The Olympics are now over for another 4 years, but what a fantastic Olympic Games it has been in terms of Team GB. 19 golds, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals. Our best performance for 100 years. Not only that but we are 4th in the medal table, only behind the huge countries of China, USA and Russia. A fantastic acheivement.

It all started with cycling Nicole Cooke winning gold in the womens road race. In fact cycling was one of the sports that Team GB completely dominated. A total of seven gold medals in the Laoshan velodrome which was 6 better than any other country. We have complained for a long time now about how poor we can be at times in the Olympics (perhaps not recently) but I think that our cycling success is no fluke. You invest money in building quality facilities, such as the Manchester Velodrome and you reap the rewards in terms of sporting (or in this case Olympic) success.

Then it was the turn of the female swimmers. In particular Rebecca Adlington. The first gold was an extremely close race and she just manage to come home first with Britain also getting the bronze. But her next gold was something special. She smashed a long standing world record to demolish the rest of the field in style. That was special. Watching the race and following her progress with the world record ‘green’ line embedded on our TV screens (great idea that by the way!) constantly about 4 metres behind was great to see. Everyone in the living room was on their feet cheering her on to the victory.

We then turned to the water again, this time not it but on it. Rowing was the sport and we once again proved that team GB has still got what it takes to win gold medals. I think the part I enjoyed most about this was the BBC commentators. They are so enthusiastic and commented like you or I would, cheering on the rowers to the line. Maybe they were sat in their living room back in the UK - who knows, but it created a fantastic atmosphere. With sailing also topping the medal tables team GB did wonderfully well on the waters in and around Beijing.

Then came the athletics in week two. I suppose everyone really feels like it is getting going when the athletics start. The venue was a fantastic looking and rather well named ‘Birds Nest’ stadium, that really built up the adrenalin and exitement just by seeing the stadium, never mind watching the events. There were world records shattered everywhere, unfortunately this time not from Team GB although there were notable successes on the track.

So 4 years down the line and it is the turn of London to host all this. Can we do it any better than the Chinese? Well I am not sure, I think we have the potential but will we pull it off? We have a lot to learn but I am confident that whatever type of games we stage, they will be a success. We need them to be a success and show off Great Britain in all its best colours.

As for team GB their successes in Beijing 2008 were truley remarkable. Every athlete that competed in that team deserves recognition for the part they played. To finish 4th in the medal table (which was for a long time third), ahead of countries like Germany and Australia is a terrific acheivement and one that should be celebrated in whatever way we can. It seems as though it is not often that we get to say things like this, but well done Team GB - you did the nation proud.