Great Britain at the Olympics

Updated on Dec 31, 2023

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IOC code GBR 299 301		273 299 301 873

NOC British Olympic Association Medals Gold Silver Bronze Total 273 299 301 873

Great Britain or Team GB is the team that sends athletes from the United Kingdom (UK), all but three of its overseas territories, and the three Crown dependencies, to the Olympic Games. It has sent athletes to every Games since the start of the Olympics' modern era in 1896, including the 1980 Summer Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics, which were boycotted by a number of other nations on each occasion. From 1896 to 2016 inclusive, Great Britain has won 847 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, and another 26 at the Winter Olympic Games. It is the only national team to have won at least one Gold Medal at every Summer Games, and lies third globally in the winning of both Gold Medals and total medals, surpassed only by the United States and the former Soviet Union.

It is organised by the British Olympic Association (BOA) as the National Olympic Committee for the UK. While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and BOA both refer to the team as 'Great Britain' and the team uses the brand name Team GB, the BOA explains that it is a contraction of the full title, the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team. Great Britain was one of 14 teams to compete in the first Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, and is one of only three nations (France and Switzerland being the others) to have competed at every Summer and Winter Olympic Games.

The most successful British Olympians by gold medals won are Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, who have won six gold (and one silver) medals each in track cycling; two British Olympians come next with five gold medals - fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins, and Sir Steve Redgrave, who won five gold medals in five consecutive Games in rowing, a record for an endurance event. Sailor Sir Ben Ainslie jointly holds the Great Britain record for most individual Olympic gold medals with Chris Hoy and Mo Farah with four, and the most gold medals in a single event with three gold medals (in the Men's Finn class sailing event 2004-2012) - again shared with Jason Kenny (men's team sprint 2008-2016) and Steve Redgrave (men's coxless pair 1988-96). Sir Chris Hoy holds the record for gold medals in different events, having reached the top step in four different disciplines - men's kilo, men's team sprint, men's match sprint and men's kierin.

Cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins has the most overall medals by a British Olympian (and thus often referred to in the media as the "most decorated British Olympian") with eight. Sir Steve Redgrave is the only British Olympian to win a Gold Medal in five consecutive Olympic Games, winning his first in 1984 Los Angeles and last in 2000 Sydney. With five golds and a bronze, Redgrave is the most successful Olympic male rower of all time.

The most successful female Olympian for GB is cyclist Laura Trott, who has four gold medals, while the most decorated female Olympians are Katherine Grainger and Kathleen McKane Godfree, with five medals each - one gold and four silver for Grainger, a gold, two silver and two bronze for McKane Godfree. Alongside five time gold medalist Redgrave, Grainger, Ainslie, Wiggins and Jack Beresford are the only British Olympians to win medals of any colour in five successive Games. In 1908, the country finished in the Olympic table in first place for the first and only time in its history; its most successful performance both post-War and away from a home Games was in 2016, finishing second.

The most successful Winter Olympians from Great Britain are Jeannette Altwegg, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, each with one gold and one bronze medal, the latter two as a pair in ice dance.

Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny are jointly the most successful cyclists in Olympic history and Ben Ainslie, with four golds at consecutive Games and a silver medal, is the most successful sailor in Olympic history.

As a non-alpine nation, Great Britain has found the bulk of its success in the Summer Olympics. Despite this, Great Britain is the most successful nation in women's skeleton, having won a medal four times, one for each time the event has been held, including a gold medal for Amy Williams in 2010, and the same for Lizzy Yarnold in 2014. Great Britain enjoyed a period of significant success between 1976 and 1984 in figure skating, winning golds in three successive games on the rink, while a mainly Scottish team has made Great Britain a repeated contender in the curling events. Prior to the 2014 Games all Britain's winter olympic medals had been won in sports performed on ice. Snowboarder Jenny Jones became the first British athlete to win a medal on snow in the 90 years of the winter games when she won a bronze medal in the women's slopestyle event.

Great Britain has hosted the Summer Games on three occasions - 1908, 1948 and 2012, all in London - second only to the United States. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Great Britain became the first country to win more medals at a Summer Olympics immediately after hosting a Summer Olympics; they won 67 medals overall, coming in second place in the medal table ahead of China, two more than in London in 2012. This success came 20 years after finishing 36th in the medal table, after winning just one gold and fourteen other medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which led to significant changes into the management and funding of British sports and facilities.

Eligibility

As the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for the United Kingdom, the British Olympic Association (BOA) membership encompasses the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales), plus the three Crown dependencies (Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey), and all but three of the British overseas territories (Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda having their own NOCs).

Representatives of the devolved Northern Ireland government from a unionist background, however, have objected to the name "Team GB", and have called for it to be renamed as Team UK to make it clearer that Northern Ireland is included on the team.

Under the IOC charter, the Olympic Council of Ireland is responsible for the entire island of Ireland. However, athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent either the UK or Ireland at the Olympics, as people from Northern Ireland. A number of Northern Ireland born athletes, particularly in boxing, have won medals for Ireland at the Games.

Hosted Games

London is the only city in the UK that has hosted the games, and the only city in the world to have hosted them three times.

Medal tables

*Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Medals by individual

According to official data of the International Olympic Committee. This is a list of people who have won three or more Olympic gold medals for Great Britain. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included. It includes top-three placings in 1896 and 1900, before medals were awarded for top-three placings.

People in bold are still active competitors

In addition to the above, the female British Olympian with the most medals (five) is rower Katherine Grainger who, from 2000-2016 won one gold and four silver medals. Kathleen McKane Godfree also won five medals, but were one gold, two silvers, and two bronzes.

