Paris 2024: Team GB's top 10 Moments

Paris 2024 11 Aug 24

Team GB kicked off Paris 2024 with medals on the very first morning, and then brought down the curtain with a second successive weightlifting medal for Emily Campbell.

In all, Team GB came away with 65 medals, one more than in Tokyo three years ago, and over the course of 16 days of action – plus two more before the Opening Ceremony – the magical moments just kept on coming.

We have picked out ten of the best from a memorable Games in France:

Tom Pidcock – Men’s mountain-biking

In Tokyo, Tom Pidcock won the first British gold medal of the Games with a relatively unexpected mountain bike triumph.

Three years on, he pitched up at Elancourt Hill as the favourite to retain his title. And yet when his front wheel punctured at the end of the third lap of eight, suddenly the equation changed.

France’s Victor Koretzky started to build a lead, and Pidcock had to bury himself to kept back in the medal hunt. He is no ordinary cyclist though, and not only did he get back up to the leaders, it was Pidcock who rolled through in first place going into the final lap.

Still, that took a lot of energy and when Koretzky attacked, it seemed as though Pidcock had nothing left to give. Looks can be deceiving though, and at the crucial moment, just before the duo came out of the darkness into the light of the home straight, Pidcock seized his chance, darting left past a tree as Koretzky went right and sneaking in front of the home favourite for gold.

One of the most entertaining final laps of any mountain bike race, won thanks to perhaps the most daring move of Pidcock’s career.

Keely Hodgkinson – Women’s 800m

Over the last three years, Keely Hodgkinson has done everything possible in 800m running except win a major intercontinental gold medal.

But when she arrived in Paris this year, the sense was that this was her time. Athing Mu, who beat Hodgkinson to gold in Tokyo and then the following year in Eugene was absent, but reigning world and Commonwealth champion Mary Moraa, of Kenya, stood in her way.

Having been dominant through the heats and semi-finals, all the pressure was on Hodgkinson in the final.

She coped with it and then some. Dictating the race and leading the pack, Hodgkinson still had Moraa on her shoulder coming into the back straight, a concern given the Kenyan’s propensity for a fast finish.

But there was no reason to worry, Hodgkinson had another gear or two and before anyone could try to run her down, she just stepped it up and ran away from the field. After Olympic silver, two World silvers and Commonwealth silver, Hodgkinson chose the perfect moment to strike gold on the biggest stage of all.

Alex Yee – Men’s triathlon

Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde have developed a thrilling rivalry in triathlon since taking silver and bronze respectively in Tokyo.

While triathlon is an unpredictable sport with lots of contenders, conventional wisdom suggested that the Kiwi and the Brit would be the two main challengers for gold.

That is how it played out in the heart of Paris, but when Wilde pulled clear of Yee on the run, a second successive silver looked inevitable. If anything, the French duo of Léo Bergère and Pierre le Corre were the bigger concern, with Yee admitting afterwards that he was going through a bad patch.

He trailed by 15 seconds at the bell but with a kilometre and a half to go, Yee found his second wind and streaked past Wilde for a gold medal that was as impressive as it had seemed unlikely minutes earlier.

Women’s quadruple sculls

Great Britain’s rowers enjoyed a regatta for the ages in Paris, turning things around from Tokyo as 36 of 42 athletes made it onto the podium.

There were some incredible performances, including golds for the men’s eight and the women’s lightweight double sculls, while the women’s four and the men’s pair were both agonisingly close before settling for silver.

The race of the regatta, though, came in the women’s quadruple sculls. Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw trailed the Netherlands for 1950 metres, possibly even more.

But on the very final stroke, they somehow found the strength to move into first and claim a sensational gold.

It was a dramatic victory, and particularly poignant afterwards when Anderson revealed afterwards that her father Don, who has since passed away from cancer, had kept an old diary entry she wrote as a teenager about her dream of becoming Olympic champion.

Team showjumping

At London 2012, Scott Brash, Ben Maher and Nick Skelton won team showjumping gold alongside Peter Charles.

Now, 12 years on, Brash and Maher were part of the team that repeated the feat in the spectacular surrounds of Versailles, alongside the next generation of the Charles family – 25-year-old Harry.

This one was particularly tense. Maher put GB in top spot after the first rotation of riders, scoring just one time penalty point.

Charles then rode clear, and by the time Brash came out, the equation was simple – go clear with no more than two time penalties, and GB would be champions.

He gave everyone a scare, rubbing two bars but crucially not knocking either down. And with Peter watching on, his old teammates and his son brought home gold for GB.

