During the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games athletes took centre stage to show their appreciation to the army of volunteers who tirelessly gave their time, boundless enthusiasm and goodwill, to ensure the smooth running of the world’s largest sporting event, which saw more than 10,000 athletes compete for 302 gold medals in 26 sports over 16 days.
Bouquets of flowers were presented by athletes to six volunteers as a thank you for all the hard work they and the rest of their 70,000 colleagues had done during the Olympics.
Watch the happiest Olympic volunteer in action:
“I was a part of the Olympics. I worked for the Olympics. Some of you will say I watched the Olympics. I will tell them I listened to it from outside and I heard of it, it was faint but I still heard it. I heard them having fun and celebrating and I felt happy inside. I felt warmth in my heart and I carried on.”
Photos of the volunteers receiving flowers at the closing ceremony: http://sport.uk.msn.com/olympics-2012/features/olympics-2012-closing-ceremony-in-pictures?page=4
The global symbolism of flowers was very much apparent during the London 2012 Games. Of course there was the time honoured tradition of presenting bouquets to the Olympic champions as they took pride of place on the podiums but also in the design and construction of the cauldron too.
The lighting of the cauldron is the highlight of the opening ceremony, so the use of flower petals to represent each attending nation was not only fitting by poignant too. With each petal inscribed with the name of the nation, together they formed a stunning flower, which once lit, rose to form the cauldron and symbol of the Olympics.
Read more about the Olympic flower cauldron here.
