Blessed with good weather and free of incidents such as terrorist attacks, the 2012 London Olympics ended Aug. 12 after 17 days of sporting drama, excitement and joy. More than 10,000 athletes from 204 countries and regions participated.
Remarkably each team for the first time included both men and women. This is because three Muslim countries — Brunei, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — agreed to send women athletes at the behest of the International Olympic Committee. In the London summer games, women's boxing events — women's fly-, middle- and lightweight divisions — were added. As both men and women took part in all 26 sports, the London Olympics demonstrated progress in tearing down the wall between men and women in sports.
For Japan, this year marked the 100th year since it first took part in the Olympic Games in Stockholm. Japanese athletes as a whole presented praiseworthy performances that excited and satisfied fans. They took a record 38 medals — seven gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze, topping the past record of 37 medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Their performances should give encouragement to people back home who are trying to recover from the effects of the 3/11 disasters.