GB HAUL ‘GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT IN OUR OLYMPIC HISTORY’
FOR Team GB, this was ‘the miracle of Tokyo’. Amid a painful, pinging pandemic, Britain’s athletes delivered what delighted and exhausted officials last night described as the nation’s ‘greatest achievement in Olympic history’ as the curtain fell on a Games like no other. Team GB finished fourth in the table and were bettered only by superpowers USA and China, and hosts Japan. Their stunning haul of 65 medals matched their total at London 2012 and at the end of a stunning two weeks, they finished two behind the incredible 2016 Rio performance which many believed will never be bettered. They may have to alter that view. But there is more. In London, the team was 541-strong; here it was 375. No fewer than 16 finished in fourth place.
No wonder the top brass were smiling at the farewell press conference. Mark England has had a task like no other. Getting athletes to the start line without being tripped up by Covid was his main aim. England’s job title could well have been amended to chef de mission impossible. With the heartbreaking exception of silenced shooter Amber Hill, who tested positive before flying out, he and his team did just that. They were repaid in spades. ‘For this team to deliver 65 medals is absolutely extraordinary,’ the 62-year-old declared. ‘History on the back of the most complex, challenging and difficult environment that we will ever face, certainly in my lifetime.’ England, who was alongside UK Sport chair Katherine Grainger and British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Anson, went further. ‘Against all odds, it is the greatest achievement in British Olympic history,’ he continued. ‘It has been the miracle of Tokyo.’ A bold claim. But former rower and gold medalist Grainger was firmly on the same page. ‘We had Jason Kenny, our most decorated Olympian,’ she explained. ‘Between equestrian Charlotte Dujardin and cyclist Laura Kenny (right) our most decorated female Olympians, as well. We’ve had our most successful swim team ever. We’ve had our most successful boxing team in a century. ‘We’ve had the first medals in skateboarding, in BMXing, we’ve had the first female weightlifter medal.’ She added: ‘Team GB feels like the team of trailblazers. They have set new standards and they have truly burned their name into Olympic history in ways we didn’t expect. We’ve got the most memorable role models who are equally powerfully off the field.’
These athletes have given a watching nation wonderful moments. Including team sports, 108 have taken home metal in a perfect gender split — 54 each — from a team that sent more women than men for the first time in history. Anson relayed a vivid story that illustrated the challenges the group faced. ‘We had four false positive tests,’ he recalled. ‘Those were heart in the mouth moments, quite terrifying.’ Undoubtedly. Sportsmail understands one of the false positives involved a team group, and at one stage it looked as though 20 athletes were at risk. As it transpired, of the 20,000 tests undertaken over four weeks, no genuine positives were returned.
The only negatives were the underpar performances of both the rowing and athletics teams, and Grainger admitted there will be ‘a lot of conversations around what happened’. But it cannot detract from the overall theme. A shorter journey, across the Channel, awaits for a young team which will look to create more golden days and nights. ‘It is less than three years to Paris,’ added Grainger. ‘As we look to the city of lights, the future is bright.’