Photographs: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Every Olympic Games has its winners and losers, not just among the athletes and competing nations, who stand out from the crowd and take the praise or punishment as the host city steps into the limelight.
Here are 10 others who might be wishing they had done things differently - or had never got involved in the first place.
G4S
The failure of the world's largest security firm to provide a promised 10,400 guards caused a political storm and wiped $1.1 billion off its market value as well as losing it up to 50 million pounds on the 284 million pound contract.
-London Olympics 2012 - Complete coverage
-THE WINNERS OF LONDON GAMES 2012
"Many would take the view that the reputation of the company is in tatters," one parliamentarian told company chief executive Nick Buckles. "I think, at the moment, I have to agree with you," he replied.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Al Bello/Getty Images
Australian swimmers (and the Brits too)
'The Missile' missed its target. James Magnussen had the celebratory tattoo of Olympic rings all planned but the 100 metres freestyle title slipped through his fingers by 0.01 of a second.
The Australians won 10 medals in the pool and immediately ordered a review into what went wrong. Britain, with a far greater population, took just three but masked that failure by crowing about all their other successes elsewhere.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Nay-sayers and doom-mongers
Remember how they said the trains wouldn't work, traffic gridlock was inevitable, the opening ceremony would make Britain a laughing stock, London would be turned into Siege City and chaos was guaranteed? Hands up if you were one of them.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Michael Regan/Getty Images
Badminton
The expulsion of eight Chinese, Indonesian and South Korean players for deliberately throwing away their matches to secure a better run to the medal rounds will leave a sizeable scar on the sport.
Those kicked out after the farcical scenes included China's world champions Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Phil Noble/Reuters
The British taxpayer
The Games cost Britain around 9 billion pounds and were still talked of in terms of austerity.
The main stadium has yet to find a tenant for after the Games and there is still the possibility of a White Elephant lumbering into view. The citizens of Montreal called their Olympic Stadium 'The Big O'.
It turned into 'The Big Owe'. Enjoy the party.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
Yelena Isinbayeva
A failure only in relation to what she has achieved in the sport.
The Russian had set pole vault world records in her previous two Olympic finals and was going for a third successive title but American Jennifer Suhr failed to read the script and beat her. Isinbayeva ended up with the bronze.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
London's shopkeepers and cab drivers
Shops in central London and the West End, usually chock-full of shoppers, reported empty aisles while restaurants lamented vacant tables as locals and tourists avoided the area in the first week of the Games and commuters worked from home.
The arrival of thirsty swimmers, rowers and others who had finished their events provided a late boost for nightclubs, however.
The drivers of London's famed black cabs, never short of an opinion or three, were unhappy with 'Zil Lanes' for VIPs hitting their earnings. One dived off Tower Bridge in protest, which will give him plenty to talk about to future passengers.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Drug cheats
Dopey dopers are always losers. In London, 11 were eliminated from competition either by the IOC or national federations since the start of the competition period on July 16.
Italy's 2008 race walk champion Alex Schwazer owned up to injecting EPO after flying to Turkey and buying it over the counter from a pharmacist.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Getty Images
Umbrella vendors
The sun actually shone some of the time. After fears of torrential downpours, following one of the wettest months on record, and worries about the opening ceremony being a washout, Londoners enjoyed their own golden moments.
Yes, it did rain - it would not be London without - but Andy Murray won at Wimbledon with the roof open.
The Losers of London Games 2012
Photographs: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
The great British loser
Heroic failures and plucky losers be gone. Britons looked around and found they quite liked winning. Often.
The cartoon of a man banging his television set because it had not shown a British winner for 20 minutes and therefore must be faulty summed it up.
"Brits historically got used to being the plucky losers," said Chris Hoy, the country's most successful Olympian after celebrating his sixth gold. "It is like it is almost inevitable that the Brits are going to be beaten at some point and I think that is starting to change."
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