Less than 10 seconds to provide a lifetime memory

10: The Atmosphere

Hardly a moment went by without seeing a smiling face, either from a Games Maker, a spectator or a mingling competitor.

This was indeed the feelgood Games and everyone who was a party to it was determined to enjoy every last second of the experience, whether they were at an Olympic site for two hours or in London for the whole two weeks.

9: Basketball

The Argentina v Lithuania match was a moment that caught me by surprise.

It was the first Sunday of the Games and I had just covered Lizzie Armitstead’s courageous silver in the women’s road race when I headed for the basketball.

GB v Russia was the idea, but the game that started at 10pm between the Argentinian and Lithuanian men’s teams was a thrill, mainly because it was the first taste of a boisterous foreign crowd on home soil.

The blue-and-white-shirted pockets of Argentinians were outnumbered and outsung by the bright green fans roaring on the Lithuania.

8: Women’s Volleyball

Having lost funding two years ago, the GB women’s volleyball team had to decamp en masse to Sheffield, where they trained at the EIS and lived in the old residences of the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue services.

They were not expected to win a game, but at shortly after 12.30 on the first Tuesday morning, they wrote one of the more glorious chapters of the opening few days by defeating Algeria in five sets.

They could not build on it and win again but they had at least made their own slice of British Olympic history.

7: Super Saturday

Six gold medals were won on the middle Saturday of the Games and I was privileged to see five of them.

It began at the rowing at Eton Dorney where Yorkshire’s finest Andrew Triggs Hodge steered the men’s four to victory.

The emotions poured out of big Hodge who sought me out in the media zone post-race and nearly knocked me off my feet with a big old Yorkshire bear hug. Twenty minutes later Katherine Copeland was utterly bemused as she and Sophie Hosking won gold in the lightweight double sculls.

Twenty-one-year-old Copeland just could not comprehend what she had just achieved.

6: Nicola Adams

I was fortunate to see all three of Nicola Adams’s fights and the woman warranted star billing the minute she walked into the ring for her quarter-final bout.

A woman who felt blessed to have the chance at Olympic glory savoured every last drop of the experience, and as well as being a brilliant boxer, she was also the great entertainer at the ExCel Arena.

5: The Brownlees

What a moment for these magnificent brothers.

Alistair’s performance was stunning, from keeping in touch in the swim to forcing the breakaway pace on the bike, to leaving the field in his wake in the closing run.

He even had time to walk over the finishing line and savour the gold-winning moment.

And not only that, his brother Jonny finished third having had to take a 15-second penalty.

That he collapsed moments after the finish told you everything about two men who had run themselves into the ground.

4: Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole

If Nicola Adams’s achievement was grand, what followed in the next bout when Katie Taylor took to the ring will live long in the memory.

The boxing venue at the ExCel was a compact little black hole, but for the great Irish hope at these Games, it was packed every time by the most raucous Irish fans imaginable.

Taylor won her final narrowly and the place erupted, shattering decibel levels and inducing tears of joy around the arena.

Even hours later walking through the vast concourse of the ExCel, thousands of Irish fans remained, chanting and dancing and thrilling everyone who had the pleasure of meeting them on their special day.

3: Jessica Ennis

The whole performance of Jessica Ennis over two days was astounding, but it was the manner in which she began on the Friday morning that set the tone.

We knew Ennis is as good as any Briton at the 100m hurdles, but in the first event of the heptathlon she proved she is as good as anyone in the world.

Ennis clocked a time of 12.54secs, lowering her personal best by a quarter of a second, smashing the previous Olympic heptathlon best and matching the mark by which Dawn Harper won the individual gold at Beijing.

Ennis’s victory in the heptathlon was glorious but her performance in the hurdles was breathtaking.

2: Michael Phelps

Phelps is my greatest Olympian, and I do not care if people say ‘well he has got the most medals’.

The man is pure class inside and outside the pool.

I saw him win two medals the night he surpassed Larisa Latynina’s Olympic record haul of 18.

He would overtake it with victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay but matched it by being beaten into second place in a dramatic 200m butterfly final by South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, who defeated the great American by a fingernail. What made the night even more special was how delighted Phelps was to be standing on the podium.

The way he beamed proudly, with a silver that signified defeat, could have been his first Olympic medal, not 18th. It was a historic night: a coronation and a dethroning all in one.

1: Usain Bolt

Blink and you could miss it; the men’s 100m final is the race to watch, and when I set off for London it was my one must-see event of the Games. I was in the stadium at 4pm to ensure I had a seat for the 9.50pm start.

The build-up was all about Usain Bolt and he did not disappoint.

The great showman looked a little nervy at the start but still had time to entertain the 80,000 capacity crowd on the big screen and the billions sat at home watching, with his customary pre-race performance.

It was a thrilling race as Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay kept the big man honest by pushing him all the way in a breathtaking race.

Bolt crossed the line in 9.64secs, the second quickest time in history.