If you are anything like me, you will have been glued to the TV for the Olympics over the past 16 days, writes GRAHAM CARTER.

But in our house it has been painful to watch.

You see, there was one problem with this year’s Olympics: they weren’t in London.

From the moment London was awarded the Games and the Paralympics, we resolved to be there, and attended more than a dozen events, so every viewing over the last couple of weeks has come with a wish that we could do it all over again.

I was there in the stadium when Usain Bolt retained his 100m gold medal; I was near the finish line when Bradley Wiggins won his time trial gold; I was even there when Oscar Pistorius lost his rag after surprisingly coming second in a sprint in the Paralympics.

I wonder what happened to him.

Our view of London was transformed from what we saw as an interesting place to visit, as long as you didn’t stay for more than a day, to become the greatest city in the world.

When it was all over we doubted whether Rio could ever live up to the standard we had set.

We now know that it didn’t, and although I hate to say it, Barry Manilow got it wrong when he said Copacabana was the hottest spot north of Havana.

It’s London, Barry, obviously.

Olympic Games should be judged on the host nation’s ability to inspire its people, and the empty seats at most of the venues in Rio, especially in the athletics stadium, show that the Brazilians, generally, weren’t very inspired.

Ticket prices have been blamed, but that’s no excuse. It is true that, in London, they were much more reasonable, but we would have found some way to afford it if they had been much higher.

And I doubt the legacy of Rio will match London’s when they look back in four years’ time.

Since London we’ve been bitten by the bug for watching major sporting events, including the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Tour de France in Paris.

We are even checking the map and Googling Tokyo, to see if we might be able to go there when they host the Games in 2020, because I have a feeling the Japanese won’t be as underwhelmed as the Brazilians.

But we have also been inspired by London 2012 to be more active, so although some say its legacy has been disappointing, I disagree.

Speaking as a (now) 55-year-old who thought his sporting days were over and had already given up running by 2012, the inspiration of the London Games has made me think again.

In the last four years my bike has become the first choice for transport around town, I regularly cycle out of town and I even did something I never thought I would, and joined a cycling club (called Recycles).

Next summer I am hoping to be fit enough to do the 100-mile RideLondon.

I am never going to win any medals and you will never see me in a race, but you will see me pedaling happily around town, even up the hills.

I doubt whether I would have got round to any of that if it had not been for London 2012, and there must be millions like me who have been inspired by it to be more active.

They include my wife, who is no spring chicken, either, but isn’t content to watch tennis any more, if she can be playing it.

Four years on, we are still buzzing from London 2012 and what turned out to be the greatest summer of our lives.