Team GB is just a really good bit of branding, that brings in decent money into the BOA, and for example Adidas love, as GB is about the only nation where it can sell its kit to the public at any scale.
Considering Asher-Smith hammy problem which affected her in the individual 100 and 200 and Johnson-Thomson breaking down in the Pentathlon we did really well with unexpected medals by Hodgkinson, Kerr and Bradshaw getting medals and Muir running the race of her life to win silver in the 1500 against two of the best 1500m runners ever.
Still unsure how we didn't win gold in the men's sprint relay and a good bronze by the woman also in the sprint relay.
Reekie tried to win the 800 in a brave effort and unfortunately she then lost out on 3rd.
With the amazing Carribbean runners and USA runners in the sprints and the African runners so strong from 1500 upwards we competed well.
Not forgetting the awesome talents of the Norwegians, Warholm in the 400 m hurdles and the 20 year old whizz kid Jakob Ingebrigtsen who won a brilliant 1500M.
We came 24th in the athletics medal table…..yes, well done to those that got a medal but that’s not acceptable!
I quite agree. It is a recipe to get fewer and fewer medals if we don't demand medals for considerable bucks. There are people on more than decent salaries charged with achieving this. If we want to refer to previous times, great, but we shouldn't forget the financial element today.
Considering Asher-Smith hammy problem which affected her in the individual 100 and 200 and Johnson-Thomson breaking down in the Pentathlon we did really well with unexpected medals by Hodgkinson, Kerr and Bradshaw getting medals and Muir running the race of her life to win silver in the 1500 against two of the best 1500m runners ever.
Still unsure how we didn't win gold in the men's sprint relay and a good bronze by the woman also in the sprint relay.
Reekie tried to win the 800 in a brave effort and unfortunately she then lost out on 3rd.
With the amazing Carribbean runners and USA runners in the sprints and the African runners so strong from 1500 upwards we competed well.
Not forgetting the awesome talents of the Norwegians, Warholm in the 400 m hurdles and the 20 year old whizz kid Jakob Ingebrigtsen who won a brilliant 1500M.
We came 24th in the athletics medal table…..yes, well done to those that got a medal but that’s not acceptable!
There can only be one winner in each event, to be that one athlete you have to be pretty special. Injuries can happen to anyone.
Considering Asher-Smith hammy problem which affected her in the individual 100 and 200 and Johnson-Thomson breaking down in the Pentathlon we did really well with unexpected medals by Hodgkinson, Kerr and Bradshaw getting medals and Muir running the race of her life to win silver in the 1500 against two of the best 1500m runners ever.
Still unsure how we didn't win gold in the men's sprint relay and a good bronze by the woman also in the sprint relay.
Reekie tried to win the 800 in a brave effort and unfortunately she then lost out on 3rd.
With the amazing Carribbean runners and USA runners in the sprints and the African runners so strong from 1500 upwards we competed well.
Not forgetting the awesome talents of the Norwegians, Warholm in the 400 m hurdles and the 20 year old whizz kid Jakob Ingebrigtsen who won a brilliant 1500M.
Is that not the point though? Countries like Norway producing world class athletes and us not?
Although in fairness, KTJ's injury stripped us of a pretty much guaranteed medal, possibly the gold. I think Dina could have won a medal in the 200m, although doubt she could have got the gold nor a medal in the 100. Middle distance was massive success with all 3 women/men making the 800 and 1500 respectively with two medals on top of Muir's. Future looks bright but Dina aside spring isn't that great, nor the jumps although Bradshaw got a medal.
Considering Asher-Smith hammy problem which affected her in the individual 100 and 200 and Johnson-Thomson breaking down in the Pentathlon we did really well with unexpected medals by Hodgkinson, Kerr and Bradshaw getting medals and Muir running the race of her life to win silver in the 1500 against two of the best 1500m runners ever.
Still unsure how we didn't win gold in the men's sprint relay and a good bronze by the woman also in the sprint relay.
Reekie tried to win the 800 in a brave effort and unfortunately she then lost out on 3rd.
With the amazing Carribbean runners and USA runners in the sprints and the African runners so strong from 1500 upwards we competed well.
Not forgetting the awesome talents of the Norwegians, Warholm in the 400 m hurdles and the 20 year old whizz kid Jakob Ingebrigtsen who won a brilliant 1500M.
We came 24th in the athletics medal table…..yes, well done to those that got a medal but that’s not acceptable!
