With a little British pomp and a lot of British pop, London brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on Sunday in a spectacular, technicolour pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun.

The closing ceremony offered a sensory blast including rock 'n' roll rickshaws, dustbin percussionists, an exploding yellow car and a marching band in red tunics and bearskin hats.

The Spice Girls staged a show-stopping reunion, and Monty Python's Eric Idle sauntered through "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" — accompanied by Roman centurions, Scottish bagpipers and a human cannonball.

It all made for a psychedelic mashup that had 80,000 fans at Olympic Stadium stomping, cheering and singing along. Organizers estimated 300 million or more were watching around the world.

What a way to end a games far more successful than many Londoners expected. Security woes were overcome, and traffic nightmares never materialized. The ...

As the London 2012 Olympic Games come to a close, soccer star Christine Sinclair has been named Canada’s flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony in London’s Olympic Stadium.
 
“This is a huge honour and I wish I could have my teammates right here with me,” said Sinclair. “We want the next generation of young girls to dream of being in the Olympics and getting a medal around their necks. If we can instil in them just the belief that this can happen, then we have done our jobs.”
 
Sinclair led the Canadian women’s soccer team to a bronze medal in London, notching a tournament-best six goals, including three in the hotly-contested semi-final match against the United States.
 
Sinclair carried the flag into the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara. She is tied for the second most career goals of all time among women’s ...

Tears flowed as dreams were shattered on the track at the London
Games this afternoon. The Canadian men finished third in the
4-by-100-metre relay. Jared Connaughton, Gavin
Smellie, Oluseyi Smith and Justyn Warner began to
celebrate a bronze-medal triumph -- but within minutes learned they
had been disqualified. Officals say Connaughton stepped outside his
lane. Smith called it ``the worst thing in the world.'' Connaughton
says he's sorry.
    ---
    The Jamaican men -- including self-proclaimed ``legend'' Usain
Bolt -- won the gold in the 4-by-100, and set a world record of
36.84 seconds in the process. The United States took the silver. The
Canadian disqualification allowed Trinidad and Tobago claim the
bronze. Bolt finishes the London Games with three golds, matching
his performance in Beijing four years ago.
    ---
    Britain's Mo Farah ran to another gold-medal finish before
roaring fans at the Olympic Stadium. The runner ...

LONDON - Canada has been disqualified from the final of the men's 4x100-metre relay at the London Olympics after initially appearing to win the bronze medal.

The team of Gavin Smellie of Brampton, Ont., Ottawa's Oluseyi Smith, Jared Connaughton of New Haven, P.E.I., and anchor Justyn Warner of Markham, Ont., brought out the Maple Leaf to celebrate after posting a time of 38.07 seconds.

But the team was disqualified after it appeared Connaughton stepped out of his lane.

The DQ gave the bronze to Trinidad and Tobago, leaving the Canadians doubled over on the track in tears.

Minutes after the disqualification, Athletics Canada tweeted the following:

We are appealing the DQ, it's now in the hands of the jury.

That was followed 16 minutes later by the following tweet from Athletics Canada:

The appeal has been rejected. The decision made by the official on the track stands.

Jamaica won gold ...