Podium reporter Stuart Appleby interviews London 2012 Olympic Games gold medallist Greg Rutherford.

London 2012 Olympic Games gold medallist Greg Rutherford has singled out the work of Games Makers and volunteers, for playing a big role in making the world’s biggest sporting event run smoothly.

The 25-year-old athlete, who triumphed in the long jump in front of a capacity crowd at the Olympic Stadium earlier this month, said he valued the contribution of the thousands of people who got involved, a large percentage of whom were students.

“Games Makers and volunteers played a huge, huge part in making the Olympic Games happen. I went out of my way quite often to say thank you to them and the guys have done an absolutely fantastic job in making it all run so smoothly,” said the joint British record holder for the long jump event, along with Chris Tomlinson.

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Coming into the Games there were a lot of downers saying that it’s not going to work, it’s cost a lot of money and there’s no point in having it (the Games) in London, and all of a sudden the whole nation comes together and realises it’s a great event, it worked perfectly because of the people behind it.

“It’s a massive thank you from myself and the rest of the athletes, those guys really did make it a fantastic Games.”