Magnificent Munich proved the perfect host city for a games that captured European imagination

ON TRACK: Sarah Lavin of Ireland, right, during the Women's 100m Hurdles Final.

How do you sum up an event stretching to eleven days and across nine different sports? Munich 2022 provided a stage for 4,700 athletes and there are 177 new European champions off the back of it. Can there be one unifying theme to all this? Where do you even start?

If there was an obvious star to the show then maybe it was the city itself. The imposing needle that is the 291-metre tower in the Olympiapark served as a beacon for countless thousands who thronged to the vast Olympic park for attractions that varied from athletics and BMX freestyling to rock concerts and poetry slam competitions.