Team GB chef de mission Mark England hails the country’s performance at the Rio Olympics as the greatest sporting achievement in British history.
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Other heroes of Rio, including cycling golden couple Jason Kenny and Laura Trott, had already arrived back in the United Kingdom before the official Team GB flight.
Remarkably that tally surpasses the 65 with 29 gold from the home Games of four years ago and is topped only by the London Games of 1908 when they won 146, 56 of them gold – totals inflated somewhat by many events where barely anyone else took part.
Team GB then gathered on the steps of the plan to pose with their medals before setting off to meet supporters, family and friends gathered in arrivals.
“victoRIOus is a very fitting name, reflecting the great pride we have for our sporting heroes, and is a great play on words too”.
Some team members had returned home already, but 320 athletes and support staff were on British Airways flight BA2016, which landed at Heathrow.
Team GB’s historic success at the Games saw their biggest medal haul in a century with 27 golds, 23 silvers and 17 bronzes.
Athletes were treated to champagne as they flew aboard a gold-nosed British Airways plane, emblazoned with the hashtag #GreattobeBack. Other countries have voiced suspicions about Team GB’s rapid improvement in certain disciplines, especially in the velodrome.
Coe, the president of the IAAF, thinks the foundations – established after the debacle of Atlanta 1996, when Britain won only one gold medal – are in place to ensure Britain maintains the winning habit.
Gold medal winning rower Pete Reed, who was competing in his third Olympics, where he scooped his third gold in the rowing eight, was greeted by his father Leo, 66.
Overall on athletes is Rs 22.7 crore through NSDF (109 athletes) and Rs 38 crore thought the TOP programme (97 athletes for 2016 Olympics, excluding para Olympic athletes) over the last four years.
Kenny, who has now drawn level with Sir Chris Hoy’s record six gold medals for a British Olympian, was pleased to see the how well the athletes had been supported while out in Brazil.
When Britain started to begin punching its weight again in Sydney 2000, with 11 golds, the hosts joked that they could win only in sports where you have to sit down.
Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the British Olympic Association, said the performance was down to two decades of hard work and investment in British sport.
Planning and preparation remain at the heart of success and National Lottery funding, administered by UK Sport, is integral.
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“It will be tough to repeat but the general feeling is we can carry on this success”.
