PARIS: Britain’s Team GB finished the Paris Olympic Games with 65 medals, one more than in Tokyo three years and the same tally as in London in 2012.
Dame Katherine Grainger, chair of UK Sport and a part-time TV rowing pundit along the way, said: “I’m exceptionally proud of how every British athlete has performed here in Paris.
“Each and every one of them has worked incredibly hard to reach the pinnacle of their sport and play their part in another thrilling chapter of Great Britain’s Olympic success story. That story is now one of continued, consistent success as a leading Olympic nation in The National Lottery funded era.
“Our athletes have inspired us and made the nation proud and while the sport is over, for now, I’m excited to see many of the Olympic class of 2024 return home and use their platform to make a positive impact in society.
“Sport has an ability to bring us together and British athletes have told us that they want to do more in their communities to make a positive difference.
Dr Kate Baker, UK Sport’s director of performance, added: “Winning more than 60 medals for the fourth consecutive Games, something only matched by the US and China, should not be underestimated and huge credit should go to the brilliant athletes who have impressed and inspired in Paris.
“The foundation of that continued success as a leading Olympic nation is based on our high-performance community’s ability to wrap the best support around talented athletes to enable them to fulfil their ambitions.”
PARIS: Team GB picked up two more bronze medals on the final day of Paris 2024, as Emma Finucane made history and Emily Campbell won Team GB’s final medal of the Games.
It means Team GB have finished on 65 medals, surpassing their total from Tokyo and matching their total from London 2012.
Emma Finucane won her third medal of the Olympics, securing a bronze in the women’s sprint with a confident bronze medal race win.
The 21-year-old, who already had team sprint gold and keirin bronze to her name, saw off Dutch rider Hetty van der Wouw in back to back races after losing her semi-final to New Zealand’s gold medallist Ellesse Andrews.
That makes her the first female Team GB to win three medals at a single Games since Mary Rand in 1964.
Finucane said: “I’m really proud that I could deliver on the final day and to come home with another bronze medal is unreal, I can’t believe it.
“I haven’t properly celebrated the team sprint or the keirin, so I get to celebrate all three and I’m just going to live my best life now after the Games.”
Teammate Sophie Capewell finished fifth, winning the fifth to eighth ranking race after being beaten in the quarter-finals.
It means Team GB have picked up eight track cycling medals in total in Paris.
Elsewhere, Jack Carlin suffered a crash in the men’s keirin final, while teammate Hamish Turnbull finished 11th after coming off his bike in the semi-final.
Neah Evans finished 15th in the women’s omnium.
Weightlifting
Emily Campbell earned Team GB’s final medal of the Games with a bronze in the weightlifting.
Campbell, silver medallist from Tokyo, lifted 126kg in the snatch and 162kg in the clean and jerk for 288kg total.
The 30-year-old, Team GB’s sole weightlifting representative, finished behind world record holder China’s Li Wenwen and South Korea’s Park Hye-jeong.c
She said: “The standard was so, so high today and I really had to pull it out of the bag.
“I could not be more elated with my performance. It was actually a PB performance, so you can’t really complain when you do that.”
Elsewhere, Kerenza Bryson finished ninth in the women’s modern pentathlon, with defending Olympic champion Kate French having to pull out before the final through illness.
In the women’s marathon, Clara Evans was 46th, Rose Harvey 78th and Calli Hauger-Thackery did not finish.
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