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Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the
British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...
(BOA), competed at the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012 as the host nation 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. ...
. British athletes have competed at every
Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...
in the modern era, alongside Australia, France and Greece, though Great Britain is the only one to have won at least one gold medal at all of them. London was the first city to host the Summer Olympics on three different occasions, having previously done so in 1908 and
1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
. It was joined by Paris in
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
and will be joined by Los Angeles in 2028 in hosting the Olympic Games for a third time.
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. ...
, organised by BOA, sent a total of 541 athletes, 279 men and 262 women, to the Games, and won automatic qualification places in all 26 sports. The government agency UK Sport targeted a total of 48 to 70 medals, with a commitment of at least a minimum amount, one more than the team won at the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
, and a fourth-place finish in the medal table. On 7 August 2012, Great Britain had reached its 48-medal target, and surpassed the 19 gold-medal tally from
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, making it the most successful Olympics since 1908. Great Britain finished the Summer Olympic Games with a total of 65 medals (29 gold, 17 silver, and 19 bronze; after medal reallocation in men's high jump: 29 gold, 18 silver, and 18 bronze), coming third in the medal table rankings, and fourth in the total number of medal rankings. At least one medal was awarded to Team GB in seventeen sports, eleven of them containing at least one gold. British athletes dominated the medal standings in cycling, wherein they won a total of 12 Olympic medals, including 8 golds, 7 from the 10 track cycling events alone, and in equestrianism, wherein they won 5 medals including 3 golds from 6 events. Great Britain also topped the medal table in triathlon, boxing and rowing. Twelve British athletes won more than a single Olympic medal in London. Among the nation's medalists were taekwondo jin Jade Jones, triathlete Alistair Brownlee, and slalom canoers
Etienne Stott Etienne Stott Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 30 June 1979) is an English Whitewater slalom, slalom canoeist who started competing at the international level in 2002, initially in the K1 category, but switching to C2 in 2005 ...
and Tim Baillie, who won Great Britain's first Olympic gold medals in their respective disciplines. Nicola Adams became the first female champion in Olympic boxing history as her sport made its debut at the Games. Having never won a medal in
dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...
in Olympic history, British riders dominated the event in 2012, winning 2 golds (both team and individual) and a bronze,
Charlotte Dujardin Charlotte Susan Jane Dujardin (born 13 July 1985) is a British dressage rider, equestrian, and writer. A multiple World and Olympic champion, Dujardin has been described as the dominant dressage rider of her era. In 2014 she held the complete se ...
becoming one of five British double gold medal winners. Great Britain was the first nation other than
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
to win the team event since
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
.
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
became the first British tennis player to claim an Olympic title since the sport was reintroduced as a full-medal discipline in 1988; he was also the only British athlete to win two medals in a single day. Double trap shooter Peter Wilson won the nation's first gold medal in his sport for 12 years. By winning two gold medals in London, track cyclist Chris Hoy emerged as Great Britain's most successful athlete in Olympic history with a total of seven medals, including six golds which surpassed the five golds won by former rower Steve Redgrave. Hoy also tied for the most total Olympic medals for a Briton with road cyclist
Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional Road bicycle racing, road and track cycling, track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but ...
, who won the gold in the men's time trial.
Ben Ainslie Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie (born 5 February 1977) is a British sailing (sport), competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at four ...
became the most successful sailor in Olympic history, after winning his fourth gold medal in the Finn class. With three medals (two golds and one silver) in total, Victoria Pendleton became Great Britain's most successful female Olympic athlete, surpassing the record of two golds and one bronze medal, previously held by
Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British Middle-distance running, middle distance Track and field, athlete and television personality. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres, 800 and 1500 metres events and won gold medals for ...
, and briefly shared with Rebecca Adlington. For the first time in Olympic history, Great Britain had won a women's rowing gold; in the event, Great Britain secured three of the six gold medals in women's rowing. Heather Stanning and Helen Glover took the first Great Britain gold of the games in the women's pair, and the nation's first ever in women's rowing. Katherine Grainger, winning her first gold medal with Anna Watkins in the women's double sculls, became the first Great Britain female athlete to win four Olympic medals, and at four successive games (having previously won three silver medals). Swimmer Rebecca Adlington equalled the feat of four Olympic medals later on the same day. Sophie Hosking and
Katherine Copeland Katherine Sarah Copeland MBE (born 1 December 1990) is a retired British Olympic Gold Medal winning rower. Personal life She was born in Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 2 ...
, in the women's lightweight double sculls, completed the hat-trick as part of Super Saturday. Despite the unprecedented success, Great Britain performed much more poorly in the team sports, winning just a single medal when
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
captained by Katie Walsh won the bronze medal match against
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
3–1 in the women's field hockey tournament to win the first medal of any colour by a British field hockey team at a Summer Olympics since 1992.


