Best #London2012 quotes and tweets

LONDON, United Kingdom – AFP gathered some of the best quotes and tweets from and on the Olympic Games that will officially end later today, August 12 (4am Manila time).

Before we bid the Games goodbye, let us “hear” what some athletes had to say about their wins and their losses.

• “I am the greatest living athlete.”

– Usain Bolt after his 100m-200m double

• “It’s my motivation. My friends back home call me a warrior. In fact I’m a butterfly-faced warrior.”

– Bronze medallist in the women’s 400m DeeDee Trotter on her unique face design

• “I have been dubbed ‘the girl who puts the glamor into hammer’.”

– Hammer thrower Sophie Hitchon

• “About a year ago I was not sure I would be alive. It’s winning just being here, speaking to you guys.”

– Czech badminton player Petr Koukal less than two years after being diagnosed with testicular cancer 

• “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

– Danish badminton player Jan O Jorgensen shows some sympathy for the 8 players expelled in the women’s doubles ‘match-throwing’ scandal.

• “I saw the president in the audience as I was coming and I thought ‘Oh f**k, what am I going to do? Now I play the number one and the president is here. I do not want to get my ass kicked’.”

– Finland badminton player Ville Lang felt the pressure increase during his singles match against Lee Chong Wei which he lost

• “We couldn’t shoot into a lake.”

– Nigeria men’s basketball coach Ayodele Bakare bemoans his team’s scoring problems in a 72-53 defeat by Lithuania

• “Sometimes it’s just the beer and bikinis that get people to come and watch, but it’s the competition that’s keeping them there.”

– USA gold medallist Kerri Walsh Jennings on the attractions of beach volleyball.

• “When I used to go running I used to see all these crackheads and drug addicts. I didn’t want to be like them.”

– Women’s middleweight gold medallist Claressa Shields on growing up in Flint, Michigan

• “Our opponents were better than us and we must congratulate them and prepare for our next race. In the pub.”

– Czech Republic canoeist Filip Dvorak

• “Our sport involves two living beings, and horses have their bad hair days just as we do.”

– Germany’s equestrian coach Otto Becker on why the team failed to make the jumping final

• “She has a broken knee and maybe I wasn’t concentrating as hard as I should have been. I am human and I didn’t want to hurt her.”

– Judoka Daria Pogorzelec of Poland on her defeat to Abigel Joo of Hungary

• “He knew when, pardon my language, he had to be an a**hole and when to be a nice guy.”

– Rowing silver medallist Malcolm Howard of Canada pays tribute to Mike Spracklen, the British-born Canadian men’s rowing 8 coach

• “This race was s**t. There’s no point in having a Porsche if you don’t know how to drive it.”

– Rower Olaf Tufte of Norway takes himself to task after finishing second to world champion Mahe Drysdale in the heats of the single scull

• “My composure was a little shaky in the qualifying rounds, but in the final I came out with fire in my bottom.”

– US gymnast Savannah Vinsant finished 6th in the trampoline final

• “They picked me for a doping test. They simply cannot believe that such a great body can be built without any banned stuff.”

– Three-time Olympic champion water polo player Zoltan Szecsi of Hungary

• “He’s got to wear his big boy pants.”

– US wrestling coach Mark Manning on how his charge Jordan Burroughs must handle the pressure of competing for the gold medal in the men’s 74kg category against Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi of Iran

#London2012 tweets

• @Maheshbhupathi: BOLT = GOAT. Greatest Athlete of All Time. Hope Carl Lewis was watching..

– India tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi

• @CH14_: Viva México!!!!!!!!! Gold medal in football!!!!! thank-you, thank-you!!!!!Super proud to be Mexican.

– Manchester United’s Mexican star striker Javier Hernandez

• @Number10gov: @Mo_Farah is an Olympic legend and a true British hero. We can all be proud of his extraordinary achievement.”

– British prime minister David Cameron

• @rustyrockets: I’m going to wait for Tom Daley in the little pool he goes in after he dives and cuddle him too hard.

– TV comic and actor Russell Brand

• @Persie_Official: Wellllll done!!!!!!!! @Mo_Farah !!!!! Another amazing run!!!! 5k & 10k KING!!!!

– Arsenal footballer Robin van Persie

• @kevinpp24: Moooooooooooooo Mooooooooooooo Moooooooooooo #BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

– Cricketer Kevin Pietersen

RAPPLER will be live-blogging the closing ceremony of the #London2012 #Olympics at 4am Manila time. See you there! – Rappler.com