It lived up to its billing as the greatest show on earth. And it was the greatest advertisement on earth for modern Britain, in all its diversity, vibrancy, colour and energy.

The London Olympic Games of 2012 were an epic triumph which blew away the clouds of cynicism and were held in an atmosphere of celebration and joy which encapsulated all that is good about the Olympic movement and Britain itself.

Almost everyone and everything connected with the games comes away with a gold in terms of enhanced reputations. The crowds were huge, enthusiastic, and sporting.

The athletes were dignified in both triumph and in defeat. A whole army of volunteers charmed all those who encountered them. The organisers laid a framework which worked like clockwork and the armed services had a smile on their faces as they provided much of the security.

Things went largely without hitches and without drugs scandals. Competitors fought hard and fought clean. Even the weather showed Britain and its capital city at their most alluring.

Other aspects make the London games, acclaimed as the best of recent times, groundbreaking for British sport.

There was that bumper haul of medals for Team GB. The profile of women athletes was greatly enhanced by star performances. Barriers were broken with the introduction of events like women’s boxing. The women’s football final attracted a crowd of over 80,000.

We are now left to mull over what the success of these most friendly of Olympic Games say about Britain today.

From time to time things happen that tell us something about ourselves. There was the huge outpouring of public grief at the death of Princess Di.

Last year there were terrible riots. And this summer there has been a long carnival with the Queen’s jubilee and the Olympics.

It is as if modern Britain is a jewel with many facets which catch the light at different times and in different circumstances. The light which has fallen on this particular facet has been reflected in the most sparkling and brilliant of fashion.

The British athletes have come from diverse backgrounds, summed up by Mo Farah, who arrived in London from Mogadishu at the age of eight and speaking very little English, and yet is now cemented as the UK’s finest ever distance runner and a national sporting hero.

For two wonderful weeks that other, troubling, facet of Britain, of recession, economic troubles, and hardship, has been thrown into shade.

So what of the future?

The Olympics have created a feelgood factor which is there to be harnessed and galvanised. The chance to do so may be fleeting. It might even prove illusory.

But the games have truly lived up to their aspiration of inspiring a generation.

There has been a lot of talk about the Olympics legacy. The planting of the seeds of a million sporting dreams among today’s children may prove the most enduring.

The future cannot be foretold. But for now we can all savour a magic moment in Britain’s history.

See also:

• Closing ceremony brings curtain down on London 2012
• Olympics: Closing Ceremony – TV review
• Letter: Setting an Olympian example