London 2012: Our Greatest Team Has Inspired a Generation

London 2012 may have ended, but what it's created will endure for generations.

Memories. Moments. Medals.

London 2012 may have ended, but what it's created will endure for generations.

No one - be it Seb Coe, Mystic Meg or whatever 'psychic' animal is flavour of the month at the moment - could have predicted just how much of a success these games could have been.

I'm not strictly referring to the success on the medal table, but that's as good a place as any to start.

Team GB were billed as 'our greatest team', and they more than lived up to it. The specific medal target - 48 - was reached, surpassed and then some. The haul of 29 golds was unprecedented.

The golds came where they were supposed to, where they've long came from: sports such as cycling and rowing. But add to that list athletics, boxing, shooting, canoeing, tennis and gymnastics. 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals, won 114 different medalists, in 62 different events, across 17 different sports.

Just picking 10 nominees for Sports Personality of a Year will be a challenge, choosing a winner between the likes of Wiggins, Farah, Ennis and Ainslie almost impossible.

Women will become Dames, there'll be knighthoods a-plenty, and more O, C and MBEs than a tin of alphabet spaghetti.

Credit, too, must go to the coaches of these athletes, as well as the officials, the security, the volunteers and everyone else who has worked incredibly hard to make sure Olympics went as swimmingly as Michael Phelps. They may not get any medals, but they'll have the knowledge of helping to create something truly special.

This is not, though, just about the here and now. This is about a legacy. Funding for athletes will be matched until Rio 2016, at the very least.

All it takes is a walk around a local park to see the increased number of people cycling or running, or a visit to a swimming pool to see more people swimming.

Kids want to be the next Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah, Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt, instead of idolising reality show show-offs or striving for 15-minutes of talent show fame.

There'll also be the memories. Great sporting moments last a lifetime, and there have been a lifetime's worth over the past fortnight or so. Certainly there are far too many to mention here, but, for example, THAT Saturday night in Olympic Park - Ennis, Rutherford and Farah - is unlikely to be forgotten, nor is the sight of Farah and Bolt together, each doing the other's celebration. The Velodrome itself was a sight to behold, but the success within - of Hoy, Pendleton, Kenny, Trott et al - was something else entirely.

Our greatest team? Yes. A generation inspired? Definitely.

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