I hope you enjoyed the race! I’ve spoken to lots of people since then that have told me they were on the edge of their seats and screaming at the television, so I hope you’ve recovered from the shock and thanks for the help!

Beijing might be over, but London's on the horizon.

The days since the race have rushed by in a whirlwind. Immediately after we stepped off the medal podium the madness started and it’s barely stopped since. That night we were taken into a press conference at the Olympic Village that started at 11pm and finished about 3am.

I received personal congratulations from the 1^st Sea Lord, and then of course there was the interview with Gaby Logan where slow-mo footage of Hodgey telling me he loved me was played to ‘Je t’aime’ – I haven’t been allowed to forget that since.

I managed to catch some athletics at the Bird’s Nest (what a stadium!), some wrestling (where I felt small) and the modern pentathlon (where I saw our girl Heather Fell get a silver).

In the evenings I was able to go with my girlfriend Sally to meet friends at some fantastic Beijing venues. London House was the pick of the bunch for me – an amazing outdoor venue in the heart of Beijing set up by Boris Johnson for British people connected to the Games and 2012.

It was a real home from home and a fantastic place to start unwinding and catch up on the BBC coverage on the big screen. We also met with friends from U.S. rowing that I know from my Boat Race days at America House and saw plenty of sports coverage on the big screens at the China Club where we were kindly invited by Omega.

On the last night in the Village most of the Team GB athletes got together outside our block of flats and met properly in a much more relaxed state. We stood outside chatting, having a drink and listening to music in what looking back now seems to be the calm eye of the storm.

Towards the end of the night I struck on the idea of putting up a human pyramid with a 6-man base, using all the athlete’s different body shapes to their best advantage – heavyweight rowers and judo players on the bottom, swimmers, athletes and canoeists in the middle and gymnast Beth Tweddle on the top. One of my friends thinks it is “probably the greatest achievement of the whole two weeks”!

Flying into Heathrow on the Team GB flight on Monday with the nose cone painted gold was a unique experience. Before then, we’d all been in a bit of a Beijing bubble and it suddenly dawned on us at the same time that lots of people at home have been following us too.

It’s been fantastic hearing all the different stories of support and celebration and I feel very proud to have come home to such a great country. Can you imagine how good our home Olympics is going to be in 2012? Count me in!