Time to bask in the afterglow of the Games

I IMAGINE there would have been a few sore heads in offices around the capital this morning. The closing ceremony stretched an average Sunday bedtime and, combine that with post Olympic drunkenness, and the effects could well be likened to a hangover.

Perhaps today has been a less industrious Monday than usual as a result, but other values have emerged which are not to be passed over.

Already worries are queuing up in the press about repeating the near celestial success of “Super Saturday” in future Games events, and of panicking to secure Olympic legacies. Most papers have shoehorned in at least one whiny column about the Games for balanced coverage and the result is forced, a little pitiful even.

For now is surely the time to bask in the afterglow of such a Games. Maybe it’s only for a day or two, before we do channel the mood into positive legacies, but right now I feel the nation should kick back and enjoy this well-earned, good, clean high.

The last fortnight has been like a whirlwind romance where lived time is irrelevant to the connections formed. Previously unknown athletic faces have become intimately familiar and intensified to a feeling almost of friendship.

Greenwich’s weightlifter Zoe Smith and Charlton’s silver medallist Gemma Gibbons join the likes of Jessica Ennis in presenting sporting and attitude idols for new generations to aspire to.

Not only have these role models sprung up, but a sympathetic joy has been rippling around the country as sporty and non-sporty alike backed our British athletes.

The 29 golds and 65 medals were unprecedented, but even more unexpected was the gold rush of positive fellow feeling that has materialised out of the Games – and this shouldn’t be sidestepped but celebrated and maintained for as long as possible.