Unforgettable: London's magical Olympics in pictures.

From Danny Boyle's iconic opening ceremony, London 2012 has wowed and wondered beguiled and bewitched the watching world. With a raucous wall of sound emanating from a stunning selection of venues, world records have tumbled accompanied by performances that will forever be etched on the memory.

Michael Phelps won his 22nd medal to usurp Larisa Latynina as the most decorated Olympian of all-time, Usain Bolt completed his second triple sweep of sprinting gold medals and Great Britain surpassed their Beijing haul to finish third in the medal table.

And what a performance from Britain's team of athletes. Sir Chris Hoy added two golds to his Olympic legacy, Mo Farah won both the 10,000m and 5,000m, poster girl Jessica Ennis completed a magical golden journey in the heptathlon and Ben Ainslie confirmed he is the greatest Olympic sailor ever by winning his fourth gold in the Finn class.

With a tear in the eye, Sportsmail remembers a quite remarkable Games with a collection of pictures to capture the magical spirit of London 2012.

Mo Farah wins the men's 5,000m final on day fifteen of the Games in the Olympic Stadium

Churandy Martina, Ryan Bailey, Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin, Yohan Blake, Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Richard Thompson leave the blocks in the men's 100m final

Bolt wins in an Olympic record time of 9.63, ahead of compatriot Blake and Gatlin

Fireworks burst above the stadium during the wonderful opening ceremony

Germany's Robert Harting rips his shirt as he celebrates winning gold in the the men's discus

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning celebrate in their boat after winning Great Britain's first gold in the women's pair on day five

Bradley Wiggins added the second after an incredible performance in the men's individual time trial

Michael Phelps on his way to winning his second of four golds of the Games in the men's 200m individual medley

Liu Xiang sits on the track after suffering injury in the heats of the men's 110m hurdles

Kirani James wins Grenada's first Olympic medal, taking gold in the men's 400m

Sir Chris Hoy crosses the finish line to win gold in the men's keirin

Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria wins the gold in the men's 1500m

Alistair Brownlee (right) shakes hands with second placed Javier Gomez after the men's triathlon final in Hyde Park

Matthias Steiner of Germany lies on the floor after failing to lift in the Men's +105kg weightlifting final

Germany's Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Bella Donna compete in the first qualifier of individual jumping on day eight

Spectators at the Horse Guards Parade watch the action with the London Eye behind during the men's beach volleyball preliminary match between the Great Britain and Norway

Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke, Edward Clancy and Peter Kennaugh compete in the first round of the men's team pursuit

Jessica Ennis lands a jump during the long jump in the heptathlon on the way to her glorious gold

South Africa's Chad le Clos reacts as he wins gold in the men's 200 metre butterfly final

Andy Murray celebrates after defeating Roger Federer in the men's singles gold medal match

Kenya's David Rudisha celebrates after crossing the finish line to win gold and setting a new world record of 1min 40.91secs in the men's 800m

Singapore's Heem Wei Lim performs on the beam in the artistic gymnastics women's team qualification on day two

A full moon is captured within the Olympic rings hanging from Tower Bridge

The USA's Carmelita Jeter, Bianca Knight, Allyson Felix and Tianna Madison celebrate next to the clock after winning gold and setting a new world record of 40.82secs after the women's 4x100m relay

Stephanie Rice of Australia, China's Ye Shiwen and GB's Hannah Miley compete in the heats of the women's 200m individual medley

Korea's Han Soonchul (left) celebrates his victory over Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan during the men's lightweight boxing

South Africa's Oscar Pistorius is seen behind the Olympic flame after the men's 400m semi-finals

Gold medallists Etienne Stott (second left) and Tim Baillie (right) celebrate with silver medallists David Florence (second right) and Richard Hounslow (third right) of Great Britain after the men's canoe double (C2) slalom final

South Korea's Sa Jae-hyouk shouts after getting injured on the men's 77Kg Group A weightlifting competition at the ExCel

Ashraf Aliyev of Azerbaijan (right) competes with Sohsuke Takatani of Japan during their men's freestyle 74 kg wrestling qualification bout

Micah Richards goes for the ball wiith Jung Sung-ryong and Ji Dong-won of South Korea during the men's football quarter final

Serbia's Nikolina Moldovan competes in the women's kayak single (K1) 200m heat at Eton Dorney

China's Qin Kai performs a dive during the men's 3m springboard preliminary round

Bronze medallist Alan Campbell is helped out of the boat by Sir Steve Redgrave after the men's single sculls rowing final

Shanaze Reade leads the way in the women's BMX final

US gymnast Gabrielle Douglas performs on the balance beam during the Artistic Gymnastic women's team final

Nicola Spirig of Switzerland pips Sweden's Lisa Norden in the women's triathlon final

China's Ren Cancan (left) is knocked to the canvas as she fights Nicola Adams during the women's fly gold medal boxing match

Spain's team perform in the synchronised swimming teams free routine final

Greg Rutherford on his way to winning gold in the men's long jump

Competition begins in the men's Laser on day five of the Games at Weymouth & Portland

Tom Daley is thrown into the pool by the British diving team after winning bronze in the men's 10m platform final

Angela Maurer of Germany and Spain's Erika Villaecija Garcia dive into the water to start the women's marathon 10km

Mo Farah does Usain Bolt's signature victory pose as Bolt mimics Farah's 'Mobot'