"These were marvellous Games in the marvellous city," he told billions watching the Closing Ceremony on TV. There were roars of approval from those inside the Maracanã before performers burst into the great Rio Carnival anthem Cidade Maravilhosa.

A Brazilian tourist ministry survey claimed 83.1 per cent of foreign tourists felt Rio "met or exceeded their expectations". They insisted the vast majority of the 500,000 foreign visitors intend to return to the country. It is perhaps stretching a point to say, as one Brazilian newspaper did, that they’d happily do it all again in 2020, 24, 28 and 32.....

For many Brazilians the success of these Games was defined by one magical night in the Maracanã. Brazil finally won their first gold in football. They were the first host nation to do so since 1992 when Pep Guardiola led Spain to victory in Barcelona. Early in this tournament, despite the promptings of Neymar, they had looked anything but a golden prospect. Indeed the women’s team, inspired by Marta, had looked a far better bet until they were knocked out on penalties.

In 2016, victory in Olympic football was a far bigger deal than it had ever been before and it laid a few ghosts to rest. That it was achieved against the Germans was redemption of sorts for that infamous 7-1 defeat at the 2014 World Cup. Older Brazilians still remember the calamity of 1950 when the team lost to Uruguay in front of an estimated 200,000 in the Maracanã, and with it, the World Cup.

Not that the football was the only thing the Brazilian fans were able to cheer. Judoka Rafaela De Silva started it all off with the first gold, and the following day an interview with her beaming face was beamed on the big screen at all venues. Hers was a journey that began in the favelas of Rio. Down at Copacabana, it was somehow right that there should be a Brazilian gold in beach volleyball. There was a wonderful communal moment when Martine Grael carried on a rich family tradition in sailing by winning gold with Kahena Kunze in the 49erFX class. Grael’s dad Torben had won two golds. Fans clamoured to carry the boat from the water as if it were the Holy Grael.

It must be said that an infectious samba rhythm percolated throughout. Visitors were greeted with smiles and locals were ready to stop to offer directions as two Iranian athletes out for a late night stroll discovered when they sought directions back to the Athletes' Village. From the moment the statue of Christ the Redeemer was bathed in green and gold light on the day of the Opening Ceremony, Rio proved to be a stunning backdrop.

Yellow shirts bearing a number 10 could be seen everywhere, except at the Opening Ceremony. Pelé pulled out of lighting the cauldron for health reasons. A pity, it would have been a moment to compare with Ali lighting the flame in Atlanta 20 years before.

Instead it fell to tennis player Gustavo Kuerten to carry the Torch into the Maracanã. His selection closed the circle on one unhappy Olympic episode from 2000. Back then, Kuerten was threatened with expulsion from the Brazilian team in a dispute over which kit he was to wear. Now, he clearly savoured the moment.

In the absence of Pelé it was Vanderlei de Lima who lit the cauldron. He was the Marathon runner baulked by an interloper on the 2004 course in Athens. Many felt he was denied a gold medal that day. To judge by his face, this moment in the Maracanã was some compensation.

The cauldron was much smaller than those at previous Games. "Symbolically the small flame answers the call to reduce warming caused by fossil fuel and greenhouse gases," said organisers. The Olympic fire was framed by the work of kinetic sculptor Anthony Howe. A spiral mobile representing the sun animated as the wind blew. It was a beautiful way to display the flame and certainly the most symbolic. 

Very early the following morning, the flame was taken to its final resting place on the waterfront with the backdrop of the cathedral of Candelaria, an appropriate resting place for an Olympic candle. Fourteen-year-old Jorge Alberto Gomes, an aspiring runner from the Mangueira favela, had brought the flame to this spot. It was a thoughtful and symbolic gesture.

Rio organisers had clearly learnt from previous Games. In London, it had not been possible to see the flame unless you visited the Olympic Stadium. At Vancouver’s downtown location in 2010, there had initially been an unsightly wire fence. Although the flame was cordoned off here, there was no ugly barrier. Throughout the Games visitors clamoured to get a photo with the flame.

There were other pleasing little details which helped make the Games special. The Maria Lenk Aquatics Center paid tribute to the first Brazilian woman to participate in an Olympics and a moment at the Closing Ceremony honoured Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont, the first Brazilian to win an Olympic award, a diploma given by Pierre De Coubertin. It was therefore a pleasing symmetry that the Cariocas were awarded the Olympic Cup, following in the footsteps of Fluminense Football Club who won it back in 1949.

It was at the 2009 IOC Session in Copenhagen that Rio had been voted as host city. At the same time golf and rugby sevens were added to the Olympic programme. Sure there were big name withdrawals in the golf but those who did show up in Rio were palpably happy to be there. The inclusion of sevens always offered the possibility of a small Pacific island nation on the Olympic podium. A small Pacific island did not just win a medal but gold, a first for Fiji in any Olympic event. Kava in Suva anyone?

Kosovo took part in the Games under their own flag for the first time. Majlinda Kelmendi provided the dream story-line with a gold in Judo, although it later emerged that she could face a domestic ban for not taking a drugs test earlier in the year.

For the first time, there was a team comprised entirely of refugees. They entered just before host nation Brazil and received a great reception. ‘’It is a special team," said Chef de Mission Tegla Leroupe. "For a person to be called a refugee is not an easy thing. People must realise that someone with the status of refugee is also a human being."

It would be wonderful to think that such a team might no longer be necessary in Pyeongchang or Tokyo but with an estimated 60 million refugees worldwide, that seems a pipe dream. If there is such a team in 2018, surely something must be done about their three letter acronym. Refugee Olympic Team translates to ROT. A most unfortunate abbreviation in English. Perhaps the use of French, the official language of the Olympic Movement, would be more satisfactory in this case?