We are down there because we didn't win any golds. On total medals won in athletics we'd be 6th with 6 medals which better reflects our overall performance
6 countries above us for example only won one medal, a gold medal. Italy bizarrely won 5 medals, all gold.
The official website is interesting, as you can see the medal tables for individual sports and individuals
It always feels slightly unfair to me when comparing the career medal haul of competitors in different sports, as in some sports you can really rack up the medal totals whereas in others you only have one shot. How many medals would Steve Redgrave have won if Rowers were physically able to compete in several events per Olympics!
Swimming is especially good for that, with all its different strokes, race lengths and relays. Guy James for example is joint 10th in the individual medal table for Tokyo with 2 golds and a silver for GB all in relays, yet most people won't have heard of him!
Great Britain did a fantastic job considering the size/population of the country. Congratulations. Well done👏👏👏
Thanks @Jessie pleased you can see how much our Athletes give for the cause as all world athletes have to. GB funding can go down as well as up. The powers that be last century for a decade thought we would stop having competitive sports days at school. Some still don't. Ok it has merit in sport for all but once you take the competive element out of Sport you would end up with everyone being average. So clubs in every sport going in recent decades have filled the gap were schools other than a few dedicated sport school like Millfield in Somerset and The Whitgift School in South Croydon (only part of Croydon which is half decent !) GB Gold medal modern Pentathlon winner Joe Choong: son of successful Chinese/ Malaysian businessman who came to England and met and married an English lady and Joe was born in Orpington and went to School at Whitgift before going to the university of Bath where he studied Mathematics.
We do need to be careful in how hard athletes and competitors push themselves with mental health issues but to take on the world's best you need to train like a professional whether there is money in your sport or not. No correlation in being a part time sportsman in most sports and winning medals.
The official website is interesting, as you can see the medal tables for individual sports and individuals
It always feels slightly unfair to me when comparing the career medal haul of competitors in different sports, as in some sports you can really rack up the medal totals whereas in others you only have one shot. How many medals would Steve Redgrave have won if Rowers were physically able to compete in several events per Olympics!
Swimming is especially good for that, with all its different strokes, race lengths and relays. Guy James for example is joint 10th in the individual medal table for Tokyo with 2 golds and a silver for GB all in relays, yet most people won't have heard of him!
I'm a sports geek and I have never heard of Guy James ?
I know James Guy who is a very successful swimmer from the last two Olympics ! Even if he does get emotional.
Mmmm…….were we the only country that had injuries…..I suspect not? You can dress it up whatever way you want ME14 but 24th is abysmal.
Athletics
Funding amount: £23,007,531
Medals: 6 (3 silver, 3 bronze)
Athletics funding was cut from £26,824,206 after the 2016 Games, at which GB won two golds, one silver and four bronzes.
Keely Hodgkinson and Laura Muir both broke British records as they claimed silver in the women's 800m and 1500m respectively, while the quartet of CJ Ujah, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty and Zharnel Hughes missed out on the 4x100m title by just a hundredth of a second.
There were bronze medals for Josh Kerr in the men's 1500m, Holly Bradshaw in the women's pole vault, and in the women's 4x100m for Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita.
The above was taken from the BBC Sport website, so we won one medal fewer than in 2016 which is not very different in terms of medals. The difference was that Mo Farah won 2 golds in Rio and nobody won a gold in Tokyo. To win a gold medal you have to be one of the world's best athletes and the world is a very big place, it is not easy to be that one person who wins the gold and no amount of money can make someone the best if they don't have the ability in the first place.
Only 5 nations won more medals than us in the athletics.
It just happens we didn’t get a gold which is why we are so low down.
Yeah that's a fair point. All in all, I guess it was ok. My slight concern was that other than the medals we won, we didn't compete enough. Other than Rekkie, I don't remember any 4th placed athletes and I do recall watching quite a few finals without any representation at all. There's definite room for improvement.
The official website is interesting, as you can see the medal tables for individual sports and individuals
It always feels slightly unfair to me when comparing the career medal haul of competitors in different sports, as in some sports you can really rack up the medal totals whereas in others you only have one shot. How many medals would Steve Redgrave have won if Rowers were physically able to compete in several events per Olympics!
Swimming is especially good for that, with all its different strokes, race lengths and relays. Guy James for example is joint 10th in the individual medal table for Tokyo with 2 golds and a silver for GB all in relays, yet most people won't have heard of him!
I'm a sports geek and I have never heard of Guy James ?
I know James Guy who is a very successful swimmer from the last two Olympics ! Even if he does get emotional.
It shows how much of an impression he's made on me that I got his name the wrong way round
I remember his animated reaction, but not his name. And if you were to ask the public to name decorated Olympians, I doubt many would name him (a good question for Pointless in the future)
Only 5 nations won more medals than us in the athletics.
It just happens we didn’t get a gold which is why we are so low down.
Yeah that's a fair point. All in all, I guess it was ok. My slight concern was that other than the medals we won, we didn't compete enough. Other than Rekkie, I don't remember any 4th placed athletes and I do recall watching quite a few finals without any representation at all. There's definite room for improvement.
It's certainly disappointing when you see events where we've been successful in the past, with no British competitors or no competitive ones
Where are the Javelin throwers to follow the likes of Sanderson, Whitbread, Backley, Sayers? And in the Heptathlon, where is the youngster coming through? Previously there was always a youngster there, ready to continue the line - Lewis, Sotherton, Ennis then KJT Nobody in the Decathlon, no decent 400m runners etc
Only 5 nations won more medals than us in the athletics.
It just happens we didn’t get a gold which is why we are so low down.
Yeah that's a fair point. All in all, I guess it was ok. My slight concern was that other than the medals we won, we didn't compete enough. Other than Rekkie, I don't remember any 4th placed athletes and I do recall watching quite a few finals without any representation at all. There's definite room for improvement.
It's certainly disappointing when you see events where we've been successful in the past, with no British competitors or no competitive ones
Where are the Javelin throwers to follow the likes of Sanderson, Whitbread, Backley, Sayers? And in the Heptathlon, where is the youngster coming through? Previously there was always a youngster there, ready to continue the line - Lewis, Sotherton, Ennis then KJT Nobody in the Decathlon, no decent 400m runners etc
There was Morgan Lake in the Heptathlon but she now just competes in the High Jump. Agreed though, the 400 particularly is woeful, especially for the men.
The official website is interesting, as you can see the medal tables for individual sports and individuals
It always feels slightly unfair to me when comparing the career medal haul of competitors in different sports, as in some sports you can really rack up the medal totals whereas in others you only have one shot. How many medals would Steve Redgrave have won if Rowers were physically able to compete in several events per Olympics!
Swimming is especially good for that, with all its different strokes, race lengths and relays. Guy James for example is joint 10th in the individual medal table for Tokyo with 2 golds and a silver for GB all in relays, yet most people won't have heard of him!
I'm a sports geek and I have never heard of Guy James ?
I know James Guy who is a very successful swimmer from the last two Olympics ! Even if he does get emotional.
So much so you think KJT competes in the Pentathlon
Why do the BBC have just 'Great Britain' listed in their medal tables and not 'Great Britain & NI'?
Did NI contribute? Not a dig, just genuinely dont remember a single one competing for GB
Some did, in women's rowing and men's hockey.
But more represented Ireland, including Shirley McCay, in her swansong in the women's hockey team.
Ireland managed qualification and relatively decent results across a range of sports with very limited funding, I'd expect that the Irish Olympic organisations will be hoping to build on the results.
As an aside, loved Kellie Harrington and the other medallists' group hug at the medal ceremony.
I’ll give Athletics a pass, 43 different nations won medals in the athletics (if I misheard this, then someone will put me right) it’s probably the hardest sport to win consistently at.
Also seen Ed Warner passing his views, and as much as I like Ed, his time with Niels de Vos, didn’t put the building blocks in place, and they spent a lot of time giving the home nations federations shit instead of supporting them
Thoroughly enjoyed that! Saw far more than ever before, and I covered two Olympics (1988 and 2012).
Was dubious about skateboarding, but loved it. Great sportsmanship/camaraderie on display. Young people seem to be much nicer/kinder than my generation.
Just watched the Beeb’s closing film sequence. Real tear jerker. Emotional stuff.
They did well covering the games under difficult circumstances.
I really enjoyed the Olympics and love it as a competition. Our medal haul was once again excellent overall and better than I was expecting as a lot of former medal winners are either retired or at the end of their careers.
All our athletes whether they won medals or missed out should be very proud of themselves. In this day and age just getting to an Olympics as part of team GB is a huge achievement. Although the funding for our athletes is much improved on what it was previously, many of them are not earning the wages that many other sports people get and certainly less than many league 1 footballers. They have to train for hours a day through all weathers and often relocate to live close to the right training facilities. All this in a time when even six weeks ago there was no certainty that the games would go ahead and all that effort could have been in vain. Well done each and every one of you, you have truly done your country proud.
