Ten Years Since London London 2012 captured the hearts of a nation and left a warm feeling in both the host country and the Olympic Movement. Mike Rowbottom looks back with fondness, a decade on.
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or many Britons, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations held in honour of Queen Elizabeth II in June had the effect of a time warp. Fleetingly, headily, it felt like the summer of 2012. Watching the perfect “70” formation of planes fly over the royal balcony, and a Mall dense with Union flag wavers, prompted similar warm feelings to those evoked a decade ago at London’s Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Queen even replicated the astonishing James Bond interlude from the Olympic Opening Ceremony, with another charming Buckingham Palace vignette involving much-loved children’s character Paddington Bear. It also has to be said that, for many, such emotions had a painfully nostalgic element given the path Britain has trodden internationally since that period of reaching out and embracing nations from around the world.
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In retrospect, the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics remain what they appeared to be at the time - one of the great Games. Something to look back upon with pride and affection. Everyone will have their own recollections of those momentous weeks during which the capital reprised the role it had served in 1908 and 1948. Here are some of mine. For me, the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, as for so many other Britons - although definitely not all - was surprising and special, a reflection and an expression of our own country. On that evening I was inside the Olympic Stadium, and I felt the exaltation of a huge event arriving. It was like being lifted off your feet and carried forward by an immense wave. It was the same when the Sydney 2000 Games got underway.
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