How Team GB Performed at the 2024 Paris Olympics

There has been a great deal of sport over the summer months of 2024, with all the usual annual highlights such as the Open and Wimbledon, plus the Euros and Copa America in football and, of course, the Olympic Games. The Paris Olympics were the 33rd summer Games and they were hugely enjoyable for anyone with an interest in sport and an admiration for those prepared to push themselves to the limits of human accomplishment.

There were so many highlights, including an incredibly tight, exciting 100m men’s final, a 1500m battle royale between two great rivals that was won by a third, unheralded athlete, the coolest Turkish shooter you could ever wish to see and a word record in the pole vault. There was an incredible performance by Sifan Hassan, who won the women’s marathon, having, somehow, already won medals in the 10,000m and 5,000m. We could talk about the brilliant, enduring brilliance of Simone Biles, the feats of local hero Leon Marchand in the pool, the amazing world record of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the women’s 400m hurdles, and so much more.

But instead, we are going to focus solely on Team GB and assess how well the 300+ athletes that represented the nation did. Did they hit their medal target and which sports did particularly well – or poorly? What were the highlights and where did we come up short?

The Medal Table

One of the most obvious places to start is the medal table, although this itself is often controversial. When a team wins a lot of golds, they are more than happy with the way the table is ordered – based first on golds – but if a team claims a lot of medals in total, but relatively few golds, all of a sudden basing it on first-place finishers is somehow unfair.

Nonetheless, that is the way it has been done for as long as anyone cares to remember and is in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s official methodology. Much as the Olympics is often viewed as being about goodwill, sporting behaviour and fair play, the Games’ motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, or for those who skipped Latin, “Faster, Higher, Stronger”.

In 2021, perhaps in light of the global health crisis at the time, “Communiter” was also added, and whilst there may now be an official recognition of the unifying power of sport, the notion of “Together” is definitely secondary to the importance of winning. As such, we feel the emphasis on gold medals is correct.

Based on the traditional table, Team GB came seventh. They won 14 golds, which was one more than South Korea, but one fewer than Netherlands. Here is how the UK compared to the top five countries:

On this metric alone, one might say it was a poor Games. Great Britain (and Northern Ireland) were fourth in Tokyo, second in Rio, third in London 2012, and fourth in the 2008 Olympics in China. In 2004, Team GB finished 10th, as they had done four years earlier in Australia.

It was their worst tally of golds since the 2004 Athens games too, and they won eight fewer than in Tokyo and amassed less than half their record recent tally of 29 on home soil in 2012.

Total Medals Paints a Better Picture

Whilst we think it is right that golds are the first criteria used to rank nations, they do not tell the whole story. The gap between first and second can be literally thousandths of a second, a millimetre, or a tiny fraction of a point. Looking at overall medals gives us a fuller picture and in this regard Team GB did better.

They got 65 medals, a tally only bettered in recent times by Rio, where they won 67. Before that we would have to go all the way back to the London Games of 1908 when the hosts got an incredible 56 golds and 146 medals in all. As such, 65 was a brilliant haul, the same as 2012 and one better than the last Games, held in Japan in 2021. In terms of total medals, only USA (126) and China (91) bettered that, with hosts France garnering 64 overall.

Perhaps more importantly, the team met the goals that had been set for them by their funding agency. UK Sport had set a target of between 50 and 70 medals, so coming in at the top end of that has to represent a success. The conversion rate of overall medals to golds was lower than has been the norm, but it is perhaps harsh to be too judgemental about that, when such tiny margins and natural variance are involved.

In addition, though there are no official stats on fourth-placed finishes, we believe that the team just missed out on a medal in 10 or more events. Once again, when just tiny fractions can be the difference between a bronze and “failure”, this should be taken into account when considering how well Great Britain did.

Good Games for Some But Not All

As well as total medals and the target, which with a bracket 20 medals wide (50 to 70) is rather non-specific, it is also worth looking at how Team GB fared in each individual sport. Considering broad targets that had been mentioned for each discipline, plus the funding for the different sports, we can see how the various groups of athletes got on.

Cycling & Rowing Bring in the Most Medals

Cycling delivered the most medals in total, with 11, whilst rowing brought Team GB more golds (three) than any other sport. However, these are both sports where there are many medals up for grabs, so we cannot necessarily draw direct comparisons.

Track & Field and Swimming Performed Solidly

That said, the rowers did very well, winning medals with eight of their 10 boats. Considering the return from Tokyo was two medals and no golds, that was a great result. Track and field stars, like the cyclists, performed solidly, though Molly Caudery’s failure to reach the final of the pole vault when she was well fancied for gold was a disappointment. The swimmers also did pretty well, with Adam Peaty’s comeback a highlight, despite him just missing out on gold.

Diving Brings in Five Medals

It was a good Games for GB divers, with five medals. Four were bronze but given diving’s relatively small funding allowance, and the dominance of China, it was a great haul.

Sailing & Boxing Well Below Par

Britain’s sailors were perhaps the most disappointing, despite being one of the better-funded events. One gold and one bronze was well below par, whilst Team GB’s boxers also flattered to deceive. Only one made it past the first round, though Lewis Richardson did go on to collect a bronze.