13 August 2012 Last updated at 08:18

BBC staff recall their Olympic experiences

BJ Helen Thomas, Tony Livesey and newsreader Mike Williams at Olympic Park

When Ariel asked staff covering the Olympics to send accounts of their experiences, we were overwhelmed with the response.

From Sport and World Service, to 5 Live and Nations & Regions, we publish highlights below.

Helen Thomas, broadcast journalist for Radio 5 live's Tony Livesey programme

From the London Eye to an Olympic volunteer campsite, we completed 19 consecutive OBs and told the story of the games from the fans' perspective.

I'll never forget the lucky people who came out of the stadium on Super Saturday. It was great asking them what they had seen on such a brilliant night.

My favourite part has been the outfits: the bright orange of the Dutch, GB face paint, Viking helmets, lip tattoos and some very tight all-in-one leotards!

We never knew what we'd see next, which is the real joy of working on Tony's show.

Dave Cheeseman, Nations & Regions shoot/edit operator

The real challenge was the sheer scale of the Olympics - our team covered the Games for regional TV, interviewing athletes, and shooting packages and lives.

At any one time there could be UK athletes competing in more than 12 sports across London, and only three of us working to 12 English Regions.

It was not only lugging equipment across Olympic Park, but Lords, Wimbledon and Woolwich.

It was hard work but the experience has been unbelievable. We were the only BBC camera at the Royal Artillery Barracks when Peter Wilson won the double trap shooting gold.

We got to know his dad Charlie through the preliminary rounds. When Peter won his gold and we were interviewing him for BBC Sport, Charlie decided to jump into our mixed zone position to congratulate his son.

It was a really special, emotional moment that will stick with me for a long time. To see your son achieve an Olympic gold medal must be amazing.

Dekan Apajee, BBC London reporter

Another Bolt pose: Dekan (in blue) with fellow dancers

For me the standout moment from London 2012 wasn't the privilege of interviewing athletes or challenging them to their sports in the years before.

Neither was it the numerous Twenty Twelve sitcom-style meetings I've had the "pleasure" of attending in the last seven years, or the questions about who, what, when and where things were happening.

It wasn't even dancing for an audience of a billion at the Opening Ceremony.

My lasting memory is that of walking past the stadium and hearing the crowd roar as Team GB entered the arena - the sound of passion, excitement and anticipation will stay with me and I hope it will continue to echo around the capital.

Ollie Williams, senior broadcast journalist, Sport Interactive

Handover to Rio

Daniel Gallas, BBC World Service reporter

My job was to follow Team Brazil around the Games and report to, well, basically the whole BBC - from the Language sections online to late-night TV and morning radio.

As expected, my phone didn't stop ringing with requests: Why is beach volleyball so popular in Brazil? Why has your country never won gold in Olympic football?

Could I explain in a brief and chatty way what happened in yesterday's fight in men's 68kg taekwondo?

Besides a lot of preparation and research (go on, ask me ANYTHING about judo now), the key thing was to enjoy the event and use my accreditation to interview as many athletes as possible. In the end, they were the ones who provided all answers and stories.

As Brazil will now host the 2016 Games, I wonder how foreign reporters will get by in a country where the majority of people - and possibly volunteers - do not speak English.

This was my first Summer Games and my worry had been that Britain would be nothing like the buzzing, happy bubble of national pride that I'd encountered in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, where Canadians were so friendly and enthusiastic.

Britain? Exactly the same, it turns out.

The biggest highlight for me, more than any individual event, was seeing my country pull this off as an occasion.

Beyond that, I had the privilege of seeing Britain's male gymnasts win their first team medal in a century (in reality their first ever, given the sport in 1928 involved rope-climbing).

London 2012 has been my life for the past three years - canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, hockey, pentathlon and triathlon have been pretty much all I've known.

Now, I'm off to Canada for a year volunteering with kids and families in the Northwest Territories. Life has been so hectic that I wanted some time away and was conscious of there being a huge hole in my day-to-day existence once the Games are over.

