SO HOW CAN WE EVER TOP THIS?

Team GB’s golden jackpot is proof that Lottery cash has left a lasting legacy

IT SEEMS we are as good at gatecrashing a party as we were at hosting our own. The wonder of Rio 2016 has laid to rest the notion that London 2012 left no legacy.

In 15 days of sport under smoggy sun in sundry stadiums, on the banked pine of the velodrome, in the moist air of the swimming pool, the British team have left us with indelible memories to rival even the brilliance of four years ago.

The mind’s eye swirls through the gilt-edged highlights in a startled blur. The gold medals — 26 of them across 15 sports at the time of writing — have come from every side at all hours of the day, old stars and new ones vying for our attention.

One thinks of Adam Peaty, a freakishly good swimmer, beginning the whole gold rush. He tore his 100m breaststroke world record apart. Then he did it again. And in the relay final he was so fast he went from sixth to first with scintillating speed. If he was the new boy at 21, what about Nick Skelton, aged 58, winning gold in the showjumping in his seventh and probably last Games.

Peaty’s honed physique stood in contrast to Skelton’s. The older man once broke his neck so seriously that doctors told him he would never ride again. That was 16 years ago when Peaty was five. But Skelton proved the prognosis wrong and there he was, ruddy faced and with matted hair, trying to stop his bottom lip quivering as the National Anthem played for him.

‘Your whole life goes before you when you are standing on the podium,’ he said. ‘You think of your mum and dad and your wife and your children. All of the people you have known and have helped you.’

A few hours later last Friday night in a nearby stadium, yet more history was being made through our women’s hockey team in their final against Holland. It finished 3-3 and went to penalties, hardly a national success story down the years.

But this is Rio 2016. We even managed to win that test of nerve. Peaty had done it for the young, Skelton for the older generation and now the hockey heroes for girl power.

Kate Richardson-Walsh, the captain, followed up success with a rallying cry to the youth of Britain. ‘We had a difficult time two years ago and said let’s go out there and make history,’ she said after the unprecedented win.

‘The message for boys and girls, and especially women, is whatever you want to do — be it a teacher, a caretaker, a lawyer, a hockey player — go for it with your life.

‘We have shown that if you keep going your dream will come true.’

A personal highlight was the Sir Bradley Wiggins-driven team pursuit gold in a see-sawing final against Australia. The result hung in the balance as the Aussies went ahead, and the heart leapt as Britain finally edged ahead to gold.

All this success is a huge contrast to the nadir of Atlanta 20 years ago. That Games produced just one British gold medal — Redgrave and Pinsent. They were so conspicuous that they became Sir Steve and Sir Matt, as indeed their contribution warranted.

National Lottery funding in the last 18 years has made those fallow Games a thing of the past, putting Team GB on a professional footing. In all, £347million has been pumped in during this four-year Olympic and Paralympic cycle. Full-time coaching and an array of support staff are still pushing the standards up in every small detail.

Rowing boats cost £30,000 and bikes £10,000. But the preparations go further than buying top equipment. For example, the golden sailors, Giles Scott and Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills, had spent 150 days preparing in situ on Guanabara Bay, leaving no tide unturned.

Success breeds harmony. Take Andy Murray, who decided to stay in the athletes’ village rather than find plush accommodation elsewhere. Word from within is that he has been speaking to some athletes more authoritatively about their sports than they can manage.

‘He gave a speech to the team before the opening ceremony about the chance to create again what was created in London,’ said Team GB’s chef de mission, Mark England.

‘We have a seven-time Olympian, a six-timer, and a whole bunch of fivetime Olympians in the team and provides a useful dynamic whereby the new generation are drawn up.’

When the numbers were crunched by UK Sport prior to the Games, the best medal haul they could scientifically expect was 53. The declared target was 48, the highest ever for an Olympics outside London. That was smashed with five days to spare, and, as of late yesterday afternoon, the total had reached the mid-60s. And counting.

UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl said she was thrilled Team GB had exceeded its target — before confessing the bar had actually been set a lot higher in private.

‘It’s been outstanding,’ she said. ‘We knew that we have potentially 79 medal shots and our target was at least 48, but really we were aiming for 66, one more than London.’

Whatever the final total, this has been a Games for the statistician and the romantic alike.