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The British Olympic Association says Team GB’s medal haul at Paris 2024 should be celebrated, despite Britain finishing in its lowest position in the table for 20 years.
Great Britain ended the Paris Olympics with 65 medals – the same amount won on home soil at London 2012 and second-best ever tally on foreign soil – with only the United States (126) and China (91) claiming more.
But Team GB won eight fewer gold medals than in Tokyo three years ago and were 13 down on the 27 collected at Rio 2016.
A final return of 14 gold, 22 silver and 29 bronze saw Britain slip to seventh spot in the medal table – its lowest place since finishing 10th at Athens 2004 – and third-best European nation behind hosts France and the Netherlands.
That was certainly not expected when Team GB chef de mission Mark England said last October that “the wheels are going to have to come off if we’re not top five”, while stating the aim was to be the best in Europe per gold medals won.
But BOA chief executive Andy Anson said at a post-Games briefing: “It’s hard to feel like that when we’ve won 65 medals.
“It’s frustrating to be seventh in the medal table, but we’ve got to celebrate first the number of fantastic moments, the way athletes have won their medals.
“It’s about this continual fine tuning figuring out what can be done better to move forward.
“The middle bit of the medal table below the United States and China feels incredibly competitive.”
Traditional Olympic sports such as athletics, cycling and swimming returned medals, while rowing banished its Tokyo nightmare to win three golds in a strong regatta.
But newer sports such as skateboarding, taekwondo and trampolining also had success, while Team GB won its first-ever medals in sport climbing
Anson said: “When you win in 18 sports, something has gone right.
“The breadth of success is incredibly important in terms of the resonance it has around the country and the impact it has on communities and getting people back into sports.
“There were near misses, but also Adam Peaty had Covid when he was swimming and Kate French had to pull out of the modern pentathlon with a gastric issue.
“You can’t do anything about that and Katie Archibald tripped up in the garden and broke three bones in her ankle. For her not to be here is sad, but Katie is probably the best in the world’s at women’s endurance cycling.
“UK Sport, the national governing bodies and ourselves will sit back when we get home and say is it ‘sport by sport, individual issues or something more systematic?’
“Let’s look across the whole scenario, but in a controlled way when we’ve all calmed down.
“It’s up to UK Sport and ourselves to figure out if something else needs addressing so we can continually improve.”
Team GB have already made a start to planning for the Los Angeles 2028 Games by securing Stanford University as its exclusive preparation camp.
Anson, however, hopes that the last 16 days of competition in Paris has promoted positivity – and will continue to do so – during what has been a difficult time in Britain with riots up and down the country.
He said: “We’ve got to be aware what’s happened at home and the tough times going on as we’ve been in this bubble for several weeks.
“What’s happened has definitely been sad, and I hope Team GB and these amazing athletes can have a positive impact and help things improve.
“They are brilliant, humble people from many communities around the country, and I believe the power and brand of this team can have a very positive influence on the country.”
