LONDON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- As the London Games were about to close on Sunday night, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said he is "very happy" with the Games and "very grateful" to London.

"On July 6, 2005 in Singapore London promised (an) athletes' Games, and that's exactly what we got," Rogge said at the Games' final press conference.

Rogge highly commended the work of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), saying that London has refreshed the Games in many aspects.

"The Olympic Village was fantastic; the venues were state of art, very well run. You had a fantastic public. This is not directly something that an organizer can deliver but the organizer can make it possible to have this kind of reaction from the public, and this was something exceptional," he said.

But the IOC chief stopped short of giving an assessment of the Games.

"On the qualification of the Games you have to wait till the closing ceremony to hear what I will say. I will say 'These Games are ..' something, a big thing, definitely, but I will not reveal what I am going to say."

The London Games have seen 44 new world records and 117 Olympic records so far. Britain surprised the world by its outstanding medal performance. It has won a record 28 gold medals and 62 medals in total, ranking third in the overall table behind the United States and China.

Rogge, a former Olympic yachtsman, said the London Games left him with many favorite moments, such as the double treble by Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps breaking Larisa Latynina's medal haul.

"There are so many other things, too many to remember. But it will come up on a regular basis. It was a dream for a sports lover like me," he said.

London's build-up to its third Games was bumpy. The British capital was hit by bombing attacks one day after it won the Olympics in 2005. The sharp economic downturn from 2008 has also put the organizers under budget pressure. Enditem

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