Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

, represented by the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

(BOA), competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the

(BOA), and the team of selected athletes was officially known as

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

. Britain is one of only five

NOC A network on a chip or network-on-chip (NoC or )This article uses the convention that "NoC" is pronounced . Therefore, it uses the convention "a" for the indefinite article corresponding to NoC ("a NoC"). Other sources may pronounce it as an ...

s to have competed in every modern

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

since 1896. The delegation of 547 people included 311 competitors – 168 men, 143 women – and 236 officials. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom including

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

(whose people may elect to hold

Irish citizenship Irish nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of the Republic of Ireland. The primary law governing these regulations is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, which came into force on 17 July 1956. Re ...

and are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

at the Olympics). Additionally some

British overseas territories The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

compete separately from Britain in Olympic competition. Great Britain's medal performance at the

was its best in a century; at the close of the Games, the total medal count, 47, was also the fourth highest Great Britain had ever achieved. Only its performance at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were o ...

, which Britain hosted in London, resulted in more gold medals being awarded. Following retests of doping samples in 2016 in connection with the Russian doping scandal, four further medals, all bronze, were awarded in athletics, retrospectively increasing the total gained to 51. As of 1 July 2020, the award of the bronze medals to both the Men's and Women's 4 × 400 metres relay teams and the upgrade of

Goldie Sayers Katherine Dinah "Goldie" Sayers (born 16 July 1982), is a former British javelin thrower, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, United Kingdom. On 20 May 2007, Sayers set a new British record i ...

to bronze in the Women's javelin, confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), brought the official medal total to 50, after which the confirmation of Kelly Sotherton receiving her second reallocated bronze medal in the Women's Heptathlon (having been part of the Women's 4 × 400 metre team) took the total number of medals won to 51. Great Britain finished 4th overall in the medal tables, a target previously set by

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

, the public body responsible for distributing funding to elite sport, for the 2012 Games. UK Sport considered whether to target 3rd place in the 2012 Games, which was hosted by the United Kingdom in London. The outstanding individual achievement for a British athlete at the Games was when cyclist

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a wo ...

became the first British athlete in 100 years to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games. Because London was to be host city of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

, a British segment featuring football star

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending ...

was performed during the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

Medallists

The following British competitors won medals at the Games, all dates are August 2008. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medallists' names are in bold. , width="78%" align="left" valign="top" , , width="22%" align="left" valign="top" ,

Multiple medallists

The following Team GB competitors won multiple medals at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Targets

In June 2008,

, which distributes National Lottery funding to elite sport, published its expectations for the Games. It identified 41 potential medals to target and expected to win 35 of them, including 10 to 12 gold medals and to finish 8th in the overall medal table. Team GB exceeded the gold medal expectations on 19 August when

Paul Goodison Paul Martin Goodison MBE (born 29 November 1977, Brinsworth, Rotherham, South Yorkshire) is an English Olympic gold medal-winning sailor. Background He studied at Southampton Solent University completing an Undergraduate degree in ...

earned Britain's 13th gold medal in the men's Laser class. The minimum medal target, of 35 medals, was passed on 20 August when they claimed their 36th medal – a bronze in the women's RS:X, won by

Bryony Shaw Bryony Elisabeth Shaw (born 28 April 1983, Wandsworth) is a British Olympic windsurfer. Early life She first began windsurfing in the south of France in 1992. She attended Cheney Upper School near Headington in Oxford (where her ...

. The total medal target was equalled when canoeist

Tim Brabants Jules Timothy Brabants MBE (born 23 January 1977) is a British sprint kayaker who has competed since the late 1990s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won three medals with one gold (2008: K-1 1000 m) and two bronzes (2000: K-1 1000 m, 20 ...

took gold in the men's 1000 m K-1 claiming Britain's 41st physical medal (three further medals were guaranteed in boxing at the time). They later exceeded the total number of targeted medals when

Heather Fell Heather Fell (born 3 March 1983 in Plymouth, England) is a former British modern pentathlete turned triathlete. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal in the women's modern pentathlon event. Early life Fell grew up ...

