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Live Commentary: Great Britain Athletes' Parade

Follow Sports Mole's live coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic parade.

After last night's (second) closing ceremony, London 2012 is now officially, properly over.

Well, almost. There's still one event left: the Great Britain Athletes' Parade. This afternoon, more than 800 athletes from TeamGB and ParalympicsGB will be paraded around the streets of central London in a public celebration of their sporting achievements this summer.

Join Sports Mole over the next few hours as we bring you full, wheel-by-wheel coverage of some vehicles moving down a road.

As the athletes head off for what will be the Tube journey from hell, here ends our coverage of the athletes parade and Sports Mole's coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics at large. Thanks for joining us this summer and do check in with us again this evening to see if Andy Murray can nab one more piece of GB glory!

'Sexy and I Know It' is played over the speakers. Tom Daley's moment to shine, surely.

Eddie Izzard poses for pictures. Bit random.

The athletes seem mostly bemused by the performance.

Ending things are The Noisettes.

Katherine Jenkins appears to sing 'God Save The Queen'. This amounts to one very large wake-up call right outside of her house.

"The most successful team of athletes this country has ever assembled. This was your achievement. You brought this country together in a way we never expected. You righted the doubters, and for the first time you brought Tube commuters into spontaneous conversation about things other than their trodden-on toes."

He describes this as a "tear-sodden, juddering climax".

Anne is spared the indignity of introducing Boris, who gets a massive cheer.

She's thanking various people. Meanwhile Boris is reading his notes.

Princess Anne gets her moment in the spotlight.

"This is the great British summer that will be remembered in hundreds of years to come. We may be a country that may be small geographically but we have shown that we can do great things. Let that spirit carry on for generations to come."

"You have given us moments that we will never forget. The whole country salutes your brilliance."

"Thank you to the athletes. You have given us a golden..... summer," says Cameron.

Princess Anne, Boris and the PM are brought out onto stage. I realised I may have temporarily resurrected Princess Margaret earlier, my apologies.

No footage of Tom Daley dancing along to Pet Shop Boys, sadly. It was probably in his contract.

So far ParalympicsGB are definitely winning the dance off.

"The next Olympics are going West to Brazil, so this is a song called 'Go West'," says Neil. AMAZING SEGUE.

Correction, there's a bit of wheelchair bopping down the front.

The bopping thusfar is mainly coming from the Gamesmakers.

"This is a song inspired by London, it's called 'West End Girls'," says Mr Tennant. Let's see some bopping now, athletes!

The athletes are now streaming onto the stage and surrounding them.

They're performing their new single, 'Winner', which was apparently originally written for Eurovision.

Three flags - the Union Jack, the TeamGB and the ParalympicsGB flags - are brought out, as are the Pet Shop Boys.

Alex Gregory of TeamGB with a great shot of the arrows:

Hoy: "If you're going to end an Olympic career anywhere, this is the way to do it in front of a home crowd. I think I'm going to go two more years to the Commonwealth. A lot of it is down to my body and how it holds out. I know it's a bit greedy but to have a home Olympics and a home Commonwealth is a great way to end a career."

"A sea of red, white and blue, I'm so proud to be a part of this," says Hoy. I assume he's talking about the flags and not what he saw up Helen's skirt.

Sarah Storey of ParalympicsGB and Chris Hoy of TeamGB come out. Meanwhile Helen Skelton's dress is blown upwards. "That's one way to welcome them," notes Shephard.

Tom Daley has tweeted a picture with the caption "A riding royal":

Amy's song was a sexually suggestive one where she was offering to "hold your torch again".

Come back Rihanna, all is forgiven

And the star musical performer is..... Amy Macdonald!

Now time for the show, which is introduced by Helen Skelton and Ben Shepherd.

The red arrows - three streams of red, three of white and three of blue - right across central London. Wow.

It's followed by the Puma, Lynx and Sea King helicopters. Huw Edwards is giving us a salvia-addled description of their capabilities.

The first part of the fly-past sees the golden BA plane fly overhead.

We're about seven minutes away from the Red Arrows' fly-past over the Palace. Meanwhile, the athletes are now disembarking from their floats for the final part of today's celebration.