Sir Andy Murray – Tennis

Perhaps Great Britain’s greatest-ever sportsman, Sir Andy Murray announced before Paris that he would call time on his remarkable career after the Games.

It was a fitting stage on which to depart, after all, he is the only person in history to have won two Olympic tennis singles golds.

On this occasion, Murray was just playing in the men’s doubles, alongside Dan Evans, and in typical Murray fashion, they kept us on the edge of our seats.

An opening round clash with Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori of Japan saw the Brits save five match points in a classic Murray escape act.

They did it again in the next round against Joran Vliegen and Sander Gille, saving another match point before finally the magic ran out against Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

Still, for a last hurrah, this was typical Murray. Even as his body has declined, his fighting spirit remains as remarkable as anyone in the game.

Bryony Page – Women’s trampoline

One of the most heartwarming golds of the Games was won at Bercy Arena as Bryony Page completed her Olympic set in style.

The 33-year-old was well-fancied in the trampolining following her World Championship success last year but was forced to modify that routine due to a niggling ankle injury.

Page has overcome countless setbacks over the years and did so again here, soaring to the top of the leaderboard and staying there to add to her Rio silver and Tokyo bronze.

She has her sights set on performing as part of Cirque du Soleil in future but for now she is revelling in her career highlight, which has also led to her carrying the flag at the Closing Ceremony.

"I'm shocked, surprised, overwhelmed, every emotion that you can think of," she said.

"It's such a beautiful medal as well, it’s got a bit of the Eiffel Tower in. So yeah, I completed it.”

Toby Roberts – Men’s sport climbing combined

Toby Roberts psyched himself up for a shot at Olympic climbing gold by listening to the Eminem classic ‘Lose Yourself’.

At 19, Roberts was born three years after Eminem released that song on the soundtrack to the film ‘8 Mile’.

But a quick look at the lyrics explains just why it is so appropriate for a budding climber:

“Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?”

Sitting third after the bouldering section of this men’s Olympic sport climbing final, Roberts waited in the isolation area as his rivals took on a 15-metre wall in turn in the decisive lead section.

By the time he walked out to be greeted by the crowd at Le Bourget, Eminem’s words still rattling around his head, Roberts knew what he needed to do to make the podium.

In six minutes, the equation was thus: 77 points to overtake Austria’s Jakob Schubert to go top, 74 for second. By the time he fell from the wall, he had 92.1.

Still, 17-year-old prodigy Sorato Anraku from Japan had won the bouldering and is the world champion in both disciplines.

The assumption was that he would score the 86 points he needed for gold, and Roberts would take a well-earned silver.

But just as he approached the decisive spot on the wall, Anraku lost his grip, let it slip. Roberts, like everyone else, could not believe it.

Amber Rutter – Women’s skeet

Amber Rutter made history by winning women’s skeet silver, just three months after becoming a mother for the first time.

The 26-year-old was competing at her second Games, having made her debut in Rio as a teenager before missing Tokyo 2020 with Covid.

Bouncing back from that disappointment as well as returning from pregnancy, Rutter was nerveless as she qualified third for the final at Chateauroux.

Rutter stepped it up a level in the final, missing just five shots, before eventually losing to Chile's Francisca Crovetto Chadid in a shoot-off.

It did nothing to take the shine of her incredible silver, and was congratulated by son Tommy afterwards, a fitting end to a remarkable achievement.

"To turn around and see my son there and my husband, he completely surprised me, I had no idea he was coming," she said.

"The fact I was able to celebrate with him. Tommy might not be able to remember it, but it’s a moment in time that I will certainly remember and I know James, my husband, will too."

Swimming - Matt Richards, Duncan Scott, James Guy, Tom Dean

They did what no British relay team has ever done before: successfully defend their Olympic title.

Three years on from their Tokyo 2020 feat, the fantastic four of Duncan Scott, Matt Richards, Tom Dean and James Guy clinched back-to-back 4x200m freestyle relay victories in Paris in a time of 6:59.43.

It was Team GB's first gold in the swimming pool of Paris 2024 and their fourth of the Games overall.

And it was something that no British relay had been able to do at the Olympics, either in the pool or on the track. Until now.

Scott said: "I think we are the first male or female [team] to defend a relay title, and there have been so many great individual athletes in that run.

"When we come together as a team, it is really special. Me and Jimmy [James Guy] were part of the team in 2016, and to get three Olympic medals in a row is amazing.

"I am just so proud of what we were all able to do out there. It was so loud, the atmosphere was phenomenal.

"I am just proud of how we all swam our legs. Jimmy did a lifetime best this morning, his best since 2015, and then Tom and Matt also brought it back so strong. I am buzzing with that."

Sportsbeat 2024

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