Great Britain surpassed expectations in Brazil by finishing second in the medal table, behind only the United States and ahead of China for the first time in modern Olympic history. The victory came the day after the USA women’s team also won the Olympic bronze medal.
Advertisement
“To win the first medal on the Sunday evening, a gold and a world record, it was a fantastic achievement and permeated through the rest of the British athletes and allowed us to medal in more sports than we ever have before”.
“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps”.
“Of the 366 athletes who went to the Rio Games for Team GB, 130 of them – just over 35% – returned with a medal, including every member of the 15-strong track cycling team”, reports the BBC.
Bach declared the Rio Games closed and expressed the hope that they had left a lasting mark on the metropolitan area of 12 million people.
It started on the first day of the Games with Virginia Thrasher winning the United States’ first gold medal in the women’s 10-meter air rifle.
“They became the country’s heroines which inspired a whole generation, won great confidence for the country in the early stages of the opening-up and reform”, Beijing Sport University Olympic studies expert Ren Hai told the Global Times.
Even in third place, China is still filled with pride and joy for its athletes who feel a sense of nationalism as they did their best during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Also on the plane were triathlon medal-winning brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee. Biles followed that up with gold medals in the all-around, vault and floor exercise competition and added a bronze medal on the balance beam.
Host Brazil captured seven gold medals and 19 overall to finish in 13th place.
British swimmer and gold medalist Adam Peaty smiles during a press conference after the Team Great Britain’s return from the Rio De Janeiro Olympics, at Heathrow airport in London, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016.
Simone Biles, Gabrielle Douglas, Lauren Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Alexandra Raisman celebrate at the medal ceremony for the Gymnastics Women’s Team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 9, 2016.
Advertisement
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL: The United States rallied from a two-set deficit against Russian Federation in volleyball on Sunday to win the Olympic bronze medal with a 3-2 victory. Russian Federation – with its track team told to stay home because of the doping probe and a cloud hovering over its athletes who were in Rio, some of whom got publicly called out by competitors – finished with 19 golds and 56 medals overall, both well below its normal showings. He can be reached at 857-2239 or 448-7600 ext.
