A triumphant Games in a confident city

The morning after a party can be poignant; the morning after the party to end all parties, as last night’s goodbye to the Olympics was, has its bitter-sweet element.

But there’s still a sense of euphoria after the celebrations. For the star of the show was, as the backdrop last night made clear, the city itself. These were London’s Games: the capital took centre stage. The sheer scale of the achievement merits all the superlatives lavished on it. Everything that could go right, did go right — even including the weather.

The closing ceremony was memorable in a different way from Danny Boyle’s brilliant opening one. It is a reminder that one of the things London does really well is partying — and this one was quite something. And there was something characteristic too about the subversive under-current to the event: the disobliging Twitter flow which showed that we can laugh even at our own best moments. The music was, of course, at the heart of the show but the fashion parade showcased another aspect of London: our exceptional creative talent.

Quite rightly, IOC head Jacques Rogge and Locog chair Lord Coe made much of the volunteers, and they deserve all the plaudits. Those 70,000 individuals who helped visitors with unfailing good humour and courtesy for an entire fortnight were, by themselves, an advertisement for Britain. The Games were, no doubt, an extraordinary experience for them, but they in turn created the sense that London is a welcoming place.

Ordinary Londoners did their bit too, over and above our hefty financial contribution. We weathered the inconveniences of the Games with good grace and were good hosts to the tens of thousands of Olympics visitors. If creating goodwill was part of the Games, we did just that.

The sheer organisational feat still seems miraculous. Public transport worked well and if traffic was often diverted it was, at least, wonderfully unobstructed by roadworks. If Londoners could ask one thing in return for the Olympics achievement, it would be to maintain that extraordinary efficiency. It would be too dispiriting to return to business as usual after this. Indeed, it is quite remarkable that the Olympics could happen in the centre of London without a hitch. Simply to appropriate so many of the capital’s landmarks was a formidable achievement and so is returning them rapidly back to normal.

Of course, the Games are not quite over yet: the Paralympics remain, to provide inspirational sport of a quite different kind. It would be welcome if, after that, the public could temporarily have the opportunity of visiting the Park and the Stadium, especially those who did not have the good luck to obtain tickets. And soon, the physical conversion of the Olympic Park begins and the most concrete element of the Olympics legacy will take shape: the creation of 11,000 new homes in an area that was formerly associated with dereliction. The provision of affordable housing is a critical part of the legacy.

But even before that happens, we have already seen the regeneration of east London as a result of the Olympics and this was a crucial element of London’s success in winning the bid. Indeed, future Games are unlikely to be awarded to cities without a similar guarantee that they will provide lasting benefits for the future.

There are, too, less tangible elements of the legacy: the number of people actually engaging in sport, not just watching it. That needs to be followed through in schools.

For now, we are entitled to a measure of genuine self-satisfaction. London 2012 will live on in the collective memory as a golden moment. We did ourselves proud.