secured the silver in women's modern pentathlon. The medals claimed were not all ones that had been targeted, with Team GB falling short of targets in some disciplines whilst exceeding them in others. Nine out of seventeen disciplines met their targets. The British cyclists, for example doubled their medal target on 19 August when Victoria Pendleton won Britain's 12th cycling medal, a gold in the women's sprint. A further two medals were already guaranteed at this stage in the men's individual sprint, where gold and silver were soon won by

and

Jason Kenny Sir Jason Francis Kenny, (born 23 March 1988) is an English former track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. Kenny is the holder of most Olympic gold medals (7) and medals (9) for a British athlete. His wife, Laura Ke ...

respectively. In all Team GB won seven of the ten gold medals up for grabs at the

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

. The swimmers also managed to double the targeted number of medals in their sport when David Davies won the team's sixth swimming medal – a silver medal in the men's 10 km open water marathon on 21 August. Despite the men's and women's archery teams having come second and third respectively at the 2007 world championships, British archers were unable to win either of their targeted medals. This led to criticism of the tactics used by head coach Peter Suk from members of the team. CyclingTeamPursuitBeijing2008

Archery

At the

2007 World Outdoor Target Championships The 2007 World Archery Championships was the 44th edition of the event. It was held in Leipzig, Germany on 7–15 July 2007 and was organized by International Archery Federation (FITA).http://old.archery.org/EventResults/ResultSummary.aspx?e=27 ...

, Great Britain's men's team placed second and its women's team placed third. This qualified the nation to send full teams of three men and three women to the Olympics. ;Men ;Women

Athletics

The initial squad was selected for the British team on 14 July; however, the final team was not confirmed until the outcome of a court case involving Dwain Chambers. Under the rules of the BOA, Chambers had been banned from future Games after testing positive for the steroid THG in 2003. His appeal to overturn that ban, on the grounds that it was an unfair restraint of trade, failed and he was omitted from the squad. The team included former Olympic medal winners

Marlon Devonish Marlon Ronald Devonish, (born 1 June 1976) is an English former sprinter who competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres. A prodigious relay runner with particular strength as a 'bend' runner, Devonish ran the third leg for the Great Britain ...

and Kelly Sotherton, as well as former Olympic individual finalists

Joanne Pavey Joanne Marie Pavey MBE (née Davis, born 20 September 1973) is a British long-distance runner and a World, European and Commonwealth medallist. She won the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2014 European Championships in Zürich, ten months a ...

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and 2002 Chicago Marath ...

Helen Clitheroe Helen Teresa Clitheroe (née Pattinson) (born 2 January 1974 in Preston, England) is a female former British middle and long-distance runner. Athletics career She competed in the 1500 m at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and in the 3000 ...

and

Tasha Danvers Tasha De'Anka Danvers (born 19 September 1977) is a British Olympic bronze medallist, who finished in third place in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was born in London to two athletes, Dorrett McKoy and Donald Danvers, ...

. Women's

marathon world record This list is a chronological progression of record times for the marathon. World records in the marathon are now ratified by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics. Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge set a world rec ...

holder

faced a battle to be fit for the Games due to a stress fracture in her left thigh. She eventually proved fit enough to start the race but struggled to finish in 23rd position. A total of four medals were won, one gold, two silver and one bronze.

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The org ...

performance director Dave Collins stood down after the Games. This was due in part to the team's failure to meet the

target of winning five medals,. Ironically, a series of retests ordered in the wake of the Russian doping scandal in 2015 and 2016 found that Great Britain athletes had been deprived of medals in a further four events by athletes later confirmed to have doped – the women's heptathlon ( Kelly Sotherton), the men's and women's 4 x 400-metre relay teams and women's javelin (

). When these medals are redistributed, Great Britain's 2008 athletics total of eight medals will be its most successful since the second world war, and 75% over target. ;Men ;Track & road events * Qualified for the team, but did not compete in any of the rounds ;Field events ;Combined events –

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

;Women ;Track & road events * Qualified for the team, but did not compete in any of the rounds ;Field events ;Combined events –

Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

* The athlete who finished in second place, Lyudmila Blonska of the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, tested positive for a banned substance. Both the A and the B tests were positive, therefore Blonska was stripped of her silver medal, and both British heptathletes moved up a position.

