Team GB make sporting history with Rio Olympics medal haul

Head of delegation Liu Peng said the 410-strong squad of athletes mostly met their objectives, winning 26 gold medals, with a largely inexperienced and young group.

Team GB has 27 golds to China’s 26 – and with more silvers as well – 22 to 18 – it is now impossible for China to overhaul Great Britain in second place with just one more athlete in action.

“Also, recently more countries have been giving more attention to the Olympic Games and therefore the level of competition is fierce and stronger than before”.

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Britain is now “a sporting superpower”, one of the prime architects of its stunning success at the Rio Olympics on Sunday.

“We need to improve mentally, and there were some instances where coaching and training were not good enough and need to be improved”. We need more experiences and learning.”.

“Because when these athletes are facing fierce competition and challenges they have to think too much.

But he had warm words for swimmer Fu Yuanhui, whose bubbly personality and frank comments – rare for a Chinese athlete – won hearts at home and overseas.

“This is something that touched audiences on the very deepest level”. Her ‘prehistoric strength, as she put it, fully demonstrated the modern Chinese athletes: theyre confident, theyre active and theyve fully pushing forward.”.

“We have fully demonstrated our Chinese spirit.

Boxer Nicola Adams with her gold medal.

Having won more than 200 gold medals since their Olympic debut at Los Angeles 1984, China have surprisingly been way off the pace set by the United States. It was considered a sign that China finally was able to claim a place among world powers, a huge boost to national pride.

The fever only grew as China sought better Olympic performances and the ultimate goal of hosting the Games.

Richardson-Walsh and wife Helen became the first same-sex married couple to win an Olympic gold in the same final in the historic victory over the Netherlands.

China’s gold medal tally climbed to 28 in Sydney, 32 in Athens and 51 in Beijing.

Scottish athletes have also enjoyed an extremely successful games with a current total of 12 medals, also their best result at an “away Olympics” and just one short of their London total.

Ning Zetao, another swimmer, came home empty-handed from Rio but still grabbed headlines because of his undiminished popularity back in China. TomDaley’s bid for Olympic gold was dashed after he failed to qualify from the semi-finals of the 10 metres platform event on Saturday afternoon.

“The public has gone to another extreme – tolerance of non-champions and even adoration of them”, wrote Li Ruyi, a veteran Chinese sports writer.

Under the most pressure are Chinese gymnasts, who came home with two bronzes this year, the worst performance ever in 32 years.

Wins in cycling, rowing and athletics also helped to push Team GB up the table.