The best I've ever seen

Steve Rider's star of the Games, Matthew Pinsent

BBC Olympics presenter Steve Rider looks back at two weeks of breathtaking action and delights in the successes Britain has enjoyed.

This has been a fantastic Olympics and has even surpassed Barcelona eight years ago where the organisers got more or less everything right.

I think it has been a tremendous success for Sydney, the organisation, and from every other point of view.

In Atlanta four years ago you had a city and a location which was entirely unsuited to creating the Olympic atmosphere.

On top of that the Games were so driven by corporate motives that they destroyed any possibility of a sense of occasion.

This has been the most successful Games for the British since 1920 and I think that's a result of what happened in Atlanta

What didn't happen in 1996 is equally important - and the extra funding has clearly worked.

It was a privilege just to be there and get the chance to be the first to welcome the coxless fours back in

  Steve Rider

There were many individual stars for Great Britain. We were all so satisfied for Jonathan Edwards and Denise Lewis who came through so well.

But more than anything else, my personal highlight was the rowing.

The two days I spent out at Penrith Lakes watching the coxless four and, especially the eight, winning golds were the most exhilarating performances that I saw.

It was just a privilege to be standing there on the pontoon at the end to get the chance to be the first to welcome them home - a wonderful thrill.

But there have been so many terrific performances and fortunately we are not just sitting back now saying: "They did themselves credit."

Great performances

Instead, those performances are now being reflected in the medal table, which hasn't always been the case in the past few Olympics.

This time people who had the possibility of medals, rather than the probablility, have performed above themselves and I think that has made the difference.

The results in the athletics are as good as we expected with some great performances that were better than expected - Katharine Merry and Kelly Holmes in particular.

Better than expected: Kelly Holmes

It is difficult to name the biggest star of the Olympics.

Cathy Freeman has been astonishing and I was lucky enough to be in the stadium for that 400m final.

But from a personal point of view, there is Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent.

Steve has got his place in history but, for me, it's Matthew who has really established himself as a major sporting personality both in the boat and out of it.

I would make him the star of my Games.