Name – Victoria Pendleton Nationality – Great Britain Sport – Cycling (women's individual sprint) Record (Olympic) – 10.724sReuters
Name – Victoria Pendleton Nationality – Great Britain Sport – Cycling (women's individual sprint) Record (Olympic) – 10.724sReutersName – Xiaojun Lu Nationality – China Sport – Weightlifting (men's 77 kg) Record (world and Olympic) – 175 (Snatch), 379 kg (total)ReutersName – Kim Un Guk Nationality – North Korea Sport – Weightlifting (men’s 62 kg) Record – 153 kg (snatch; Olympic) 327 kg (total; world)ReutersName – Ilya Ilyin Nationality – Kazakhstan Sport – Weightlifting (men’s 94 kg) Record (world and Olympic) – 233 kg (clean and jerk) 418 kg (total)ReutersName – Rebecca Soni Nationality – United States Sport – Swimming (women’s 200m breaststroke) Record (world and Olympic) – 2:19.59sReutersName: Helen Glover and Heather Stanning Nationality: Great Britain Sport: Rowing (women's pair) Record (Olympic): 6:57.29sReutersName – Daniel Gyurta Nationality – Hungary Sport – Swimming (men’s 200m breaststroke) Record (world and Olympic) – 2:07.28sReutersName – Sir Chris Hoy, Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny Nationality – Great Britain Sport – Cycling (men's team sprint) Record (world and Olympic) – 42.600sReutersName – Shiwen Ye Nationality – China Sport – Swimming (women’s 200m Individual Medley; women's 400m Individual Medley) Record – 2:07.57s (200m Olympic record); 4:28.43s (400m world and Olympic record)ReutersName – Dana Vollmer Nationality – United States Sport – Swimming (women’s 100m butterfly) Record (world and Olympic) – 55.98sReutersName: Usain Bolt Nationality: Jamaica Sport: Athletics (men's 100m) Record (Olympic): 9.63sReutersName: Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger Nationality: Great Britain Sport: Rowing (women's double sculls) Record (Olympic): 6:44.33sReutersName – Cameron van der Burgh Nationality – South Africa Sport – Swimming (men's 100m breastsroke) Record (world and Olympic) – 58.46sReutersName – Zhou Lulu Nationality – China Sport – Weightlifting (women's 75 kg) Record (world and Olympic) – 333 kg (total)ReutersName – Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang Nationality – China Sport – Cycling (women's team sprint) Record (Olympic) – 32.422sReutersName – Zulfiya Chinshanlo Nationality – Kazakhstan Sport – Weightlifting (women’s 53kg) Record (world and Olympic) – 131kg (clean & jerk)ReutersName – Missy Franklin, Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer and Allison Schmitt Nationality – United States Sport – Swimming (women's 4x100m medley relay) Record (world and Olympic)– 3:52.05sReutersName – David Lekuta Rudisha Nationality – Kenya Sport – Athletics (men’s 800m) Record (world and Olympic) – 1.40.91sReutersName – Renaud Lavillenie Nationality – France Sport – Athletics (Pole Vault) Record (Olympic) – 5.97mReutersName – Tatyana Lysenko Nationality – Russia Sport – Athletics (hammer throw) Record (Olympic) – 78.18mReutersName – Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Tianna Madison and Carmelita Jeter Nationality – United States Sport – Athletics (women’s 4x100m relay) Record (world and Olympic) – 40.82sReutersName – Chen Ding Nationality – China Sport – Athletics (men's 20km walk) Record (Olympic) – 1:18.46sReutersName – Dong Hyun Im Nationality – South Korea Sport – Archery (men's individual) Record (world and Olympic) – 699 pointsReutersName – Jessica Rossi Nationality – Italy Sport – Shooting (women’s trap) Record (world and Olympic) – 99 out of 100 shotsReutersName – Jason Kenny Nationality – Great Britain Sport – Cycling (men's individual sprint) Record (Olympic) – 9.713sReutersName – Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter Nationality – Jamaica Sport – Athletics (men’s 4x100 relay) Record (Olympic and World) – 36.84sReuters
The Olympics have always been held as the perfect example of true sportsmanship... to compete for the love of the game... to respect and honour your competitors and the integrity of the event and the human spirit. The London Olympics 2012 have been no different.
Yes... there have been less than honourable moments, like the doping scandals, the controversy between Jamaican sprinting ace Usain Bolt and American legend Carl Lewis and the Shiwen Ye incident that threatened a minor diplomatic storm. However, once the dust settled, nobody wanted to see anything more than sporting achievements and that triumph of the human spirit.
The London Olympics have also been about setting new records, about pushing the boundaries of what is humanly possible. In the words of the modern event's founder, Pierre de Coubertin, the Games are about going "faster, stronger and higher". And these Games did just that, from the very first day.
The Republic of Korea's Dong Hyun Im got the London Olympics 2012 off to a flying start with a new world record of 699 in the ranking rounds for the men's individual archery event. Dong Hyun's achievement set the tone for more than 50 record-breaking performances that were to follow.
It wasn't just world records that fell. Olympic records were easily bettered and the world witnessed the birth of a new generation of teenage sporting prodigies, led by the remarkably gifted 15-year-old Ye of China.
The Olympics was also the scene for remembering legends and honouring Olympians who have decided to bow out of their chosen sports. Leading that line of athletes must be American swimming ace Michael Phelps, who has retired at the age of 27 with a haul of 18 gold medals, and who is likely to retire as the leading athlete of the 2012 Games, with four gold and two silver medals won in London.
Click "Start" to re-live some of the best record-breaking moments from the London Olympics 2012 in our special slideshow.
