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Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Olympics



         


Great Britain (the name under which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competes at the Olympics) sent a wide-ranging delegation to the 2004 Summer Olympics, continuing its ubiquitous presence in the Olympic games — the only country to have sent competitors to every summer and winter games since the birth of the modern Olympics in 1896. Great Britain's 271 athletes competed in 22 disciplines throughout the two-week event. The team entered the opening ceremony behind the Union Flag carried by judoka Kate Howey. Double gold medal winner Kelly Holmes carried the flag at the closing ceremony.

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Chronology

The delegation started the Olympics slowly, the silver its divers won on August 14 being the first of only a few opening-week medals. Although a sprinkling of silver and bronze medals — including a pair in men's and women's k1 kayak slalom — enlivened the mid-week, Britain's first gold did not come until Friday the 20th (won by Chris Hoy in the 1 km track cycling time-trial).

Then, on 21 August ("Golden Saturday") Britain's contributions to the medal table became more significant. First Britain's traditional strength in rowing continued as the men's coxless four, stroked by Matthew Pinsent, narrowly won gold, a defining moment since this was Pinsent's fourth gold medal in as many games. Sailor Ben Ainslie wrapped up a successful few days of racing with a gold, as did the women's Yngling sailboats who were finally awarded the gold medal they had sewn up on Thursday. Bradley Wiggins continued Britain's cycling success, winning gold in the 4 km pursuit. Young swimmer David Davies, coming third in the 1500 m Freestyle, set a European record in the process and won Britain's second swimming medal of the games — a notable improvement over the 2000 Sydney games from which the swimmers had returned empty-handed. Also on Saturday, it was announced that, after an appeal, Leslie Law would be promoted from silver to gold in the three-day equestrian eventing (and his team from bronze to silver). As the games' aquatic-dominated first week shifted into a second week focused more on track and field events, Kelly Sotherton came third in the heptathlon.

Sunday 22 August brought another rowing medal. However, marathon favourite Paula Radcliffe failed to cope with the heat of Athens and did not finish. The timing of the race with a late afternoon start, supposedly to appease US broadcasters, produced some controversy since summer marathons normally start early in the morning to avoid the heat.

23 August saw Britain's first Gold medal of the track and field events, Kelly Holmes winning the women's 800 metres. This was Britain's first gold medal on the track since Sally Gunnell won the 400 metre hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona games.

By claiming bronze in the Madison cycling on 25 August, to add to his earlier individual gold and a silver from the team pursuit, Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton for 40 years to claim three medals in one games.

The evening of Saturday 28 August saw Britain's medal hunt centered on the Olympic Stadium. Steve Backley, in his final javelin competition, failed to win the gold he had been seeking since 1992, finishing fourth. Kelly Holmes achieved the middle-distance double, taking gold in the 1500 metres. The men's 4x100 metre relay team won a surprising victory, winning gold ahead of the American team. Earlier in the day, Ian Wynne had added to the medal haul, with a bronze medal in the K1 kayak class, competing despite an ankle injury picked up the day before.

The final day of the games, 29 August, saw Amir Khan collect Britain's last medal of the event with a silver in boxing's lightweight division.

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Overall performance

In the final medal table, Great Britain finished in 10th place overall. The BBC stated that this was "the best British performance in the modern era", and quantified this with further considerations: "GB won 37 in 1984, but that was a boycott-hit Games missing the Eastern Bloc countries. Take Los Angeles out of the picture, and this was Britain's best haul since 1924."

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Medals


Gold Silver Bronze Total
Great Britain 991230


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Gold

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Silver

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Bronze

Men's individual:

Women's individual:

Women's team:

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Athletics

Men's 100 metres:

Women's 100 metres:

Men's 110 metre hurdles:

Women's 100 metre hurdles:

Men's 3000 metre steeplechase:

Men's 4x400 metre relay:

Men's marathon:

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Badminton

Men's singles:

Women's singles:

Men's doubles:

Women's doubles:

Mixed doubles:

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Boxing

57-60 kg:

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Canoeing

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Cycling

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Diving

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Equestrian

Eventing medals are preliminary, prior to IOC confirmation of awards.
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Fencing

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Gymnastics

Women's Artistic Gymnastics:

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Hockey

Men's: 9th place

Players: Tom Bertram, Graham Dunlop, Guy Fordham, Brett Garrard, Danny Hall, Ben Hawes, Mike Johnson, Jimi Lewis, Simon Mason, Barry Middleton, Graham Moodie, Rob Moore, Craig Parnham, Mark Pearn, Niall Stott, Jimmy Wallis

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Judo

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Modern Pentathlon

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Rowing

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Sailing

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Shooting

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Swimming

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Taekwondo

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Tennis

Men's Singles:

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Triathlon

Men's Triathlon:

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Weightlifting

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Wrestling


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Media coverage

The main rights to Olympic coverage in the UK are held by the BBC, under the ITC Code on Sports and Other Listed Events. 2004 marked the first year that digital television and webcasts were used to cover an Olympic Games. The digital television service allowed up to five streamed channels covering the games, allowing more extensive coverage of minor sports, whilst the BBC's website permitted UK broadband users to view live streams from a variety of events, and other countries to view delayed highlights. Live broadcasts were run throughout the day, with a highlights program on BBC1 following the close of the day's events.

The BBC's coverage was anchored (at various times of the day) by Craig Doyle, Claire Balding, Suzi Perry, Sue Barker, Steve Rider, Hazel Irvine and Steve Cram. Expert analysts and commentators included Sharron Davies, Jonathan Edwards, Sally Gunnell, Michael Johnson, Colin Jackson, and Steve Redgrave.

Eurosport also ran coverage of the Games viewable in the UK - in accordance with the ITC Code, it can show live events, provided that such events can also be broadcast by the BBC (although the BBC can choose not to do so).

Radio coverage was provided by BBC Radio Five Live, and the events were also covered by the sports pages of the major newspapers.

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Related topics

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