The atmosphere at the Olympic Park was wonderful as it always is. Visitors from all over the world were festooned in flags and united in sport, and ready to queue patiently for the mega-store, an ice cream (the average winter temperature in Rio is more than 30 degrees) or even a photo opportunity with the Olympic Rings.

The sport was magnificent. In badminton there was a clash of the giants to savour. Double champion Lin Dan of China and Malaysian Lee Chong Wei met in the men’s singles semi-final. Dan had won the two previous final meetings between the pair and though Lee did not go on to win gold, his victory over his old adversary clearly meant the world to him. The two men swapped shirts in the style of Pelé and Bobby Moore at the 1970 World Cup. Removing the shirt was a growing trend in the badminton hall. Irishman Scott Evans celebrated each victory by doing so, a gesture reciprocated by his growing fan club in the stands.

In the gymnastics hall, Simone Biles of the United States captivated and Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece won gold by clutching two rings, three months after he had been the first to carry the Olympic Torch, the supreme symbol of the great five ring festival.

Each day, an Olympic newspaper was distributed in the Olympic Park. Published in Portuguese and English, it was rare for a non-Brazilian to feature on both cover pages. No prizes for guessing who bucked the trend.

"I’m taking over this town," said the headline and he did, supported by one of the more eccentric fans of these Games, dressed head to toe in an Olympic Torch costume. Bolt made it look impossibly easy to win the sprint double and relay gold for an unprecedented third time. The Games will be poorer in four years time without a lightning bolt.

New Zealand’s Nicky Hamlin did not stand on the podium in the women’s 5,000 metres but she earned her own place in the Olympic roll of honour with Abbey D’Agostino of the US. Both fell and Hamlin waited to make sure the American was able to continue. The crowd roared as they made it to the finish before Hamlin again paused to ensure that D’Agostino was looked after by the stadium medical staff.

Then there was Jeffrey Julmis, a hurdler from Haiti. Buoyed by qualification for the semi-final, he displayed the self confidence of Bolt when the camera panned to him in lane nine. Unfortunately, he never made it past the first hurdle and ended up face down. It became a YouTube sensation but what he did next should go down in the Olympic manual. He picked himself up and completed the race.

"’It didn’t make sense to be a sore loser," he said. "That’s the Olympic spirit - finish the race."

Unusually, no flame burned at the athletics venue. Originally named after the discredited former FIFA President and IOC member Joao Havelange, it was simply known as the Olympic Stadium. Curiously, Havelange died at the age of 100 during these Games.

Security was necessarily tight, but the sight of gun-toting soldiers riding shotgun on army trucks was still a shock to the system. A bewildering variety of different law enforcement groups patrolled the Games but it should be said that they always responded to a smile and were often up for a photo. Some in the Olympic Park even found the samba music irresistible.

Yet these were also Games at which Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes was roundly booed when he appeared in public. Locals dubbed them "Tourist Games". Many could not afford even the cheapest ticket available and were only able to watch on television.

For all the sell-out claims, many seats were left empty. At one early football match stewards appeared to outnumber the crowd five minutes before kick off and at the tennis, there were no tickets available to see the likes of Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and del Potro, even though television showed swathes of empty seats.

For those that did get a ticket, the mantra "make some noise" was ever-present. The crowds were invited to try their hand at samba or impromptu lessons in Portuguese greetings and some did seem more interested in taking a selfie than actually watching the sport on offer. Sometimes, too, sports presentation in the venues got it badly wrong. At one handball match, the French celebrated victory with an emotional rendition of La Marseillaise, only to be drowned out by the infernal Tannoy. For some reason, organisers seem convinced that no sporting event is complete without Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.

The spectators quickened their pace as they made their way down the temporary walkways from the transport stations to the Olympic Park and not out of keenness to enter the venue. A terrible smell from the drains never quite went away. On the first day, spotting an ideal pitch, a street trader had set up her wares nearby. She did not return.

The domestic political situation was another ever-present just below the surface. In some ways this echoed Mexico City in 1968, the only previous Games in Latin America. That year, students demonstrated their anger that monumental sums were being spent on the Olympic installations when many lacked even the basics. In Rio, there were demonstrations before the Games by dissatisfied local workers. During the Games, leaflets with a political message were even smuggled into the Olympic Park. The shanty-towns could be seen on any drive into the centre of Rio. No-one quite knows what will happen when the impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff reach their climax over the next few days.

The Games themselves also had their shabbier moments. Mongolian wrestling coaches, unwilling to accept a decision, took off all but their underwear. American swimmer Ryan Lochte faces a judicial investigation after the true story of an altercation at a service station emerged. Brazilian security forces also arrested IOC Executive Board member Patrick Hickey after investigations into an alleged ticket selling ring. Hickey is, in the words of the IOC, "temporarily self suspended".

These Rio Olympics certainly had a very different character to those in Sydney, Beijing or London. It is probably too early to say if the IOC’s decision to bring them here was the correct one. It would be a great pity if hosting the Games remained the preserve of very rich cities but the rough edges here may well encourage the IOC to play safe in the immediate future.

Michael Phelps departed the scene as the most successful Olympian since the days of antiquity. He tweeted: "As nice as it is to be home, I already miss the beauty of Rio and the friendliness of its people". Many of us felt the same, leaving with heavy hearts and that carnival anthem ringing in our ears. They danced to the very same tune when Rio’s flame was handed over in Athens all those weeks ago and we will never forget La Cidade Maravilhosa.

In four years time it will be very different we know, but that is the beauty of the Olympics. Good Morning Tokyo!