Chris Hoy on Twitter: "What an experience!! A sea of people shouting and waving, red white & blue everywhere. Astonishing how many folk are out to see the parade!" Meanwhile, his wife has just been on the BBC claiming that she's going to make him do the ironing when he gets home. Yeah, you sort him out love. Lazy sod.

The TeamGB rowers hold up signs thanking the gamesmakers. Incidentally, "Gamesmaker" is my favourite new word of 2012. It sounds like something from the kids show Knightmare.

All 21 floats have now made their way through Admiralty Arch and are parking up, one by one, outside Buckingham Palace.

Jackson, Yorath Logan and Redgrave all have their backs to camera as they watch the floats come past.

The floats are now coming past an audience of dignitaries, which include David Cameron, big Boris and Princess Margaret.

Kath Grainger pays tribute to gold winner Andy Murray as he prepares to clinch the US Open title tonight. You can read our preview of that encounter here, by the way.

Beth Tweddle: "A lot of people will remember me from 2002 Commonwealth, so it took me ten years to achieve that one last dream. 30 hours a week, it's took me a lot of pain and tears. But I can't remember all that, I just remember the good times and standing on the podium."

Louis Smith: "To come back and relive the moment is fantastic. I've been everywhere - holiday, working, I've hardly seen my family. It's been manic."

Meanwhile, Mo Farah is king of the worrrrrrrrrrld!

Jonnie Peacock is having a rest, bless.

Huw Edwards is speculating that the procession is delayed by about half an hour. Most of the floats are now edging their way down the mall.

Ellie Simmonds is startled by a party popper from the crowd.

Wonder what Tom Daley's battery percentage is at this point.

The weather here in London is overcast and blustery. THERE HAS BEEN NO RAIN ON THE PARADE

The dancing lions at the front of the parade have now reached Trafalgar Square. What a throbbing throng!

Apparently the horses are "safely tucked up and on their way to Switzerland".

Inverdale is now on the equestrian float: "The only thing that's missing is the horses." Nick Skelton complains that his legs are getting tired and he hasn't got a seat (or a horse) to sit on.

Tom confirms that he's considering going to university. "I'm actually back to school to finish two more maths modules. So I'm going to finish that and then do a bit of research into university."

Inverdale confronts Tom about jumping into the pool after he won bronze: "It was not pre-meditated at all. We couldn't control ourselves. Everyone was just so happy to get the medal."

Tom Daley: "It is crazy, the amount of support that's there. Compared to the Beijing parade, this is a whole new level."

One of the athletes is eating a sandwich, I think it's from the M&S gourmet range

Alistair confirms he's doing Glasgow 2014 for the triathlon and adds that he "might have a crack" at the 10,000m too.

The Brownlee brothers. Alastair: "I'm doing alright. On the surface my life hasn't changed very much, but I've been struggling to walk down the street without being stopped. It's quietened down lately though, apart from the obvious today." Jonny adds that they've "been getting a lot of free stuff".

Update: The parade is heading past Gregg's near Aldwych

Victoria Pendleton confirms that she is working hard in training for Strictly Come Dancing. Inverdale asks if she's finding it hard: "On the feet it is, but physically not so much."

Laura Trott is asked if she's taken off her two gold medals: "Only when I was on holiday because I didn't want dodgy tan lines."

Hoy: "Four years ago, I thought we saw the greatest ever welcome. This tops it by a long shot. There are people hanging out of windows and off roofs, climbing lampposts..."

Redgrave is recalling how London beat Paris to host the Games. "We had three photographers in front of us, and the Paris team had 50 photographers in front of them. We thought it was a done deal that Paris would win."

Mo Farah - never gets old:

Anthony Joshua skilfully evades the question of turning pro: "My plan now is to get in the gym and be the best fighter I can be."

Female boxing champ Nicola Adams: "It's just starting to sink in now. It's an amazing achievement, not just for me but for Great Britain too. I've had lots of girls telling me on Twitter that it's inspired them to take up boxing."

Young boxer Luke Campbell: "It's a very proud moment, something I've worked for my whole life. I'm so proud to represent Great Britain. I feel honoured that I can make my family proud of me."

A crazy 'gamesmaker' has mounted what appears to be a motorised version of an old people's stroller and is speeding along with the parade.