Badminton

Six British badminton players went to the Games, competing in four out of the five badminton events. They did not win any medals, thus failing to reach the one medal target set by

. The

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known ...

pairing of

Gail Emms Gail Elizabeth Emms MBE (born 23 July 1977) is a retired English badminton player who has achieved international success in doubles tournaments. A badminton player since the age of four, Emms was first chosen to represent England in 1995 and re ...

and

Nathan Robertson Nathan James Robertson (born 30 May 1977) from Cotgrave in Nottinghamshire is a retired English badminton player who has achieved international success in both the men's events and the mixed doubles event. He was educated at Dayncourt School Sp ...

, who won silver in the 2004 tournament, progressed furthest amongst the British athletes, reaching the quarterfinals.

Boxing

A total of eight boxers qualified. David Price and

Tony Jeffries Tony David Jeffries (born 2 March 1985) is an English former professional boxer who won a bronze medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2012, an undefeated Jeffries was forced to retire due to hand injuries. Life and career Jeffries was born ...

both won bronze medals in the super heavyweight and

light heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

divisions respectively. Middleweight

James DeGale James Frederick DeGale (born 3 February 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middlewe ...

won a gold medal in the

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

class. It was the first time that Great Britain has won more than one medal in boxing in a single games since

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

, and the best result for Great Britain in boxing since

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

Canoeing

Seven competitors joined Team GB for the canoeing events, with four in the flatwater and three in the slalom. Anna Hemmings and

Jessica Walker Jessica Samantha Walker (born 24 June 1990 in Brighton) is a British sprint canoeist who has competed since the late 2000s until present. She came 7th in the London 2012 K-1 200m final and 5th in the K-4 500m final. She also competed at ...

, in the K-2 kayaking pairs, were added later after complications with the Spanish team. Three medals were won, two by

, who had previously won a bronze at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney. This exceeded the target of two set by

Slalom

Sprint

Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final

Cycling

Team GB's cycling squad for Beijing totalled twenty five entrants in the four disciplines. Included were two reigning Olympic track cycling champions, Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins, plus a further two medal winners from 2004, as well as several reigning track world champions. Great Britain won fourteen cycling medals (eight gold, four silver and two bronze) in total to top the cycling medal table. The Cycling team won the BBC Sports team of the year award and was nominated for Laureus World team of the year. On the track

Mark Cavendish Mark Simon Cavendish (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . As a track cyclist he specialises in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he is a ...

was the only member of the squad of fourteen not to win at least one medal. Chris Hoy became Scotland's most successful Olympic competitor ever, and the first Briton to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games since Henry Taylor in 1908. His success resulted in the

for the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

in Glasgow being named in his honour. Rebecca Romero became the first British woman to win a medal in two different Olympic sports by following her silver medal in the

quadruple sculls A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated 4x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each hand. R ...

rowing in 2004 with gold in the women's individual pursuit. In the debut appearance of BMX events at the Olympics, world champion

Shanaze Reade Shanaze Danielle Reade (born 23 September 1988 in Crewe, Cheshire, United Kingdom) is a British former bicycle motocross (BMX) racer and track cyclist whose prime competitive years began in 2002. She has won the UCI BMX World Championships thr ...

finished out of the medals after crashing out of the women's final. Reade had been unbeaten all year and was the favourite to win the women's title. On the road Nicole Cooke's win in the women's road race provided the first Olympic gold for an athlete from

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

since Richard Meade in

Road

;Men ;Women

Track

;Sprint ;Pursuit Rebecca Romero

;Keirin ;Omnium

Mountain biking

BMX

Diving

A total of ten divers were part of Team GB in the individual and synchronised diving events, including 14-year-old

Tom Daley Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, the 2008 European 10 m champion and one of the youngest athletes to ever compete for Great Britain at an Olympics. ;Men ;Women

Equestrian

A total of twelve entrants competed for Team GB in the three equestrian disciplines that took place in Hong Kong.

Zara Phillips Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall (''née'' Phillips; born 15 May 1981) is a British equestrian, an Olympian, and the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips. She is the niece of King Charles III and is 20th in the line of suc ...

