And so, it’s over.
After seven years of preparation, the London 2012 Olympic Games has finished. 17 days of world class sporting talent on show to a global audience of billions of people, with more than 7.4 million of them visiting venues across the UK. We have been enthralled, excited, dismayed.
We’ve laughed, smiled, groaned and dreamt. The Games was a fantastic celebration of all that is great about Great Britain: not just our ability to stage the world’s biggest sporting party, but also about British music, history, culture and even the weather (which stayed mostly sunny, despite the three months of monsoon-like rain preceding the games). I felt proud to be British and proud that my country played host to such a wonderful event.
Please do share your own views on the London 2012 Olympic Games with me.
But I don’t just want to sing Britain’s praises. I released a press statement here earlier this week saying that I was additionally proud of Ethiopia’s success in London. Ethiopia had one of its most successful Olympics, winning seven medals. And it was the most successful Olympics ever for Ethiopia’s female athletes, who won three gold medals and one bronze.
The images of Meseret Defar, Tirunesh Dibaba and Tiki Gelana winning gold will inspire a new generation of Ethiopian athletes. And take a second to think about Mohammed Aman and Yanet Seyoum, two of the stars of our London 2012 film, “Hopes of Ethiopia”. Neither unfortunately won a medal, but both showed the massive potential they have.
They challenged stereotypes; they’ve modelled the determination which defines modern Ethiopia; and they have shown to many Ethiopians the power of self-belief and hard work. Perhaps my favourite memory of the Olympics was seeing the smile on Yanet’s face as she carried out the Ethiopian flag during the opening ceremony.
The London 2012 Olympics was a party for humanity. It showcased the very best of us (and when I say us, I mean all of us, not just us Britons). And it showed what we can do with hard word, determination and commitment. The Olympic flame may now have been extinguished, but there is a flame that burns on in the hearts of young Ethiopian athletes like Mohammed and Yanet.
With the right balance of hard work, talent and support, I am sure that their future will be golden. And that’s not all – because we now await the Paralympic Games, which we believe will be the most thrilling and widely-watched Paralympics ever.
And rather more parochially, we look forward also to the Great Ethiopian Run in November (which my Embassy sponsors by the way, and helped set up 12 years ago…).
The excitement isn’t over yet.