Most successful in their sport

Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny (both cycling) , Ben Ainslie (sailing) and Alastair Brownlee (Triathlon) are the most successful Olympic competitors in their sports, as of 2016.

Steve Redgrave and Reginald Doherty are the most successful male athletes in their respective sports, rowing and tennis, while Nicola Adams is the most successful female Olympian in boxing. In addition, Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb with two gold medals in sailing, Amy Williams and Lizzy Yarnold in skeleton and Stephanie Cook in modern pentathlon) share the position as most successful woman in their respective sports.

Badminton

Great Britain has competed in all Badminton events held at the Summer Olympics since badminton made its full debut as an Olympic sport in 1992.

The figures from 1972 do not count towards the total as badminton was a demonstration sport.

Boxing

Great Britain made its Olympic boxing debut in 1908.

Cricket

Great Britain and France were the only two nations to compete in the only Olympic cricket match, in 1900. The British team won, making them the only nation to win an Olympic cricket contest and the only Olympic gold medalists in cricket.

Diving

Great Britain made its Olympic diving debut in 1908.

Equestrian

Great Britain first competed in the 1912 competition having not competed in the first event held in 1900.

Fencing

Great Britain won its first fencing medal, a silver, in 1908 at the London Games.

Figure skating

Great Britain hosted the first Olympic figure skating contests in 1908.

Football

Great Britain and Ireland – now represented separately by Team Ireland and Team Great Britain – was one of three nations to play in the inaugural football tournament, winning their only match to take the first Olympic gold medal in football. They competed in the nine Olympics in the table below.

In 1974, the FA abolished the distinction between "amateur" and "professional" footballers in England. This ended the practice of "shamateurism", where players claimed to be amateur but still got irregular payments from their clubs. Also, Great Britain is not a member of FIFA and its athletes participate in international football competitions as members of the national teams of the home nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), none of which have National Olympic Committees. As a result, Great Britain usually does not participate in Olympic qualifying tournaments.

Golf

Great Britain was one of four nations to play golf at the first Olympic golf events in 1900. They did not compete in the Olympic golf competition held in 1904. When the sport returned in the 2016 Rio Olympics, after a 112-year absence, Justin Rose won gold.

Gymnastics

Great Britain's first gymnastics medal came in 1908 with a silver in the men's individual all-around. Until 2008, Great Britain's last medal for gymnastics was a Bronze in the Women's all-round team event in 1928. At the 2012 Summer Games in London, Great Britain equaled its tally for all previous games combined, winning 4 medals to bring their all-time total to eight.

Handball

Great Britain's men's and women's handball teams were allowed to take up host places at the 2012 Olympics. This is the only time that Great Britain has competed in handball at the Olympics.

Hockey

Great Britain hosted the first Olympic field hockey tournament in 1908.

Jeu de paume

Great Britain hosted the only Olympic jeu de paume tournament in 1908.

Judo

Great Britain has competed in all judo events held at the Summer Olympics since judo made its full debut as an Olympic sport in 1964. Although Great Britain has won 18 judo medals, none have been gold.

Lacrosse

Great Britain's Olympic lacrosse debut was in 1908.

Modern pentathlon

Great Britain's Olympic modern pentathlon debut was in 1912 when the it was first included in the Olympics. Since the women's event was added in 2000, Great Britain has medalled in that event at every Games. The most successful Games was in 2000, when Great Britain won the gold and bronze medals.

Polo

Great Britain was one of four nations to compete in the debut of Olympic polo. Three of the five teams had British players, and those three teams took both the top two places and split the third place with the Mexican team.

Rackets

Great Britain hosted the only Olympic rackets tournament, in 1908.

Rowing

Britain took a bronze medal in the first Olympic rowing competition, in 1900.

Rugby

Britain took a silver medal in the first Olympic rugby competition, in 1900.

Sailing

Britain took four gold medals in the first Olympic sailing events in 1900. In addition, British sailors were part of two mixed teams that won gold.

Shooting

Great Britain's first shooting medals came when the nation hosted the 1908 Games, at which the British shooters dominated the competitions. There were 215 shooters from 14 nations in the shooting events, including 67 from Great Britain.

Swimming

Great Britain was the third most successful nation in swimming in 2008, with 2 golds, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes, with Rebecca Adlington winning two of these, making her the most successful female British swimmer in 100 years.

Synchronized swimming

Great Britain appeared in the first synchronized swimming competition in 1984.

Taekwondo

Great Britain have competed in all four taekwondo competitions that have taken place since 2000. Their best result is a gold,silver and bronze in 2016.

Tennis

John Pius Boland dominated the 1896 tennis tournaments. Tennis in 1896 was a sport that allowed mixed teams, and both Boland and George S. Robertson joined partners from other nations to win their medals. Britain again dominated in 1900, taking all four gold medals and adding seven others (three as part of mixed teams).

Triathlon

Great Britain have competed in all four triathlon competitions that have taken place since 2000. Their best finish is a 1st and 2nd place in the men's triathlon, and 3rd place finish in the women's triathlon, in 2016.

Tug of war

Great Britain's Olympic tug of war debut came when the nation hosted the Games in 1908. Great Britain was then one of only two teams to compete in 1912 and also won the last Tug of War competition held in the Olympics in 1920.

Volleyball

Prior to participating, as host nation, in the 2012 volleyball tournaments, Great Britain had never competed in Olympic volleyball with the exception of the women's team participating in the inaugural Beach volleyball tournament in 1996.

Water motorsports

Great Britain hosted the only Olympic water motorsports contests, in 1908.

References

Great Britain at the Olympics Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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