, the reigning world eventing champion and granddaughter of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

, had been included in the squad until her horse, Toytown, sustained an injury, which meant she missed her second successive Olympics.

Dressage

(Total scores are the average of qualifying round 2 and freestyle final for the individual competition, and average of individual round 1 scores for the team competition.)

Eventing

# – Indicates that points do not count in team total

Show jumping

* On 21 August, four horses from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

tested positive for a banned substance. The riders were subsequently disqualified from the individual competition and if the B samples test positive then Brazil, Germany and Norway will be disqualified from the team competition and Great Britain will move into 5th place.

Fencing

Great Britain qualified three fencers for the fencing competition. Two of these came from the re-allocation of places by the

Fédération Internationale d'Escrime The ''Fédération Internationale d'Escrime'' ( en, International Fencing Federation), commonly known by the acronym FIE, is the international governing body of Olympic fencing. Today, its head office is at the Maison du Sport International i ...

(FIE), the governing body for Olympic fencing, after the withdrawal of other fencers. ;Men ;Women

Field hockey

Men's tournament

The Great Britain men's team qualified for the men's Olympic field hockey tournament after a must-win game against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

in the final of the Olympic qualifying event. Great Britain was drawn in Group B of the Olympic tournament based on world rankings on 18 April 2008. Having finished 3rd in the pool the team went on to finish 5th overall, beating

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in the 5th vs. 6th place playoff.

Matt Daly Matthew "Matt" Daly (born 8 July 1983) is an English field hockey player. Daly made his international debut in 2005. He competed for England and Great Britain at numerous tournaments, including the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Daly was b ...

was the top scorer for the team with three goals. ;Team roster ;Group play ;Classification match for 5th/6th place

Women's tournament

The Great Britain Women's team qualified for the women's Olympic field hockey tournament during the

2007 Women's EuroHockey Nations Championship The 2007 Women's EuroHockey Nations Championship was the 8th edition of the women's field hockey championship organised by the European Hockey Federation. It was held in Manchester, England from August 18 to August 25, 2007. In the final, Ger ...

. Great Britain was drawn in Group B of the Olympic tournament based on world rankings on 5 May 2008. Having finished 3rd in the pool and proceeded to the 5th and 6th place classification match where they lost to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Crista Cullen was the team's top scorer in the tournament with 3 goals. ;Team roster ;Group play ;Classification match for 5th/6th place

Gymnastics

Team GB entered nine gymnasts into the artistic and trampoline events. Louis Smith, in winning the bronze medal in the men's pommel horse, became the first ever British gymnast to win an individual apparatus medal in

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

, and the first Briton to win any individual gymnastics medal since Walter Tysall won men's all-around medal in 1908. Laura Jones was originally chosen for the artistic gymnastics but, due to a

slipped disc Spinal disc herniation is an injury to the cushioning and connective tissue between vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, and physic ...

in her back, she was replaced by the reserve

Imogen Cairns Imogen Jayne Cairns (born 26 January 1989) is a British former artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Representing England, Cairns was a three-time Commonwealth Games champion in vault, twice, and in floor exercise. ...

Artistic

;Men ;Women ;Team ;Individual finals The result of the uneven bars final, in which Britain's Beth Tweddle placed 4th, was called into question after documents were found that seemed to say that Chinese gymnasts

He Kexin He Kexin (born January 1, 1992) is a Chinese former artistic gymnast who competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, she won gold medals on the uneven bars and as a member of the Chinese team. She was one of ...

and Yang Yilin were only 14, and therefore under the age required to compete, at the time of the games. An investigation into their ages was launched by the IOC to determine whether it was necessary to disqualify them, thus Tweddle's standing could have been changed to 2nd, giving her a silver medal. After a five-and-a-half-week investigation the Chinese athletes were cleared and the original results allowed to stand.

Trampoline

* Claire Wright was the only British competitor on the trampoline.

Judo

Team GB was represented by seven athletes in the Judo events. No British

Judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

made it past the quarterfinal stages of competition or through to the medal match of the

repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

, meaning the team failed to meet the two medal target set by

. ;Men ;Women

Modern pentathlon

Team GB sent the maximum allowance of four competitors for the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anc ...

events in Beijing. For the first time since

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, the team had entrants in the men's competition.

