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The sun has set on a thrilling European Championships in Barcelona this week with the jubilant Russians running away, particularly their relay sprinting quartets, at the top of the medals table.
They were followed by France and Great Britain; Great Britain winning more medals (19 - 18) but losing out to France's greater tally of gold medals (8 - 6).
The first medal of the games was won by Russian teenager Stanislav Yemelyanov with victory in the men's 20km walk, which was quickly followed up by Nadzeya Ostapchuk who led a Belarusian 1-2 in the women's shot put.
One of the most talked about races was the men's 100m final. This was won by Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre.
Setting aside the talk of him being the first white man to race under the mythical 10-second mark (which statistically he is not anyway), this race was remarkable for the tight finish between places two to five inclusive.
Incredibly, all four sprinters finished with the same time and had to be separated by a photo finish and times being recalculated to 1,000ths of a second, Mark-Lewis Francis and Martial Mbandjock (literally) getting the nod for medals ahead of their rivals.
Lemaitre has spent most of the week dismissing talk of his earlier achievement in breaking the 10-second barrier, making it clear that this time only places him in the top 75 sprinters of all time.
However, he did well to put these distractions to one side as he followed up his initial success with the 200m title, claiming the sprint double.
Another athlete making light of his achievements was Somalian-born Briton, Mo Farah. Ahead of these championships, Farah was fond of proclaiming that his most prized possession, above all of his medals, was his signed shirt from favourite football team, Arsenal, beloved since his arrival on British shores aged eight.
The good-luck message from Arsene Wenger seemed to do the trick as Farah became only the fifth athlete of all time to claim the long distance double. The last runner to win both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the European Championships was Italian Salvatore Amin at Split in 1990.
It was the 10,000m title that contained one of the great sporting moments championship organisers hope for.
In a breakaway with four laps to go, Spaniard Espana, racing in front of his home crowd set a pace that only Farah could match. However, as the bell for the final lap sounded Farah took control, moving to his rival's shoulder and picking his moment to accelerate. On passing Espana he noticed the effort had taken its toll and he turned to signal to his British compatriot Chris Thompson.
However, Italian Daniele Meucci also noticed the signal and burst for the line. Both overtook the flailing Espana with Thompson taking the silver by a fraction of a second to secure a British 1-2. Farah celebrated the win with a flag that was half-Somalian and half-British, although he reverted to a standard British flag for his 5,000m success.
Blanka Vlasic won Croatia's first ever medal at a European Championship, securing a gold in the women's high jump. She had effectively won the title at the height of 2.01m but eventually managed to prove her superiority by leaping to a final clearance at 2.03m.
This was the championship for the underdog - the athletes who have had to fight and scrap to be here.
One of the most remarkable stories was that of German Christian Reif. On the verge of elimination after his first two jumps, Reif leaped an incredible 8.47m to break a championship record that had stood for 24 years.
What makes his story even more incredible is the fact that, prior to this championship, 25-year old Reif had previously failed to win a single medal, even bronze.
Almost matching his tale was Briton Andy Turner who cast off his nearly-man tag to win gold in the men's 110m hurdles.
Entering the event Turner had fought to secure even a reduced level of funding from the Sports Lottery.
Furthermore, much of the attention had been focused on his compatriot William Sharman who was considered to be Britain's best hope. In the qualifying rounds he had looked ragged, clattering hurdles and even trailed in the final, yet he fought against the odds to secure his own Turner Prize, winning in a time of 13.28secs.
In the flagship women's event, the heptathlon, Britain's Jessica Ennis won gold, although she had to fight hard all the way. Having won the first two events and secured an overnight lead of 118 points, Ennis lost ground to closest rival, the bulky Ukrainian Nataliya Dobrynska.
Ennis needed a personal best in the javelin to ensure she entered the final event, the 800m, requiring only to finish ahead of her rival. A sprint finish ensured a final overall victory of 45 points to keep the tabloids happy and enable them to splash the photogenic British captain over the covers.
Yet despite the action on the podiums, the greatest story has to be the appearance of Merlene Ottey. The 50-year-old first raced in a major championship at the Moscow Olympics 30 years ago, representing Jamaica.
Even 15 years ago her rivals referred to her affectionately as 'Grandma'. Now, racing with five titanium screws holding together her hamstring and gluteus, Ottey raced for Slovenia, her newly adopted country (as she loves the peace and quiet and combination of sea and mountains), in the women's 4x100m relay. It was not to be the fairytale ending as Slovenia were eliminated in the first qualifying heat.
The next European Championships is in two years' time only a month before the London Olympics.
