The weather
Glasgow basked in a mini-heatwave during the opening days of the Games, with temperatures of around 27C, with bottled water and sun cream handed out to visitors. However, by the second week it was business as usual as the downpours kicked in.
The opening ceremony
Dancing Tunnocks teacakes proved an unexpected hit at Celtic Park, while the jacketed Scottie dogs leading out the 71 teams were the stars of the night. Glasgow-born entertainer John Barrowman kissed a male cast member at a mock Gretna Green, a move hailed as a snub to homophobia in Commonwealth countries which criminalise homosexuality.
Usain Bolt
The world's fastest man grabbed the initial headlines with his denial of reports he had slurred the Games to a journalist. He wrapped up his time in Glasgow with a lap of honour after landing his first Commonwealth gold medal, entertaining the crowds at a rain-soaked Hampden Park, posing for selfies with a Jamaican flag and a Saltire draped over his shoulders..
Selfies.
Australian athlete Jayde Taylor scored the top goal on social media when she captured an image of herself alongside the Queen, who appeared in the background smiling over her shoulder.
Charlie Flynn
Motherwell boxer Charlie Flynn won gold, declaring he was "buzzing like a jar of wasps'', before the former postal worker fought back the tears while bellowing out Flower of Scotland. He later quipped: "The mail man has delivered once again."
Erraid Davies
The Shetland schoolgirl and Games' youngest medallist became an instant crowd favourite as she was roared on to finish third in the para-sport 100m breaststroke final aged just 13.
Clyde
A green thistle with purple hair, Clyde was designed by a 12-year-old girl, with the cuddly version of the mascot flying off the shelves and outstripping T-shirts and badges to become the Games' most popular item of merchandise.
Wedding bells
First to pop the question was Team Scotland cyclist Chris Pritchard who proposed to his girlfriend after finishing his race at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. Later in the day, fellow Scottish cyclist Aileen McGlynn was celebrating after her boyfriend asked her to marry him. Both said yes.
New swimming stars
Ross Murdoch snatched gold in the 200m breaststroke, beating not only fellow Scot Michael Jamieson but Australian Christian Sprenger and South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh on the opening night. He was joined in the limelight by Dan Wallace, who shot to fame with gold in the 400m individual medley.
The hosts medals tally
Team Scotland surpassed its target of 33 medals halfway through the Games. Two boxing golds saw them pass the 50 mark on the penultimate day and they soon made sure they would more than double their 2010 tally of 26, as well as finishing fourth in the medals table.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article