Some magic Beijing Moments..

With the dust now settled, it's time to look back at what was a fantastic Olympic games, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Starting on a positive note, and the two defining moments of the games in my eyes. Firstly, Usain Bolt, the man who proved that lightning can indeed strike twice by winning the 100m and 200m sprints with such relative ease, and breaking two world records in the process. Simply mesmerising stuff from the Jamaican, who now has the athletics world at his feet. And he did it with a smile, too.

And what about Michael Phelps? To peak once at the Olympic is hard enough, but to peak eight times is nothing short of amazing. A tremendous show of strength, determination and endurance from an incredible sportsman. Can anyone beat his haul of eight gold medals?

On a British note it was a games to remember, with a record medal haul of 47 medals, our best performance in 100 years.

Chris Hoy showed his mental and physical strength to win three gold medals in the cycling, a remarkable achievement and a just reward for his dedication throughout the years. Hoy was truly unstoppable, but credit must go to the whole British cycling team for their sheer dominance.

Rebecca Adlington suprised us all and became the new golden girl of British Athletics, with two unexpected gold medals in the swimming pool, something never to have been done before by a British swimmer. Her performance in the 800m was extrodinary, and she did it with such refreshing modesty, too. With Adlington and Jo Jackson at the forefront, British swimming is looking in good health.

And how about the inspirational Louis Smith? His switch to a riskier routine paid dividends in the gymnastics final, and the young gymnast can be proud of his bronze medal. Hopefully his success will be the inspiration for many, in a sport that needs funding and interest desperately.

Expectations will now be high for London 2012, and rightly so.

There were, of course, a few lows.

The Badminton pairing of Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson gave us joy and despair in a matter of days. After a gutsy display to beat the much-fancied Chinese pairing of Gao Ling and Zheng Bo, the British pairing ran out of steam in the quarter finals and eventually lost to the Korean pairing of Yongdae Lee and Hyojung Lee in an emotional contest that saw Emms retire after the match.

And after some scandalous judging, Aaron Cook was cruely denied a bronze medal in his 80kg repechage bout against China's Zhu Guo. Despite clearly landing a head-kick, Cook was denied the medal his performance deserved.

After carrying 1.3 billion people's hopes on his shoulders, Liu Xiang pulled out of the 110m hurldles in what was billed as the event of the games. Xiang tried his hardest to continue, but the pain was eventually too much. A country mourned, and Xiang himself was inconsolable. Heartbreaking stuff.

And though it seemed like a low point at the time, in hindsight the disqualification of Ukrainian heptathlete Liudmyla Blonska could be seen as a definate highlight, with the renowned drugs cheat not only having her silver medal taken away, but her athletics career as well. Justice has now been done.

All in all, the Olympics captivated us all, with its drama, suspense, and purity.

Footballers, take note, because *this* is what Sport is really about. It's not the £120,000 a week contracts, but doing it through pure hard work, through love of the sport.

Our overpaid and pampered England stars could learn a lot from our Olympic heroes, that's for sure.