I think that will more than fill it. And there should, at least, still be some canoeing…

Andrew Preece, BBC Sailing producer

Sailing is a challenging sport to cover and, on the expectation that the sport would deliver a useful medal haul, we set up a Weymouth OB unit. It was the only BBC outside broadcast outside the Olympic Park.

With five huge racecourses, making 50 km2 field of play, we could flip "around the grounds" to create our own match coverage.

The presenters went so far out sometimes that the cameraman got a "Welcome to France Telecom" text message!

The days were long, the moments were intense and the coverage challenging, but the feedback from viewers and those in the sport was that sailing has never had it so good.

I can only thank the BBC for their investment and trust in the skills of Sunset+Vine and pay the highest tribute to the 23 people in our team.

Colin Paterson, Radio 5 live's roving reporter

Confusing editorial priorities in Llanelli

The idea was simple. I would tour the UK for Tony Livesey's 5 live show, visiting the hometown of Team GB's gold-medal hope of the day.

Five days in, I had reported on one silver and one measly bronze, having sat in the living room of Mark Cavendish's dad on the Isle of Man (29th), visited Tom Daley's school in Plymouth (4th) and gate-crashed the Olympics viewing party thrown by friends of Crosby gymnast Dan Purvis (13th).

Even Australia was having a better Games. On air there were references to "The Curse of Colin".

But everything changed with a visit to Edinburgh and a celebratory night in the Kilted Pig with Chris Hoy's classmates.

Then there was a memorable evening watching Mo Farah with Manchester's Somali community and a visit to Bingley to congratulate the Brownlee Brothers' running club.

My own personal gold rush was on.

And let's not forget Dai Green's great uncle Alan bursting into tears after his nephew came fourth, although, as the photo shows, one Welsh newspaper appeared to be more interested in the event than the other.

Pam Melbourne, Nations & Regions coordinator for London 2012

We had a small team at the Olympic Park to oversee output for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and English Regions - that's more than 40 radio stations and 17 TV outlets!

There was also a shoot/edit operator and reporter at Eton and Weymouth to cover events on the water.

A typical Olympic day would start just after 6am and, if it was a good day, I'd be back at base to catch the News at Ten. It was the same for the rest of the N&R team including operations just outside the Park.

The appetite for news on local Olympians, volunteers and ticket-holders has been huge; we've dealt with more than 350 requests a day at its peak!

My highlights include local radio reporter Mark Shardlow getting Jess Ennis' coach live on Radio Sheffield by waving a bit of paper with "Yorkshire" on it after her win.

It's been an unbelievable experience and our team rose brilliantly to the challenge.

We're shattered but no time to stop… I've got two days off before doing it all again for the Paralympics. I'll sleep in October!

Rebecca Feduchin-Pate, Sailing producer for Radio Solent and Radio Devon

Ahoy there: Rebecca at the sailing events

Being in Weymouth has easily been the highlight of my career.

We did a one-off show for Ben Ainslie's Super Sunday, when he won his fourth Olympic gold medal.

Reporters were dotted around at all vantage points with more than 15,000 watching the big screens on the beach and thousands more at the spectator site, in boats and along a free area.

We also had a few breaking stories. There was a coastguard rescue of a spectator, a fire just before the Team GB press conference in the building where we were based, and the closure of the B-side arts festival when the Games didn't deliver the numbers.

Overall it was about telling the stories of the people living here, volunteers and athletes, as well as traffic and the local economy.

Stephen Morgan, BBC Big Screens manager for South Wales

I'm proud we've offered people memorable events and the best destinations to celebrate the Games locally.

We've also given young people exciting opportunities, and trained and engaged with 100 casuals across the network.

Many will remember London 2012 as the social media Olympics and comments on Twitter highlighted that people love our screens.

My favourite was: "Enjoying the sunshine @bbcbigscreens Manchester. Great atmosphere. Suddenly my licence fee feels like an even bigger bargain than usual."

Clockwise from top left: Audiences watch BBC Big Screens in Plymouth, Belfast, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff