Team GB beats expectations

Wednesday, August 20: When UK Sport, the government body that decides who gets lottery cash, set a target of between ten and 12 gold medals for Team GB, and Culture Secretary Andy Burnham suggested Britain would finish above Australia for the first time since Seoul in 1988, many considered these expectations a little optimistic.

The British Olympic Association went on the defensive, with their boss Simon Clegg saying: “We see these Games very much as a stepping stone into London 2012. What's really important for us is not where we finish in the medal table but the progress that all the sports make.”

Yet currently Britain does stand above Australia and has won a whopping 16 golds. We even look likely to surpass UK Sport's expectation of 41 medals in total. The dominance of British track cyclists, a flurry of success in various boats and the emergence of previous unheralded performers like hurdler Natasha Danvers, gymnast Louis Smith, high-jumper Germaine Mason, road cyclist Emma Pooley and Stockport team-mates Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten in the 10km open-water swimming, saw Team GB reach a tally of 37 medals by Wednesday.

And with prospects such as Phillips Idowu in the triple-jump, BMX rider Shanaze Reade, canoeist Tim Brabants and sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Star still to come, the class of 2012 will have a lot to live up to.

Writing in the Times, Simon Barnes discussed this succession of triumphs: "Excuse me, but this is Britain we're talking about, isn't it? As in Plucky Brit gets fourth. As in Plucky Brit says it was my dream just to be here. As in Plucky Brit says making the final was my gold medal. Britain, a country in which we are used to quarter-final exits on penalties, Ashes whitewashes, lost and bewildered rugby champions, and the annual Day One round-up of the Wimbledon wild cards who have bitten the dust."

"Yes, that Britain. The one that the Australians laugh at, the one Americans hold in contempt… It's like waking up to find yourself an East German."

FIRST POSTED AUGUST 20, 2008