Britain drenched in gold at the Olympics
August 24, 2008
The result of London’s creative planning, including innovative funding and the accountability factor, made Britain’s Olympic gold harvest a reality. In 1996, British cyclist Chris Hoy travelled to Moscow for the European Under-23 Championship with his own bicycle and just one set of spare wheels. Behold! Britain’s cash-strapped governing body at that time could not even afford to send an accompanying official. After his return from Moscow, Hoy even had to return his tracksuit so that it could be used by others.
At 32, with a rich haul of gold medals, Hoy became Britain’s most successful Olympian - the first to get three medals in a single Olympics since Henry Taylor in London 1908. He had the following to say:
“It is an unbelievable feeling to achieve the absolute maximum possibly can.”
19 year-old Rebecca Adlington, set the golden ball rolling. She provided a perfect start to the Olympics for Britain by winning gold in 400m freestyle and beating the world record to win the 800m freestyle. The golden achievement propelled her from being an unknown athlete to the greatest British swimmer in 100 years. An overwhelmed Adington said:
“If somebody said to me that I would win two Olympic gold medals, I would have laughed.”
Britain came fourth in the overall medals league behind hosts China, the US, and Olympic giants Russia with the tally of 19 golds, 13 silvers and 15 bronze. Now it is over to London for the 2012 Olympics!
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