Reaction to the Olympic handover

London has received the Olympic flag, signalling the start of its reign as Olympic host city.

Here, politicians, athletes and musicians look back on this year's Games in Beijing and ponder what the 2012 games will be like in the British capital.

I think I speak for everybody when I say we are all awed by the spectacle the Chinese have put on, but I think in the eight-minute segment, we saw some of the wit and ingenuity that Britain is going to bring to our Olympics to make sure that they are every bit as fantastic.

Inspired by the success of the Beijing Games and proud of all our athletes, and the young athletes, the next generations who are coming up, we can look forward to 2012 building on Beijing as being the best Olympic Games ever.

Let our legacy be this - that the power of sport is given to millions of people round the world and the power of sport to unify the world is seen in London in 2012.

Let us go forward to 2012, proud of Britain, confident of our athletes, determined to succeed and determined to show the world the best Games ever.

We'll be ready and... we're going to make it spectacular, just like it has been here in Beijing.

We'll make it spectacular and we'll make it a very special event for everyone around the world.

Tonight, we come to the end of 16 glorious days which we will cherish forever. Thank you to the people of China.

New stars were born. Stars from past Games amazed us again. We shared their joys and their tears, and we marvelled at their ability.

We will long remember the achievements we witnessed here. These were truly exceptional Games.

Every city has had its own twist on the Games, what they have is different to every other country. With the Olympic movement it's about bringing the world together.

Having this experience in China was amazing. The biggest thing is having something different from every other Olympics which makes it even more exciting.

I've never competed over here in London and I'm looking to really experience more of the city and its culture and be able to prepare myself to hopefully swim some fast times.

This has been unprecedented. Is it the destination, is it the end of the journey? Certainly not.

And I think that's very, very important that we understand that, if we think this is it and we've made it, we're in for a shock come 2012.

The legacy will be very specific.

The largest urban park in Europe for 150 years, a state-of-the-art aquatic centre, velodrome, and a stadium that will be adapted for athletics and for other sporting use, so work is going on on the legacy, but it's not yet finished.

It's really exhilarating to be part of this whole thing. It's such a positive statement in every way.

I think they have really done so well with the youth in the dancing, the youth in the music and some old timers as well.

We didn't quite realise the impact it had back here, what we'd been doing. To come back to this reception is phenomenal really.

When I left it was all "recession" and now we've come back to a country overwhelmed by Olympic success by British athletes.

What an incentive to do it again in four years, if not better. I think it will keep everyone on their toes in British sport.

Huge for me, to be involved in this is incredible.

I can't believe I actually was asked to do it, so very honoured and especially working with such a legend like Jimmy Page is amazing for me.

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