Comments
Although in fairness, KTJ's injury stripped us of a pretty much guaranteed medal, possibly the gold. I think Dina could have won a medal in the 200m, although doubt she could have got the gold nor a medal in the 100. Middle distance was massive success with all 3 women/men making the 800 and 1500 respectively with two medals on top of Muir's. Future looks bright but Dina aside spring isn't that great, nor the jumps although Bradshaw got a medal.
For anyone that cares, BBC have a decent article about performance against funding, and also informs about how funding has been increased/cut for Paris:
Tokyo Olympics: A look at how Team GB fared sport-by-sport compared to their funding. - BBC Sport
You can dress it up whatever way you want ME14 but 24th is abysmal.
6 countries above us for example only won one medal, a gold medal. Italy bizarrely won 5 medals, all gold.
The official website is interesting, as you can see the medal tables for individual sports and individuals
It always feels slightly unfair to me when comparing the career medal haul of competitors in different sports, as in some sports you can really rack up the medal totals whereas in others you only have one shot. How many medals would Steve Redgrave have won if Rowers were physically able to compete in several events per Olympics!
Swimming is especially good for that, with all its different strokes, race lengths and relays. Guy James for example is joint 10th in the individual medal table for Tokyo with 2 golds and a silver for GB all in relays, yet most people won't have heard of him!
Thanks @Jessie pleased you can see how much our Athletes give for the cause as all world athletes have to. GB funding can go down as well as up.
The powers that be last century for a decade thought we would stop having competitive sports days at school. Some still don't. Ok it has merit in sport for all but once you take the competive element out of Sport you would end up with everyone being average. So clubs in every sport going in recent decades have filled the gap were schools other than a few dedicated sport school like Millfield in Somerset and The Whitgift School in South Croydon (only part of Croydon which is half decent !) GB Gold medal modern Pentathlon winner Joe Choong: son of successful Chinese/ Malaysian businessman who came to England and met and married an English lady and Joe was born in Orpington and went to School at Whitgift before going to the university of Bath where he studied Mathematics.
We do need to be careful in how hard athletes and competitors push themselves with mental health issues but to take on the world's best you need to train like a professional whether there is money in your sport or not. No correlation in being a part time sportsman in most sports and winning medals.
I know it's incredibly unfashionable but I am really proud of what we can do as a relatively small nation.
I'm a sports geek and I have never heard of Guy James ?
I know James Guy who is a very successful swimmer from the last two Olympics ! Even if he does get emotional.
Athletics
Funding amount: £23,007,531
Medals: 6 (3 silver, 3 bronze)
Athletics funding was cut from £26,824,206 after the 2016 Games, at which GB won two golds, one silver and four bronzes.
Keely Hodgkinson and Laura Muir both broke British records as they claimed silver in the women's 800m and 1500m respectively, while the quartet of CJ Ujah, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty and Zharnel Hughes missed out on the 4x100m title by just a hundredth of a second.
There were bronze medals for Josh Kerr in the men's 1500m, Holly Bradshaw in the women's pole vault, and in the women's 4x100m for Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita.
The above was taken from the BBC Sport website, so we won one medal fewer than in 2016 which is not very different in terms of medals. The difference was that Mo Farah won 2 golds in Rio and nobody won a gold in Tokyo. To win a gold medal you have to be one of the world's best athletes and the world is a very big place, it is not easy to be that one person who wins the gold and no amount of money can make someone the best if they don't have the ability in the first place.
I remember his animated reaction, but not his name. And if you were to ask the public to name decorated Olympians, I doubt many would name him (a good question for Pointless in the future)
Where are the Javelin throwers to follow the likes of Sanderson, Whitbread, Backley, Sayers?
And in the Heptathlon, where is the youngster coming through? Previously there was always a youngster there, ready to continue the line - Lewis, Sotherton, Ennis then KJT
Nobody in the Decathlon, no decent 400m runners etc
But more represented Ireland, including Shirley McCay, in her swansong in the women's hockey team.
Ireland managed qualification and relatively decent results across a range of sports with very limited funding, I'd expect that the Irish Olympic organisations will be hoping to build on the results.
As an aside, loved Kellie Harrington and the other medallists' group hug at the medal ceremony.
Well done each and every one of you, you have truly done your country proud.