The Report Card

With the summer games at their fag end, it's time to look at the hits and misses in London. Pay obeisance to the ones who became first among equals and dissect the no show of some celebrated names. By far most athletes did what they were expected to do. One low light has been the relative reduction in the number of world records set in the track and field events but I guess the balmy evenings in the English capital may have something to do with it. 

Here are the gladiators who came to London2012 with a reputation and did no harm to it.

Usain Bolt. I am legend. He would now agree to that with probably the rest of the world. An Olympic double at both the 100m and 200m sprints with world records in both events at the World Championships is a surreal achievement. Would he do it again in Rio? I am not sure but his name would be the first to figure in most lists featuring Olympic greats. Feats like that with an attitude to entertain come together once in a score of lifetimes and seeing Bolt run and waltz is a joy few else could give.

Michael Phelps. He became the most decorated Olympian. The mark of 22 medals with 18 golds is not going to be over taken in a hurry and the man from Baltimore has now achieved the status of god in the Olympic pantheons. He started slow losing out on a medal in the 400m individual medley and the USA losing out on the 4X100m relay to France but bounced back with individual golds in the 200m individual medley and the 100m butterfly. A glorious retired life awaits.

Kimberly Rhode. She won the women's skeet at the Royal Artillery Barracks to win an individual medal at five different Olympics (she started off with a gold at the double trap at the 1996 games). She becomes the only American athlete to do so and joins a select band of athletes to achieve the feat world wide. Thy name is longevity.

David Rudisha ran an unbelievable 800m final to shave off 0.1s off his own world record. It being the first and probably only world record to be broken at these Olympics. The silver being almost a second behind him. He is well on his way to become a legend and his wish to race Usain Bolt in the 4X400m may just come true sooner than later.

Chris Hoy sprinted to two gold medals in track cycling to take his total to 6 golds and total 7 medals becoming the most successful British Olympian of all time. The MBE is just desserts for one of the best sprint cyclists the world has seen and carrying the British flag at the opening ceremony was the icing before the cake.

The Venus sisters came to London on the back of Serena's success at Wimbledon and didn't disappoint with Serena repeating her success and the sisters bagging the doubles gold. They now have three doubles golds, the first one coming in the 2000 games. You don't need to look further than these two to exemplify dominance.

And then there were some who couldn't live upto the hype they brought before competing.

Elena Isinbaeva. The defending champion in the women's pole vault could only manage a bronze. Her career may well be over and this aberration will rankle in what was an other wise glittering span of achievement.

Zhu Quinan. The Chinese shooter seems to be on the wane. He couldn't qualify for the finals of his favorite 10m air rifle event and missed out on another medal after storming to the 3 positions final. 

Stephanie Rice landed three golds at Beijing but couldn't get a single medal at London. She may have been the big mommy to the budding poolers in the Aussie team but better was expected.

Finally, the London Olympics logo deserves a mention for not making a mark on the minds of billions of watchers around the world. Probably a more vibrant one would have made the cut.