London Olympics over - flag handed to mayor of Rio de Janeiro, site of 2016 Summer Games

With a little British pomp and a lot of British pop, London brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on Sunday in a spectacular, technicolour pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun.

The closing ceremony offered a sensory blast including rock ‘n’ roll rickshaws, dustbin percussionists, an exploding yellow car and a marching band in red tunics and bearskin hats.

Festive and fast-moving, the ceremony opened with pop bands Madness, Pet Shop Boys and One Direction, a shout-out to Winston Churchill and a tribute to the Union Jack — the floor of Olympic Stadium floor arranged to resemble the British flag.

Monochrome recreations of London landmarks were covered in newsprint, from Big Ben’s clock tower and Tower Bridge to the London Eye ferris wheel and the chubby highrise known as the Gherkin.

EU-Digest

London Olympics - Field Hockey: Defending champ Germany stuns Australia, Dutch thrash Britain to reach Olympic hockey final

Defending champion Germany and the Netherlands executed stunning semifinal results to set up their first Olympic field hockey final on Thursday.

The Germans came from 2-1 down to run over world champion Australia 4-2 in the last 20 minutes, then the Dutch put on a show of ruthless artistry in humiliating host Britain 9-2.

Germany and the Netherlands have won four of the last five Olympics but Europe’s best teams have never met for the gold medal until now.

That showdown on Saturday will be six days after their pool match won 3-1 by the Netherlands.

The Dutch could achieve the first-ever Olympic double, as their defending champion women meet Argentina in Friday’s final.

Read more: Defending champ Germany stuns Australia, Dutch thrash Britain to reach Olympic hockey final - The Washington Post

London 2012 Olympics: Medal Count - Olympic Medal Standings - EU 204 medals

The European Union at the latest count has won a total of 204 medals, followed by the United States with 81 and China with 77.

As the Olympic Games pass the halfway mark, the London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG) today confirmed it has welcomed more than 5 million spectators through the doors of its venues so far. The Olympic Park alone has seen more than one million visitors since the Games began.  

Medal Count - Olympic Medal Standings - Official Results | London 2012

London Olympics: Sex and the Olympic City

When the London 2012 Olympic organisers announced that the Games would bring local jobs to the community it’s probably not what they had in mind. Major sporting events always tend to precipitate a boom in the sex industry, with thousands of visitors – site workers, spectators and athletes – flooding an area and London is not any different.

Prostitution and the Olympics go back to the Games’ inception. In fact for the early Olympiads, competing in 776 BC, the winners were invited to take their pick of prostitutes from the Temple of Aphrodite.

In an attempt to make London 2012 not only the greenest but the cleanest Olympics ever, over the past year, more than 80 brothels near the Olympic site have been closed down and prostitutes have complained they are being driven from the streets by imposing curfews and giving Asbos to stop them touting for business.

With blatant disregard to the Olympic brand online ‘escort agencies’ are renaming themselves, Olympic Escorts and others offering ‘gold medal services – come to win a gold medal with this Olympic London Escort’.

Read more: Sex and the Olympic City | Metro Blogs

London 2012 Olympics: Medal Count - European Union on top with 140 medals

Reviewing the official Olympics medal count as of August 4  the European Union collectively have a total of 140 medals followed by China with 59 and the US with 56. 

Read more: Medal Count - Olympic Medal Standings - Official Results | London 2012

Olympics Opening Ceremony A Hit Around Globe - by Jonathan Samuels

For some it was the end of a long night, for others a very early start, but for Olympic fans watching the opening ceremony on a big screen in a Sydney sports bar it was the next best thing to being in London.

An Australian TV commentator described the show as "brilliant but bonkers" and that pretty much summed up how the city's residents viewed it.

Shrouded in secrecy in the run-up to the Games, few knew what to expect from film director Danny Boyle's epic showpiece but around the world opinions have been largely positive.

For more: Olympics Opening Ceremony A Hit Around Globe

London Olympics: Rain and security sparks a rethink

Two London venues are waterlogged, and are hastily being resurfaced, as Games organisers review their contingency plans due to a particularly wet July that literally threatens to dampen the world's biggest sporting event.

At a time of year when wet weather gear should be closeted, Londoners are bemoaning that two of the last three months have been the wettest on record. Olympic bosses yesterday recommended that spectators to the rowing and equestrian should prepare to attend in wellington boots.

Outlining how rowing, canoe and equestrian events, plus the modern pentathlon competition, could be interrupted and - in the worst case - delayed, London Olympics organising committee boss Seb Coe admitted the persistent rain in London was "actually proving quite a challenge".

Read more: Rain sparks a rethink

Olympics:While first contestants are already arriving London in mad dash to complete finishing touches for Olympics - by Stephen Wilson

With the opening ceremony less than two weeks away, there’s a mad dash to the finish line at the Olympics and it has nothing to do with sprinters.

Hundreds of construction workers are toiling away inside the Olympic Park, laying cables, installing seats and adding the last layers of sparkle and polish to the venues.

The last thing organizers need at this point is a crisis over readiness of the venues. At the moment, they’re coping with the fallout from a bungled contract by private security group G4S that forced the government to call in about 3,500 additional troops — many just returned from tours of duty in Afghanistan — to fill the shortfall.

A walk through the 560-acre Olympic Park in east London this weekend, between yet another bout of rain showers, showed the scale of what remains to be done: a small army of workers, a sea of white tents, cranes, bulldozers, upturned tables and chairs, humming generators, television cables and rigging, a maze of fences.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said it’s normal for host cities to face a flurry of last-ditch issues.

Read more: London in mad dash to complete finishing touches for Olympics - The Globe and Mail

Olympic torch lit in Greece - by Sapa

The Olympic flame was lit in Ancient Olympia in Greece on Thursday, in a solemn ceremony filled with mystery and tradition that signals the final countdown to the start of this year's summer Games in London.

Actors in ancient Greek costume invoked the god Apollo in the ruins of the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, using a concave mirror to harness the sun's rays and kindle a flame on the torch for a relay that will take it around Greece and Britain. 

Dignitaries at the ceremony included the president of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge, as well as the head of the London organising committee, Sebastian Coe.

Read more: Olympic torch lit in Greece - IOL Sport | IOL.co.za