Closing Ceremony: Olympic Flame Extinguished, London Games Come To An End

All good things must come to an end. Just as the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron marks the beginning of the Olympic Games, so too does the extinguishing of the flame signify the official close. And such was the case Sunday night in London at the Closing Ceremony, as the Games of the XXX Olympiad celebrated their conclusion.

The Cauldron in London was lit July 27 and burned brightly within Olympic Stadium until Sunday night, when the leaves -- one for each country represented in the Games -- came apart and the flame died out.

The giant bird you see, by the way, is a phoenix meant to represent "the Spirit of the Flame."

The flame of the Summer Olympics will be seen again in Rio for the 2016 Games.

For ongoing coverage of the Closing Ceremony, stick with our Closing Ceremony StoryStream. For more on the Olympics, check out SB Nation's London 2012 Olympics Hub.