Last night’s Closing Ceremony was quite a spectacle. Once again it was a packed house at the Olympic Stadium.
London 2012 Website
The theme was a street party, with musical performances by a broad spectrum of British musical acts, including Madness.
London 2012 Website
The Consort especially enjoyed Brian May, he played following a video performance by the late Freddie Mercury, his former Queen bandmate.
London 2012 Website
Boy band One Direction also played.
London 2012 Facebook
Reaction to the Ceremony from the Times:
With a gaudy three-hour farewell that mashed up theater, acrobatics, fashion and a few generations of musical idols, London extinguished the Olympic torch Sunday night, capping two weeks of athletic achievements with a jukebox collection of songs and a marathon display of endearingly wacky stagecraft.
The group many a viewer was waiting for?
London 2012 Twitter
The Spice Girls made their return atop personalized versions of London’s famous black cabs.
London 2012
Spice Girl Mel B posted this photo of the group.
Mel B Twitter Feed
As well as this picture.
Mel B Twitter Feed
Posh Spice, aka Victoria Beckham, wore a dress by Giles Deacon, seen here in a photo she posted on her Twitter account.
The singer/designer tweeted “Good morning fashion bunnies!!!! X vb” Here we see Ms. Beckham at her final fitting before the show.
Victoria Beckham Twitter Feed
She thanked Mr. Deacon in a tweet, “Last min fitting before the show. LOVE my Olympic2012 dress!!! Thank u @gilesgilesgiles x vb”
The portion of the show that seemed to fall flat involved several British supermodels making an appearance, each wearing a bespoke creation from a British designer, below we see Kate Moss.
London 2012 Website
More on the evening’s entertainment from a BBC story:
The Telegraph’s music editor Bernadette McNulty wrote that the ceremony was “pitched somewhere between a wedding reception and tuning into Magic FM”.
The New Zealand Herald described the event at the Olympic Stadium in east London as “a pop culture smorgasbord that had touches of brilliance, beauty and bewilderment”.
Union Jacks were in abundance.
London 2012
Artist Damien Hirst designed a special flag for the Ceremony that was showcased on the Stadium floor.
London 2012 Website
Team USA athletes were ready to enter the stadium, April Ross of the Beach Volleyball team posted this photo on Instagram.
Team USA Twitter Feed
Bronze Medalist Corey Cogdell shared this picture.
Corey Cogdell Twitter Feed
The athletes streamed into the stadium from every entrance.
London 2012 Facebook Page
Team USA archer Jake Kaminski posted this on his Twitter feed.
Jake Kaminski Twitter Feed
Not everything written about the evening’s entertainment was positive, more from The Telegraph’s story:
The whole affair didn’t feel whittled down but rather way too long. If anything, the Closing Ceremony was not uplifting or cheesy enough apart from the Spice Girls who got the exuberant tone exactly right.
The Olympic flag was officially handed off from London’s Mayor to the Mayor of Rio De Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, where the Summer Games will be held in four years.
London 2012 Facebook
The Times also wrote about the impact of the games on London:
But one of the great stories of these Olympics was the effect they had on England itself. Triumphalism does not come naturally to this country, where the cultural stock in trade has long been dignity in defeat. This, let’s not forget, is a nation where one of the most beloved poems is Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade,” which valorizes a military rout at the hands of the Russians.
It looked like an extraordinary evening.
London 2012 Twitter
The weather even cooperated.
London 2012 Website
The fireworks were beautiful.
London 2012 Website
NBC shared this montage on Twitter, noting that 29 of the USA gold medalists were women.
NBC Olympic Twitter Feed
This is the first time women have outnumbered men on Team USA.
We leave with one final note, involving an update to McKayla Maroney’s reaction to her performance on the vault.
Via The NY Times
A refresher for those not familiar with the hullabaloo from as explained in this WSJ piece:
What happened next will live on the Internet forever — or at least until tomorrow. With the medal draped around her neck, Maroney stood on the podium with her arms crossed and a scowl across her face. She looked thoroughly… unimpressed.
A blog was even set up, “McKayla is not Impressed,” with pictures like this:
McKayla is not Impressed Tumblr
And this.
McKayla is not Impressed Tumblr
Even artistic icons weren’t safe from the meme.
McKayla is not Impressed Tumblr
Well, the young lady has shown she can laugh at herself, posting this tweet with the “#notimpressed” hashtag.
McKayla Maroney Twitter Feed
The tweet linked to an Instagram photo McKayla posted, showing her with teammates Aly Raisman and Kyla Ross, doing a parody of the pose.
McKayla Maroney Instagram
You know what they say about the ability to laugh at yourself, Ms. Maroney seems to fully grasp that message.
For those who watched the Closing Ceremony, what did you think, was it too long, or just about right??
I wasn’t a huge fan of the opening and closing cermonies. The whole hospital deal in the openign was bizarre.
Kayla M. not impressed is hysterical!!!
i watched the live feed from the bbc and then the nbc show, and it was like i watched two different things. there was so much left out (again) by nbc. shame.
Last night’s closing ceremonies were wonderful. To me the concept seemed to grasp what I know of jolly ole England, fashion and music, Sadly, I fell asleep before the end of the show. Too many nights staying up past my bedtime prevented me from keeping my peepers alert to witness the end. Where was Elton John?
That’s interesting you would bring this up, we just discussed this, about two minutes before I saw your comment.
VB needs to learn how to smile.
I agree that the CC lost it’s enjoyment momentum when it hit the fashion portion, just as it did when it got the National Healthcare part in the OC. I was utterly frustrated that the first hour and twenty minutes of NBC’s coverage was a recap of Team USA’s victories, when the actual show was probably overwith in Britian. Too much delay! And then we were expected to stcik around thru an hour of some stupid new show plus our local news to get to see the rest of the CC? Fail!
Thank you for this exhaustive post about the closing ceremony, Princess ! I enjoyed it much more than the really thing (though I watched the Spice Girls with pleasure, and a bit of guilt !).