double gold in the 10,000m and 5,000m on successive Saturday nights in the Olympic stadium.

Farah's tactics in both races were absolutely spot on.

Often in the Olympics I find these long-distance races extremely boring until the closing stages but Farah changed all that.

His first gold in the 10,000m was show of brilliant endurance and remarkable intelligence.

By going to Africa to study his rivals training regimes, he was able to time his attacks to perfection and his reaction when crossing the line just endeared me to him even more with his fantastic Mo-bot celebration.

A week later he was at it again. And the 5,000m gold that he won was even more enthralling.

Personally I only watched the race on Sunday morning having been out on Saturday night.

Despite knowing Farah won I found myself jumping off my couch screaming him onto victory. It was that good to watch.

The atmosphere sounded electric and I felt so proud as I'm sure everyone inside that stadium did too when Farah crossed the line for an amazing double win.

His charisma, his physical feat of endurance and all round likeability make Mo Farah my moment of London 2012.

Overall I rate London as the best Olympic games of my lifetime. With Team GB surpassing all expectations, there was so many home successes to enjoy. Coupled with global stars such as Usain Bolt and David Rudisha, London 2012 saw athletes bring their A game to the games.

Rio 2016 sure has a lot to live up to. I can't wait.