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There were, of course, less happy stories.

Few big sports events avoid making the news pages, and this time is was in the unforgiving spotlight; but at least so far there's been no major recurrence of the drugs issues that beset athletics - and overwhelmingly it was the performances on track and field that stick in the mind.

All of which, from a London 2012 perspective, is good news.

The London organisers will have been watching Berlin closely and there will be lessons learned about logistics and organisation.

Nobody should underestimate how much detailed and athletics will be just one of 26 London Olympic sports. But there are also striking things about the way the World Championships looked:

That bright blue track. It's put at the door of the Hertha Berlin football team who but it challenges the traditional assumptions about what looks good for spectators and television audiences.

The medal ceremonies. They were staged at one end of the stadium - and the medals were (or you may think rectangular).

And finally, that Bear. I see my colleague Tom Fordyce is already on Berlino's case and his fame is global from to .

We'd expect by this time next year to know what London 2012's mascot will be, and Berlino has certainly set a standard - whether you want to celebrate the way he brought some fun to the Championships or bop him with a German sausage.

Will London go cuddly like most mascots, or could it echo the ?

The nation and the world are waiting...