London, Aug. 13 : London brought down the curtain on the 30th Olympic Games that exceeded all expectations last night, with the International Olympic Committee thanking the London Games Organising Committee (LOCOG) for hosting an `absolutely fabulous' Games.

"We lit a flame and we lit up the world," Lord Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London Games Organising Committee, said at the closing ceremony.

According to The Telegraph, IOC President Jacques Rogge was short of words while describing the Games, although he said: "The past fortnight had refreshed the Games in many aspects".

 Rogge declared himself `relieved and happy', and praised his hosts for the fantastic Games.

"These were athletes' Games, the village was fantastic, the venues were state-of-the-art and well run, you had a fantastic public, and the volunteers are marvellous," he said.

Colin Moynihan, the chairman of the British Olympic Association, had no reservations about the performance of home athletes, who outstripped the expected benchmark, winning 65 medals, 29 of them gold, and finished third in the medal tally.

 "We have seen performances which have created history. It has been the greatest team we have ever sent to the Olympic Games," the report quoted Moynihan, as saying.

Despite problems over the continuing issue of ticket distribution eight million tickets were sold.

 "The British people have, day after day, filled our stadiums and turned them into theatres of sport.

That has been the defining part of this experience," Lord Coe said, adding: "No country ever looks at itself in the same way again, and it has been great to showcase all that we hold dear in this country.

" For seven years the city has laboured amid concerns over transport and infrastructure, yet it delivered a Games every bit as slick as Beijing and a thousand times more soulful, the report added. (ANI)