From Greg Rutherford on Twitter:

Ben Ainslie: "It's awe-inspiring stuff. I'm blown away by the level of support. So many people are here, it's amazing." The noise from their PoV is deafening.

The floats are now edging towards St. Paul's cathedral.

Colin Jackson, the Blue Peter presenter that never was, informs Coe he looks "incredibly proud".

Lord Coe is chatting to the Gabbster. It's hard now to see him talking not in hyperbole and without starting every sentence with the word "Britain".

Chris Hoy brandishes his pair of golds gratuitously at the crowd.

There are four floats just for Athletics. Greg Rutherford is stalking one of them wearing a backpack.

The floats will be moving at a steady pace of 2 miles per hour.

The parade is now underway. It's led by trumpeters and a pair of red-and-blue dancing lions.

Expect variations of that quote multiple times this afternoon.

Inverdale is chilling with "Mr. Mo". "This is unbelievable. To come here one last time and go around the streets of London is awesome. I'm just enjoying myself today."

When the crowd clears, the pavements of the City will no doubt be littered with sushi and fro-yo packets. Over on Strand it will be McDonald's and WhistleStop own brand.

There is a huge crowd of overpaid people in suits cramming the City as the floats prepare to move. There's a false start for the rowing float as it jolts Kath Grainger forward. Oh how we laugh!

The float ordering system is revealed. It's alphabetical, so float one is athletics and archery.

Providing commentary for the BBC feed are Huw Edwards and Hazel Irvine, and thankfully this time Trevor Nelson has been seamlessly switched for Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Young judo star Ashley McKenzie - last seen ogling Julie Goodyear in the Celebrity Big Brother house - is part of the parade today, although on Twitter he's branded it a "walk".

The BBC's coverage is about to get underway, with Gabby "don't call me Yorath" Logan hosting.

Jowell identifies one of the benefits of 'inspire a generation': "More people who are not overweight, more people who are healthy."

Over on Sky, shadow culture secretary Tessa Jowell is talking about funding for grassroots and elite sports in the UK whilst wearing a hideous necklace.

Channel 4 has been showing an extended Paralympics recap. It's way perkier than the BBC's delightfully creepy Olympics one.

Carl Froch over on Twitter: "Only 3 days left to win an iPad2 courtesy of @oceanflorida Visit..." OH CARL.

Also Greg Rutherford, soon to be seen on BBC Three's F**k Off, I'm Ginger.

Meanwhile, the athletes - all wearing the now-familiar GB tracky - have started clambering onto their floats. Spotted so far: Victoria Pendleton, Jess Ennis, Ellie Simmonds and Mo Farah.

BREAKING NEWS: Boris has just arrived on his bike.

I wonder what the process was for assigning athletes to floats. "Sorry Adlington, bronze only gets you float 18."

The media-shy Tom Daley on Twitter: "I am going to be on float number 8! Along with the equestrian team! Keep an eye out :P"

25 minutes until wheels up now. Stats on this parade are thin on the ground so I'll just make some up. Did you know that 3 million gallons of fuel are being used to power the GB floats today?

There's one more chance for a bit of GB glory today once the parade floats have parked up, as Andy Murray hopes to secure his first Grand Slam title with a victory over defending champ Novak Djokovic at the US Open. You can follow live coverage of that here on SM tonight.

In all, GB picked up 65 medals (29G, 17S, 19B) in the Olympics and 120 medals (34G, 43S, 43B) in the Paras. That's up from 47 and 102 respectively in 2008 - although in the Beijing Paralympics, we had a more impressive 42 golds.

Channel 4's coverage has already started, in the process answering perhaps the biggest question of the day: will Clare Balding be presenting for the BBC or Channel 4?

For those that are unable to squeeze themselves in front of a Pret on the Strand, there are three rival TV coverage options to choose from: BBC One, Channel 4 and Sky coverage (on Sky1).

(His day job being a professional cyclist, not a courier.)

Somewhere around 800 athletes will be perched atop 21 slow-moving floats. Around 90% of the medal winners will be present: one notable exception is Bradley Wiggins, who's currently cycling around Nottingham for his "day job".

The parade is due to get underway at around 1.30pm. The route is essentially a straight line from Mansion House in the City, past St. Paul's, down the Strand and finishing up outside the Queen's crib at around 4.
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