The Olympic flame of the London 2012 Games has been extinguished.
The cauldron at the Olympic Stadium, which had burned non-stop during the past 16 days of competition, was dismantled at the end of an action-packed closing ceremony on Sunday evening.
After dozens of big-name musical acts - including Queen, the Spice Girls, Annie Lennox, the Pet Shop Boys and Take That - had performed in front of a sell-out crowd of 80,000 spectators, LOCOG chair Sebastian Coe had the final word.
"We lit the flame and we lit up the world," said Coe. "Once again we have shown ourselves worthy. For that I want to say thank you.
"Volunteers who gave their time, boundless enthusiasm and goodwill, have the right to say tonight: 'I made London 2012.'
"Thank you to the people of this country. At our closing ceremony we can say these are a Games by everyone. When our time came, Britain, we did it right."
The 2012 London Paralympic Games begin on Wednesda,y August 29.
Robert Summerscales
