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Happy and glorious

By Emma Bird

Tuesday 14 August 2012 14:58, UK

We pick out our favourite Olympic quotes from two weeks of stunning highs and heartbreaking lows.

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Sky Sports looks at the most memorable 2012 Olympics quotes

"These were happy and glorious Games." Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, praises the London 2012 Games at the closing ceremony. "It was an amazing moment after all the things I've been through. All the hard work and all the things I've done... along with my dad. I wish he was there to see it but I know he'd be proud of what I've done." Team GB's Tom Daley celebrates his bronze medal in the 10 metre diving event. "I need your autograph now, you're my hero." After a superb double gold performance, Brendan Foster pays tribute to double Olympic champion Mo Farah. "Honestly, if you have a goal, anything you want to achieve in life, don't let anybody get in your way, you can do it. There are so many people and so many things that will feel like they're trying to set you back but honestly, find the path you want to take in life and follow it." British modern pentathlete and silver medallist, Samantha Murray, encapsulates her Olympic journey and the power of a sporting legacy. "I'm now a living legend, I'm also the greatest athlete to live... now bask in my glory." Usain Bolt remains low-key after winning the 200m to complete a double double!

Despair

"I've been trying and working for an Olympic medal for four years and now I lost it in one second. It's just impossible to accept." The twin Olympic imposters of joy and despair as South Korean fencer Shin A-lam held a sit-down protest after losing her epee semi-final. "My mum rang me this morning and said that David Cameron just said on the news that me and Mo Farah were his favourite athletes. I couldn't believe it." The first woman ever to win a boxing gold medal, Nicola Adams, is surprised by her sudden rise to stardom. "However hard today is, finally closing the door on that dream, at least I can know that I truly have tried absolutely everything." Paula Radcliffe expresses her pain as she is forced to withdraw from the Olympic Games due to injury. "You can't apologise for being really good. There's a level of expectation here to win. Maybe in other sports there isn't that same level of expectation but we're not going to start losing to make them feel better." Geno Auriemma, the USA women's basketball coach, is honest after his team won a record fifth straight gold medal by beating France. "To go out there today and put a performance like that together nine days after the Tour and win another Olympic title in another event, it is never, ever going to get any better than that." Cyclist Bradley Wiggins realises the significance of his 2012 achievements after adding the time-trial gold medal to his Tour de France title.
Tears of joy
"I said 'The medal is there, we have to take it'. I had a super feeling. I felt something big, but now I feel something even bigger - a big pain." Fabian Cancellara, the injured Swiss cyclist, rues a crash in the men's road race at the start of the Games. "Worth the wait. Steve (Redgrave) promised me they'd be tears of joy this time, which they are." A jubilant and relieved Katherine Grainger finally rows her way to an Olympic gold at the London Games, after three silver medals. "Deep within, I always knew I could do something special, and that is what drives you on." Gemma Gibbons, Judo silver medallist, finally realises her dreams. "I'm ready to wrestle anyone who steps across that line. If the Queen of England came out on the mat I probably would double-leg her." Nobody will get in the way of American Jason Burroughs after he wrestled his way to Olympic gold! "I hope that this medal inspires the kids at home to put down guns and knives and pick up a pair of trainers instead." What the Olympics are all about- Erick Barrondo, winner of Guatemala's first-ever Olympic medal with silver in the men's 20-km race walk, epitomises the power of sport. "They've made me angry and you don't want to make me angry!" One of the turning points for Ben Ainslie on the Weymouth water as he sent a sharp warning to his sailing rivals. "When baby kicks, I will breathe in and breathe out and try to calm myself down and talk to baby: 'Behave yourself and help mummy to shoot!'" Malaysian Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi, the eight-months pregnant rifle shooter somehow remained calm throughout the competition.

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