London 2012 Olympics: The wonderful and weird
With the Games now over, we look back at the amazing feats of human achievement and the surprising things the two-week celebration of sporting ability has taught us.
Continue reading the main storyNew world records have shown a man can
-
Pedal
750m in 42.6s
Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and
Sir Chris Hoy, Team GB - team sprint -
Lift
233kg clean and jerk
Ilya Ilyin, Kazakhstan - 94kg class,
combined with a 185kg snatch, he also
broke the combined world record with 418kg -
Run
800m in 1m 40.91s
David Rudisha, Kenya -
Swim
1,500m in 14m 31.02s
Sun Yang, China - freestyle
And a woman can
-
Pedal
500m in 32.422s
Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang, China - team sprint -
Lift
333kg combined
Zhou LuLu, China - 75-plus kg class,
146kg snatch and 187kg clean and jerk -
Run
4x100m in 40.82s
Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and
Carmelita Jetter, USA -
Race walk
20km 1hr 25m 2s
Elena Lashmanova, Russia
Body shape matters, but it isn't everything
-
Athletics
Usain BoltAdvantage:Medals:
Unusually tall for a sprinter, but has a very long stride

-
Swimming
Ye ShiwenAdvantage:Medals:
Large, powerful hands and feet
-
Cycling
Bradley WigginsAdvantage:Medals:
Long, lean, light and aerodynamic
-
Cycling
Robert ForstemannAdvantage:Medals:
Large, strong, 34" (86cm) thighs
-
Gymnastics
Asuka TeramotoAdvantage:Medals: None
Tiny and nimble at 4ft 6in (1.36m) and 4st 10lbs (30kg) -
Basketball
Zhang ZhaoxuAdvantage:Medals: None
Very tall at 7ft 2in (2.19m) -
Swimming
Fabio ScozzoliAdvantage:Medals: None
Large underarm muscles, like fins -
Judo
Ricardo Blas JrAdvantage:Medals: None
Sturdy and hard to move at 34st 5lbs (218kg)
Small countries can punch above their weight
| Population | Population per medal | ||
| 1 |
1 | 104,487 | 104,487 |
| 2 |
12 | 2,741,052 | 228,421 |
| 3 |
4 | 1,341,465 | 335,366 |
| 4 |
13 | 4,368,136 | 336,010 |
| 5 |
1 | 342,877 | 342,877 |
| 23 |
65 | 62,035,570 | 954,393 |
...and so can Yorkshire folk
| Total | ||||
| 1 |
46 | 29 | 29 | 104 |
| 2 |
38 | 27 | 22 | 87 |
| 3 |
29 | 17 | 19 | 65 |
| 12 |
7 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
But most of all we've learned that Britain and its visitors embraced the Olympics
- 500,000
turned out to see the cycling road races - 350,000
watched Super
Saturday on big
screens - 200,000
went to see the road cycling time trial
And those crowds were also very noisy
- 105 to 110 - Olympic stadium crowd for various events
- 114 - Excel arena during Irish boxer Katie Taylor's first fight
- 124 - Velodrome finals, including Team GB's Sir Chris Hoy
Note: Medals per capita have been calculated using country populations from the UN Population Division, 2010 revision. Olympic Park visitor numbers are up to 9 August. Source: Locog, Guinness World Records, Dangerous Decibels Project, Action on Hearing Loss, UK Health and Safety Executive, UN Population Division, news agencies, BBC correspondents. Pictures: Getty, Reuters, AP, AFP.
Produced by Lucy Rodgers, Claire Shannon, Nour Saab, Luke Ward and Marina Shchukina
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