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2 LAPS, 1 GREAT RACE · How we wish all Olympic finals unfolded like this, the deepest 800-meter race in history. David Rudisha broke his world record, the top three broke the previous Olympic record and six of the seven men behind Rudisha set PRs. The times for places 1 through 8 were the fastest ever for those positions.

Photo by Dylan Martinez / Reuters
Text by Scott Douglas

NEW ORDER · Mo Farah shouldered all the expectations of the thunderous British throng and thwarted all the team tactics and physical contact from Kenyans, Ethiopians, and Eritreans. And he brought his buddy Galen Rupp along for the silver. That was as emotionally satisfying as track can get.

Photo by Dylan Martinez / Reuters
Text by Peter Gambaccini

THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM · After crushing disappointments at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, Allyson Felix finally climbed to the top of the podium with a well-deserved gold medal at 200 meters.

Photo by Eddie Keogh / Reuters
Text by Caitlin Giddings

MEB'S STILL GOT IT · The 37-year-old, who won silver in Athens, was the only U.S. runner to complete the men's marathon–and, he took fourth place. Though this may be his last Olympics, he's not retiring. "I'd still like to see if I could improve my PR," he says, and a Boston Marathon win would be nice, too.

Photo by Stefan Wermuth / Reuters
Text by Meghan Loftus

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE · Usain Bolt was "supposed" to win the 100 and 200, as he did four years ago in Beijing. But to win on the world's biggest stage is always hard, or at least it is for everyone but Bolt, who once again made being the fastest man in the world look amazingly easy.

Photo by Cathal McNaughton / Reuters
Text by Scott Douglas

SMALL BUT MIGHTY · American Leo Manzano, far left, not only stuck with the favored East Africans in the men's 1500m final, but outkicked them to take the silver. I knew he was a strong finisher, but watching Manzano, a good head shorter than many of his competitors, turn up the heat to medal might have made a cry a little.

Photo by Eddie Keogh / Reuters
Text by Dana Blinder

LAP OF HONOR · A gold medal at long last for the dignified Sanya Richards-Ross was no certainty. There was the Russian with kamikaze tactics and the British defending champ returning to top form, and Richards-Ross' very fit teammate DeeDee Trotter was in the lead heading home. There was a lot going on in that 49-second 400-meter race, but it turned out just golden for Richards-Ross.

Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters
Text by Peter Gambaccini

RUNNING AWAY WITH IT · For running fans, the women's 10,000 was our first taste of finals action in the 2012 Olympics. After a week of being forced to watch swimming, we could finally watch a race that we cared about. And it didn't disappoint. As the race progressed, you could sense that Ethiopia's defending gold medalist, Tirunesh Dibaba, was just toying with the competition. Sure enough, she took off with a little over a lap to go and made it look easy as she sailed in for the win, ahead of second place by almost six seconds.

Photo by Max Rossi / Reuters
Text by Robert Reese

COMRADES IN SWEAT · Although the U.S. women fell off Tiki Gelana's Olympic record-breaking pace, training partners Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher supported each other at the Marathon finish line in a moving display of Olympic spirit.

Photo by Mark Blinch / Reuters
Text by Caitlin Giddings

NO HURDLE TOO HIGH · Because of recurrent injuries, Felix Sanchez almost retired many times since he won the 400-meter hurdles in Athens eight years ago. But the Dominican Republican runner embodied the self-belief and perseverance all athletes, elite or not, aspire to, and saw things through to the end. Sanchez wept openly as he received his gold medal; that earned him an even bigger ovation than his hurdles race did.

Photo by Eddie Keogh / Reuters
Text by Scott Douglas