Team GB has had a glittering Olympic Games in Beijing, with its best showing in the medals table for a century.
Performances by the country’s cyclists, sailors, swimmers and rowers have resulted in a gold haul of at least 16 golds, with a few days still to go.
Cyclist Chris Hoy, who became the first British athlete to win three gold medals in an Olympics, was one of a clutch of stars to make history.
Ben Ainslie became Britain’s most successful Olympic sailor, while Rebecca Romero became the first British woman to win two medals in two summer Olympic sports.
London 2012 chiefs had targeted fourth place in the medals table in four years’ time, but Team GB was already holding third place in 2008 ahead of Russia and arch rivals Australia.
Will Team GB be able to perform so well in 2012? Or has it peaked? What needs to happen to help it maintain expectations?
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12 comments so far
All this talk of peaking does not take account of the four year gap between championships. By the time the 2012 games commence many of the athletes competing today will have retired. In reality its much more likely that the results today will inspire a new crop of young competitors to take up sports and give us a large pool of athletes for the next games. A real risk is that too many will want to take up sports at which GB already excells (Cycling, Sailing, Rowing) which would mean too many potential athletes taking up sports at which there is very little upside in trems of the potentail mdeal count. For example can GB win more cycling mendals than it has done? Not really. So youngsters need to be encouraged to take up sports where there is real room for improvemnt. Anothre point worth making is that Australia are not really the country we should be comparing ourselves with. GB should look at Frnace, Italy and Germany. For the first time in many many years we are leading all three in the medals table. This is more relevant than how we do against Australia since we have a closer relationship in terms of population and incomes.
- Posted by MarkI think Britains ‘gold rush’ has came at its peak, although i think we still have the chance to win atleast another two golds at this year’s games.
And I think that if the majority of this years medal-winners decide to compete in 2012, we will definatley be well on our way to more olympic sucsess because in four years time, athletes such as Rebecca Adlington will be alot more experienced and wise, which ultimatley brings in more medals!
I think that as the host ocuntry for 2012, we are well on our way to making olympic history (for all the right reasons)!
Jonathan Porrino, Merseyside - 14
- Posted by JonathanOlympic teams need money, good training facilities and the ability to inspire future athletes to put in the enormous effort required to meet Olympic standard. For the first time ever, the British team have all those things.
They have done a magnificent job in 2008. They will do even better in 2012.
- Posted by PeterOh great, we are never going to here the end of this, every couple of years Great Britain say they are going to do something in a sport (e.g. the ashes, olympics, football). When it doesn’t happen you don’t hear a word, but if they pull it off you won’t hear the end of it for years. But before they get too excited let me remind them, they aren’t one country they are a combination of 3 countries with an estimated population of approximately 61,000,000. With that kind of power they should have beat australia years ago. Before I go on and this starts sounding like a rant I’d like to say congratulations to the British team for a great effort, but how about in the near future we see scotland and wales compete as seperate entities, then we will see how powerful the poms are.
- Posted by Dave McLennani live in australia and have heard all this rubbish about u.k having more people and so they should beat the assies but dont,everyday media commentators make sarcy comments about the brits.unfortunatley when aussie does well at anything we never hear the end of it and whenthey dont they make allsorts of excuses about being the underdog.in sport australia is never the underdog because they have a bullish attitude to winning ,it is at all cost where as britain till now has always been the gallant loser.it is all about attitude if it was about how many people are in the country then china and india would win everything good luck to britain keep it up australia is a great country to live in but the heart is in the uk something for us poms to celebrate and leave the aussies to there constant whinging regards howard.
- Posted by howard knothwhy is it Aussies can’t stop having a go???
lets face it they are the worlds worst winners… we never ever ever hear the end of how much better they are at sports….
what a joke
- Posted by jeff chinaHi Dave, please look at Mark’s comments before you feel the need to sledge. Regardless of background, most POMs are ecstatic at what their athletes have achieved and frankly couldn’t give a stuff where they are in the medal table in relation to Australia. ‘As long as we beat the English/Welsh/French/Australians/Germans …it doesn’t matter if we’re crap’, is a refrain we’ve all sung at some point and it’s very sad that some of us can’t distinguish between competition from jingoism. If the British make a lot of noise when they do win it’s because it doesn’t happen very often so it’s worth celebrating. There are always some/many/lots of morons who swank about but that’s their problem…really, it is. Australia has punched way above its weight as usual and full credit to its athletes for doing well. The British team has moved on from Empire and gone back to basics to be the best. They have eaten humble pie and earnt the right to win. Black, brown, white, Welsh, Scot, Hindu or Jedi, it really doesn’t matter. Attitude and funding are all. Both are there and here are the results.
- Posted by MattI would just like to remind Dave that Great Britain is such. The culmination of the ‘Great British Isles’, which is why the countries should not be separated. Each athlete has raised the Union Jack high above their head after competing and that in itself is praising the unity of the isles. Yes, we may have a bigger population than Australia but our 60.5 million is poxy compared with the U.S.’s 303 million and completely miniscule against China’s 1.3 BILLION. The table shows that some of medal winning DOES come down to population size - you say China would be winning everything, are they not topping the table presently? It is blatant common sense anyway, the more people you have the more probable your chances of having a medal winner are. Nevertheless, the Aussies are grafters with not as big a population - nothing to moan about though, surely?
Just let the BRITS have their day I have no doubt that TEAM GB will excel themselves at home in London 2012.
- Posted by Merikayes i think that team gb can do even better at home ,it looks as though we have taken a leaf out of australias book and put some important funding into our olympic team .for thos e aussies who dont understand the politacal and sporting complexes of n.ireland wales and scotland competing on there own i am very proud irishman fron aplace called newtownabbey near belfast am also very proud to support britain as i feel unity is strength and history binds us all together.its good to beat england in domestic competition but britain as a whole is one nation.standing together so well done team gb we are all very proud of you.lets not boast lets enjoy.see ya london 2012
- Posted by bill brownI have been working in Aust for the past 3 years. When they win you never hear the end of it. But when they lose theres always some excuse - theres the smog pollution, the judges were unfair,
- Posted by Samthe track was wet, we have to swim in the morning instead of at night and so on. This time we showed them whos better. And in 2012 we will show them again on home ground.
As everyone seems to be happy in competing and showing “unity”, how about we make a team called the commonwealth, I’m sure they will win the medal count, and that would be perfectly fair wouldn’t it. And judging by everyones comments they would be happy to accept that.
- Posted by Dave McLennannow its all over well done to china,get the humn rites sorted and all will be well.yes gb can do better 4 years to bring on the youngsters.a whole new attitude to sport in schools ,we would do alot better if fast food was band and poeple generally wernt so fat and unfit.maybe our success will rub off on some and get them away from computor games for a few hours.proud to be british all are athletes have done us proud,pity our premadona over paid footballers dont have the same attitude when they pull on the national shirt.anyway good luck to a magnificant multicultral sporting effort i love you all regard paul.from australia.
- Posted by paul