Rowing

There were 43 rowers in Team GB, the most since qualifying quotas were introduced after the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. Crews were fielded in 12 out of a possible 14 events making Team GB the fourth biggest team. Medals were won in 6 events, which meant that GB topped the rowing medal table. The medals won included gold in the

coxless four A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on th ...

, for the third successive games, and

Zac Purchase Zachary Jake Nicholas Purchase-Hill MBE (born 2 May 1986) is a retired English rower. Purchase won an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Both medals were won in the ...

and Mark Hunter winning Great Britain's first ever

lightweight rowing Lightweight rowing (abbreviated Lwt or Lt) is a category of rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation ( FISA), this weight category was introduced "to encourage more ...

Olympic medal in the men's lightweight double sculls. ;Men ;Women Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage * Substitutes in final because of illness:

Louisa Reeve Louisa Reeve (born 16 May 1984 in London) is a British rower who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. Rowing career Along with Olivia Whitlam she finished 6th in the women's coxless pair at the 2008 Summer Olympics ...

for Howard and Alice Freeman for Knowles

Sailing

Great Britain entered crews in all 11 sailing events at the Games. The team finished top of the sailing medal table, with six medals won, thus exceeding the target of four set by

Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutiv ...

won a gold medal for the third successive Games to become the most decorated British Olympic sailor of all time. ;Men ;Women ;Open M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race; CAN = Race cancelled; OCS = On the course side of the starting line;

Shooting

Team GB had a total of five competitors for the shooting disciplines at the 2008 Olympics, with four entered in the

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub- pr ...

events and one in the rifle events. ;Men ;Women

Swimming

Thirty-seven athletes represented Team GB in the swimming events. Selection followed the 2008 British Olympic Swimming Trials in Sheffield in April, with open water event swimmers selected after performance in the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships, in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, Spain. In winning six medals (two gold, two silver and two bronze) the team bettered the

target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

of three medals set by

. The most successful swimmer was Rebecca Adlington who won two gold medals. Her 400 m freestyle success was Britain's first Olympic swimming title since

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, and the first swimming gold by a British woman since

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. Her second gold, in the 800 m freestyle, meant she also equalled the best performance by a British woman, from any sport, at the summer Olympics and was the best swimming performance by a Briton at the Olympics for 100 years. ;Men Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats. ;Women Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats.

Synchronised swimming

Team GB was represented by two athletes in synchronised swimming, competing in the duet event.

Taekwondo

Team GB entered three athletes into the taekwondo competition in Beijing.

Sarah Stevenson Sarah Diana Stevenson, MBE (born 30 March 1983) is a British taekwondo athlete. A world champion in 2001, Stevenson won her country's first ever Olympic medal in taekwondo, a bronze, at the 2008 Games in Beijing, her third Ol ...

won Team GB's first ever medal in Olympic taekwondo – a bronze in the women's +67 kg. * After a successful appeal by the British, judges reversed the result of the match, granting

two points for a final round kick to her opponent's head which the judges had previously missed. The reversal of the decision, after video footage was considered, is thought to be a first for the sport. Another British hopeful, Aaron Cook, was also unhappy with the judges after losing out on bronze in the men's −80 kg.

Tennis

The Murray brothers were the sole tennis players on Team GB.

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...

qualified due to his world ranking and

Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...

was nominated for the doubles by the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...

, the governing body of world tennis.

Triathlon

A total of five competitors were selected by Team GB for the

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

events in Beijing, with three in the men's event and two in the women's. Four qualified through the Olympic Qualification rankings of the International Triathlon Union, the body responsible for organising official world championship series races, while Helen Tucker qualified by winning the 2008 World Championships.

Weightlifting

The only British weightlifter to qualify for the games was

Michaela Breeze Michaela Alica Breeze (born 17 May 1979) is a British former weightlifter. Breeze was born in Watford and raised in Cornwall and educated at Wadebridge School. She started weightlifting under the guidance of PE teacher Dave Allen. Breeze then ...

who competed in her second Olympic Games. She battled through a back injury to finish 15th out of 20 competitors in her event.

