OLYMPIC FEVER GRIPS THE NATION
Great Britain officially takes charge of the games
GREAT Britain is celebrating after officially taking charge of the Olympics ahead of the London 2012 games.
Capping our best Olympics performance in a century, London Mayor Boris Johnson was in Beijing to receive the flag from the Chinese at a star-studded ceremony.
Leona Lewis, Jimmy Page and David Beckham all made appearances at the glittering bash in China.
Back home crowds packed central London to mark the occasion and salute our sporting heroes who put their nation an astonishing fourth on this year's Olympics medals table.
Headling the festivities near Buckingham Palace were rock legend Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis, while celebs including David Beckham and US swimming legend Michael Phelps also joined the celebrations.
Intrenational Olympics Committee President Jacques Rogge presented the flag to Mr Johnson in front of a capacity crowd of 91,000 people at the national stadium in Beijing and an estimated television audience of more than a billion viewers.
Mr Johnson waved the flag four times, as directed, before handing it to an usher.
He will bring the flag back to London on Tuesday and fly it outside City Hall alongside the Paralympic flag when those Games have concluded in September.
Mr Johnson will also display the flag at a major celebration in Beijing tonight for athletes, organisers, senior politicians including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, spectators and the media.
He said: "I'm profoundly humbled by the immense privilege I've been given today.
"I'm also intensely proud. Proud of the athletes who pulled in the best medal tally for decades. Proud of the people behind them who've delivered this stunning success. And proud beyond all that London is now in charge of the Olympic legacy.
"The next Summer Games return to a country which I frequently boast has either invented or codified just about every major world sport.
"We will draw on that heritage and we will draw on our wit, flair, imagination and ingenuity to build on what we've all witnessed in Beijing and deliver a fantabulous Olympics in what I consider to be not only my home, but the home of sport. Sport is coming home. See you in London!"
As the closing ceremony began in China, flag waving crowds thronged into London's Mall ahead of performances by acts including McFly, Will Young, Katherine Jenkins and the cast of Queen musical We Will Rock You.
Olympians including Sharron Davies, Sally Gunnell and Roger Black also came to take part in the event.
Mixed weather did little to dampen the spirits of waiting fans who enthusiastically greeted the appearance of McFly, who performed just before the symbolic handover.
They opened their set with a cover of Abba's The Winner Takes it All before performing Lies.
Big screens then linked up to the ceremony in Beijing, in which London had an eight-minute slot to mark the hand over to the capital.
