The Olympics will soon be over for another four years. How will you survive without it? Well, don't wait for the closing ceremonies. Wipe away your tears now - and do sport.
1)Start training for the next games. It doesn't matter who you are, or your level of ability, vow to yourself that you will master one of the disciplines by the start of the Rio Opening Ceremony. And be realistic. Don't pick rowing and then sit around moaning that you can't find a £20,000 boat going cheap on eBay. Even walking is an Olympic event! Set achievable goals. OK, you might not make TeamGB in 2016, but you are going to give it a try, right?
2)Don't wait around for someone to organise you. Get together with like-minded wannabes and set up your own teams or clubs. Get local councils, the National Lottery, local business, local papers and local schools involved. Don't see the next four years as a dull Olympic desert. See it as an opportunity to be the best at your sport you can be. Just Do It! (That would make a nice ad campaign)
3)Keep a diary, download a free app, keep a record of what you are doing and share it on social networks. Inspire yourself with your progress and others. If you can do it, they can. Note how your life improves when you get active.
4)Follow your new sport at the highest levels to find out what's happening. Get obsessed by it. Spot emerging stars who will make TeamGB next time. Read specialist magazines devoted to your event, pour over the kit choices. Dream about getting the best for you. Focus. Focus. Focus.
5)So you couldn't get tickets for an event at the Olympics, now's your chance to see that sport somewhere else. Almost nobody goes to watch most of the stuff on at the Olympics outside the games. Who watches tennis outside Wimbledon, right? Change that. Say OK, I couldn't get to see the boxing, archery or what ever took my fancy at the Olympics, so I'm going to find out where it's happening now and GO.
6)Don't be a post-Olympics pain by going on and on about how brilliant the Olympics was, how we came together as a nation for those three weeks and all cried when Jess was given her gold and how Britain will never be the same again. And don't start knocking the stars for milking their gold medals in ad campaigns, on TV and in books, or whining about how it's OK for Victoria Pendleton and Co to go out and have a good time, but look at me, I can't afford it. However tasteless and offensive you find their post-games careers, THEY'VE EARNED IT. In any case, for you, it isn't about the money, is it! Oh wait, no, you're OK, the IOC is trying out a SHUTUPYOUFRIGGINGBORE event at Rio. You're in with a chance.
7)Don't be bullied about how to celebrate your achievements. Hold your own ceremonies, in the pub, the cake shop or living room. Choose your own flag. Play your own anthem at 11. Just show your respect for what you have done in your own way. You deserve it. You might not be able to live the dream, but you can at least dream you are living it.
8) Ask yourself what is the alternative to getting involved in a sport and getting active? Durrr, there isn't one!
9)After the Olympics there is bound to be an outbreak of public events that anyone can enter. Find some to focus on outside your discipline and cross-train. Try running a 5km. Go on an organised cycle ride. Just be sure to support these events.
10)If you are telling yourself your health might not be up to any of this, see your doctor and let him talk you out of it. Ruling yourself out on grounds of ill health is your GPs job, not yours.