Sports not contested in Beijing

British representatives participated in the qualifying tournaments of a number of other Olympic sports in the lead up to the 2008 games, only for events outside of the athletes' control to prevent their further participation in the games.

Baseball

The GB baseball team finished 2nd in the

2007 European Baseball Championship The 2007 European Baseball Championship was an international baseball tournament held from September 7 to 16, between national baseball teams of the Confederation of European Baseball. The tournament was held in Barcelona, Spain and served as th ...

behind the Netherlands, guaranteeing them a place at the Olympic qualifying tournament in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. However, a lack of funding forced the team to withdraw, with their place being taken by Germany.

Football

The award of the

to London has brought the question of British participation in the football tournaments to the fore, given that there is traditionally no single British national football team. The

initially refused to rule out the possibility of entry for 2008, but were unable to come to an agreement with the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility f ...

. The 2007 European Under-21 Championship, which served as the European qualifying tournament for the men's competition, saw the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

team reach the semi-finals, which would have meant a place at the Olympics. Because at the Olympics the team is representative of the entire UK, England were thus prevented from taking this place, with instead a play-off taking place between

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. A similar situation occurred with the England Women's team who, by virtue of being one of the top three European sides at the 2007 World Cup, would have been granted a place at the Olympics. Instead, there was a play-off between

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Media coverage

The main rights to Olympic coverage in the United Kingdom are held by the BBC, under the

Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events The Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed & Designated Events is a series of regulations issued originally by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) then by Ofcom when the latter assumed most of the ITC's responsibilities in 2003, which is des ...

. An extensive range of broadcasting options was used to provide over 2,500 hours of coverage. For the first time, Olympic coverage was broadcast in high-definition on

BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...

Digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

viewers had access to up to six streamed channels covering the games on

BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...

, whilst the BBC's website permitted British broadband users to view live streams from a variety of events. Live broadcasts ran overnight and throughout the day on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

and

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

, starting at 0200 daily; a highlights programme, ''Games Today'', was broadcast on BBC One following the close of each day's events. The opening and closing ceremonies were anchored by

Sue Barker Sue or SUE may refer to: Music * Sue Records, an American record label * ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus * "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie Places * Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits islan ...

and

Huw Edwards Huw Edwards (; born 18 August 1961) is a Welsh journalist, presenter, and newsreader. Edwards presents ''BBC News at Ten'', the corporation's flagship news broadcast. Edwards also presents BBC coverage of state events, international events, th ...

, whilst general coverage was anchored (at various times of the day) by

Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for fo ...

Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcaster, journalist, and author. She currently presents for BBC Sport, Channel 4, BT Sport, is the current president of the Rugby Football League (RFL) and formerly presented the ...

, Gabby Logan, Jake Humphrey, Sue Barker,

Hazel Irvine Hazel Irvine (born 24 May 1965) is a Scottish sports presenter. Early life Irvine was born in St Andrews, Scotland. Educated at Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh, she achieved an MA in History of Art at the University of St. Andrews, and compe ...

and John Inverdale. Former Olympic contenders – including gold medallists Michael Johnson,

Shirley Robertson Shirley Ann Robertson, OBE DL (born 15 July 1968) is a British sailor and Olympic gold medallist. She made it into the history books by becoming the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal at consecutive games, Sydney 20 ...

Adrian Moorhouse Adrian David Moorhouse MBE (born 24 May 1964) is an English former competitive swimmer who dominated British swimming in the late 1980s. He won the gold medal in the 100-metre breaststroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea. Since t ...

Steve Redgrave Sir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave (born 23 March 1962) is a British retired rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships gold ...

, Jonathan Edwards and

Chris Boardman Christopher Miles Boardman, (born 26 August 1968) is a British former racing cyclist. A time trial and prologue specialist, Boardman won the inaugural men's World time trial championship in 1994, won the individual pursuit gold medal at the 1 ...

– provided analysis.

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

also broadcast coverage of the Games viewable in the United Kingdom. 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 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...

, and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra on

digital radio Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting s ...

Notes

;General * ;Specific

External links

British Olympic Association
�
and their ''Team GB'' pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Britain At The 2008 Summer Olympics Nations at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...