In the days and weeks leading up to the London 2012 Games, most of the chatter surrounded security planning flaps and looming safety concerns, ticket issues and gridlock around the host city. But as the Olympic torch was extinguished in London on Sunday, marking the end of the XXX Olympiad, those concerns were off in the rearview mirror.

Instead, we were left with heroes who had lifted our spirits for two weeks, ones who defined the Games with record-breaking performances. Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian. Usain Bolt solidified his status as the world's greatest sprinter after doubts were heaped upon him before the Games.

When we look back on London's third Olympics, it will likely be remembered for unbelievable performances, the heartbreak of a few, the plethora of firsts for women and countries, and the spirit of London that reverberated around the globe, culminating in a quintessential British rock concert for the closing ceremony.

Those moments will remain etched in the minds of those who participated and those who watched. So as we face our first day of Olympic withdrawal, we take a look back at the moments and themes (as well as theme songs) of London 2012 that we'll likely be talking about in an anticipation of the next Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

'This woman's work'

It'd be hard to even pick out which performance by a woman stood out among the rest. Perhaps that's because women were so dominant and prominent in these Games both for their achievements on the track, pitch and pool, and for symbolic achievements.

The "women's Games" began on the night of the opening ceremony when two women, modestly dressed and veiled, walked proudly alongside the flag of their nation, Saudi Arabia, into London's Olympic stadium at the Games' spectacular opening ceremony.

This understated entrance marked an extraordinary moment for the kingdom and for the Olympics itself, as the first occasion in the history of the Games when all countries participating have had women athletes in their teams.

It was a momentous Olympics for U.S. women as well. For the first time Americans sent more female athletes to the Games than men. And boy, did they deliver. While the U.S. led all countries in gold medals and the overall medal count, you can thank the U.S. women for a large part of that. Two-thirds of the times you heard the U.S. national anthem played, it was because a female had earned the top spot in her event. And 60% of the total medals were nabbed by women. To put that in perspective, if you were to break out the U.S. women into their own country, they'd be ranked third in gold medals won.

And U.S. females put on quite a show in their path to win gold in almost every venue in London.

Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer, Rebecca Soni and Allison Schmitt each nabbed the gold in her specialty in the pool. They later combined for a wonderful relay for the team to close out their Games. The women's water polo team won for the first time.

In gymnastics, the U.S women proved up to the tough task of bringing gold back to the U.S. for the first time since 1996. Gabby Douglas won the all-around title, the first time an African-American woman had done so. Aly Raisman won a gold medal in the floor routine, a first for the United States.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings again dominated the sport they have helped make popular by winning a third beach volleyball medal, a fitting end for a team whose members say they have played their last competitive game together. The U.S. women's soccer team added another gold medal to its stash, taking its third straight medal by beating Japan 2-1 in a thrilling rematch of the World Cup final, where Japan took the crown. The women's basketball team also won its fifth straight gold, an unprecedented feat in the Olympics.

And then there was the U.S. track team. The female sprinters, who had racked up their own personal successes on the track with individual medals aplenty, combined to shatter the 4×100-meter relay record, which has stood for 27 years. For Sonya Richards-Ross and Allyson Felix, who were trying to erase disappointments from years past, there was no question they had risen to the occasion. And they joined two other teammates to end their Olympics with an unbelievable performance by the U.S. team, beating all the others in the 4×400-meter relay by more than four seconds.

'Judge Not'

For a few days during the Olympics, the spotlight was just as bright on the judges and scandals that arose out of the Games as on the Olympians who had to deal with wonky scoring, allegations of throwing matches and judges rescoring events after appeals.

Gymnastics saw a large number of appeals of scores, which would end up drastically altering the medal landscape and heating up the debate over Olympic scoring. Thanks to an appeal by Aly Raisman's coach, she ended up with the bronze medal on the beam after judges initially placed her fourth.

Japan made a similar request over Kohei Uchimura's score on the pommel horse during the men's team finals. Uchimura, one of the best men's gymnasts and a hero in his home country, was seen as a lock to propel Japan to a medal. But after his score was shown on the screen, it seemed Japan would be left off the podium. The scores showed China with the gold, Great Britain with the silver and Ukraine with the bronze. Japan, like Raisman, sat in fourth. But after an appeal, Japan was sent into the silver medal position, leaving Ukraine hanging without a medal.

A scoring controversy in fencing at the beginning of the Games left South Korea's Shin A-Lam in tears -- and refusing to leave the piste. She appealed to judges over a delayed and stuck clock that had resulted in extra points being awarded to Britta Heidemann of Germany. She ended up leaving in tears after a 70-minute appeal.

And an unlikely scandal also rocked the Olympics. Eight badminton players were disqualified from the Olympics for allegedly throwing matches to try to influence who their opponents would be in the next round.

Reaction was swift: A scandal in badminton? But one of the players said it was with good reason they threw the match.

"We were injured before the match," Yu Yang wrote. "And we were just using the rules to give up the match in order to play better in the next knock-out round. This is the first time that group round-robin elimination was adopted in the Olympics. Do you understand the pain athletes suffer?"

Yu announced August 1 she was quitting the sport after the Badminton World Federation disqualified her and her doubles partner, along with three other teams, for "not using one's best efforts to win a match."

'Sometimes I Fail'

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention this part of the Games: The struggle to ignore the results of the Games in the U.S. because of the time difference. This fury, otherwise known as #NBCfail because of the uproar on social media, will likely be one of the big discussions during upcoming Olympics.