Medallists

The team won 65 medals in total: 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze; after medal reallocation in men's high jump: 29 gold, 18 silver, and 18 bronze. For each gold medallist, a post box was painted gold by
Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
in recognition of the achievement, usually in the competitor's home town. A first class stamp depicting each gold medal-winning individual or team was also produced. The following British competitors won medals at the Games. In the 'by discipline' sections below, medallists' names are in bold. , style="text-align:left; width:78%; vertical-align:top;", , style="text-align:left; width:22%; vertical-align:top;" ,


Multiple medallists

The following Team GB competitors won several medals at the 2012 Olympic Games.


"Super Saturday"

Day 8 (4 August) of the Games, which had been billed in the build up to the Games in the host country as "Super Saturday" due to the expected programme creating numerous strong medal possibilities for the hosts, saw Great Britain record their most successful day at the Olympics since the 1908 games. The day saw the team win 6 gold medals, starting in the rowing for Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge in the men's coxless four and
Katherine Copeland Katherine Sarah Copeland MBE (born 1 December 1990) is a retired British Olympic Gold Medal winning rower. Personal life She was born in Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 2 ...
and Sophie Hosking in the women's lightweight double sculls, followed in the cycling by Dani King, Joanna Rowsell Shand and Laura Trott in the women's team pursuit. This was followed by three athletics gold medals in the space of 46 minutes, with Jessica Ennis winning gold in the women's heptathlon, Greg Rutherford in the men's long jump and
Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World tit ...
in the men's 10,000 metres. Completing the medal total on the day in the rowing was a silver for Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase in the men's lightweight double sculls. Lord Coe, organiser of London 2012, described the unfolding of the day's events as "a narrative of infectious success" and the greatest day of sport he had ever witnessed.


Medal and performance targets

With Team GB attempting to build on their previous successes in Beijing four years earlier, expectations prior to the London Olympics were very high with the additional advantage of competing with home support. UK Sport, the body responsible for distributing £300 million in Olympic and Paralympic sports, revealed on 4 July 2012 a target of finishing in the top four of the medal table and winning at least 48 medals across at least 12 sports based on an aggregate medal range of 40–70. although a specific number of gold medals was not targeted. Team GB was also highly rated by other expert and professional sport bodies prior to the Olympics. This included a team of experts invited by BBC Radio 5 live, which implied an estimated total of 95 medals: 27 gold, 25 silver and 43 bronze. Sports statistics provider Infostrada projected 57 medals, 16 of them gold. Sheffield Hallam University 56 medals, 27 of them gold; whilst Luciana Barra a former Italian Olympic Committee member, estimated 59 medals, 16 of them gold. UK Sport set targets for medals and positions for each individual Olympic sports except Football. These are listed in the table below, along with the actual Team GB performance. The only sport which Team GB failed to meet its medal target was in
Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
.


UK Sport funding

In the Olympic cycle from 2008 until 2012 the government agency UK Sport allocated a total budget of more than £264 million towards funding
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. ...
and the individual athletes and teams specifically for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The sports which received the highest funding were
rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...
,
cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
, athletics,
sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
, and
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
. The only sports on the Olympic Programme that were not given any funding by the body were
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and
beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...
.


Delegation

The team, known by the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
(IOC) as ''Great Britain'', selects athletes from all four of the Home Nations (England,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
), as well as the three Crown Dependencies (
Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
,
Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
and
Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...
), and all but three of the
British overseas territories The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...
(
Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...
,
British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...
and
Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...
having their own NOCs). The team is organised by the
British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...
(BOA) who have since 1999 branded it
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. ...
, explaining that "''Team GB'' is the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team." The BOA selected a team of 541 athletes, 279 men and 262 women, to compete in all sports after gaining automatic qualification places in their respective events. The BOA by-law preventing the selection of athletes sanctioned for anti-doping rule violations was struck down by the
Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...
in April 2012, allowing the participation of Dwain Chambers, David Millar and Carl Myerscough. British Olympic Association chief
Colin Moynihan, 4th Baron Moynihan Colin Berkeley Moynihan, 4th Baron Moynihan, 4th Baronet (born 13 September 1955), is a British Olympic silver medalist, politician, businessman and sports administrator. Lord Moynihan served as the Chairman of the British Olympic Association ...
condemned the disproportionate number of British Olympic competitors who had attended expensive, elite private schools. Twenty per cent of all British Olympic competitors and 33% of the British participants in the rowing, sailing, and equestrian events, in which the host country won a number of medals, attended private schools. Moynihan called the numbers, "one of the worst statistics in British sport" and said that it was "wrong and unacceptable" that so many elite British athletes came from privileged backgrounds. Alan Bairner, professor of sport and social theory at
Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...
, said that a primary factor in the numbers was the existence of excellent sports facilities and specialized coaching at the private schools and lack of the same at many state-sponsored schools. The Great Britain kit was designed by Stella McCartney. In addition to the Olympic merchandise, a range of ''Team GB'' branded items went on sale including the BOA's official mascot Pride.


Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors participating in the Games. Note that reserves for fencing, field hockey, football and handball are not counted as athletes:


Archery

As the host nation, Britain automatically received the full allocation of six individual places, alongside entry to both the men's and women's team events. Former medalist
Alison Williamson Alison Jane Williamson Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 3 November 1971) is a retired British archery, archer who represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics, Great Britain at six consecutive Olympic Games from 1992 to 2012. She won ...
competed in her sixth consecutive Summer Olympics, becoming only the third British athlete to do so, but failed to move past the first round. Both the women's and men's teams failed to progress further than the round of 16 after losing to the Russian and Ukrainian teams respectively, while no individual archers made it past the round of 16.


Men


Women


Athletics

In Athletics, the British team did not receive any automatic places for representing the host nation, as they had done in other sports. A squad of 77 athletes was initially selected for the Games. The selection of Lynsey Sharp as the team's sole representative in the 800m when there were three places available proved controversial. Sharp, who won the event at the GB Olympic trials, failed to achieve the 'A' qualifying standard. Under international rules, non 'A' standard competitors could only be selected if no other athletes that have met the standard were chosen. As a result, Sharp's inclusion meant the exclusion of four other runners that had achieved the 'A' standard, including 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships gold medallist Jenny Meadows. Gareth Warburton was initially not selected for the 800 metres, having failed to achieve the 'A' qualifying standard at the
2012 European Athletics Championships The 2012 European Athletics Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland between 27 June and 1 July 2012. This edition marks the beginning of a new two-year cycle of the European Athletics Championships which were previously held every four years. ...
in Helsinki, but was granted a place at the Games following an appeal. Ten other British athletes were unsuccessful with their appeals to be included. David Webb was initially chosen as part of the squad for the men's marathon but withdrew on 25 July due to injury. No replacement was selected.
Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a British former long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 200 ...
was initially chosen as part of the squad for the women's marathon but withdrew on 29 July due to injury; Freya Murray was called up as her replacement. Welshman Dai Greene was selected to captain the athletics squad, reprising a role he had first served at the 2011 European Team Championships in Sweden. In the Games, Great Britain had their best track and field performance since the Moscow Games in 1980, with 4 gold medals including a double gold for
Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World tit ...
over the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. Pre-event favourites Farah in the 10,000 metres, Jessica Ennis in heptathlon, and the world leading, but slightly less favoured Greg Rutherford in the long jump, won 3 gold medals for Great Britain in the space of 49 minutes on the middle Saturday of the Games. * Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only ; Q: Qualified for the next round ; q: Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser ''or'', in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target ; NR: National record ; WB: World Best ; N/A: Round not applicable for the event ; Bye: Athlete not required to compete in round


Men


Track & road events

* Competed in relay heats only


Field event

;Combined events –
Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 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

* Competed in relay heats only ** Moved up 5 positions due to athletes that finished ahead of them being disqualified for Doping. ***Upgraded to 4th due to silver medalists Russia being disqualified for Doping.


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 ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

*Moved up 2 positions due to athletes that finished ahead of them being disqualified for Doping.


Badminton

As hosts, Team GB were entitled to enter two badminton players regardless of how they fared in qualifying. At the qualification date, Team GB had qualified four places; a single player in each singles event, and a pair in the mixed doubles.


Basketball

Basketball was the only sport in which Great Britain were not guaranteed entry as hosts in 2012. In early 2011,
FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...
granted the men's and women's teams automatic qualification. Until 2006, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland competed as separate teams.


Men's tournament


Roster


Group play

---- ---- ---- ----


Women's tournament


Roster


Group play

---- ---- ---- ----


Boxing


Men

Britain was guaranteed five male boxers at the Games and one female entrant, by virtue of being the host nation. However following the 2011 World Championships, five British boxers had claimed their places. The special 'host' places for men's boxing therefore became void. The boxers who qualified through the world championships were; Andrew Selby, Luke Campbell, Tom Stalker, Fred Evans and
Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is a British professional boxer. He held the unified champion, unified world heavyweight championship twice between 2016 and 2021. At regional level, he held the British Boxing Board of C ...
. Following the World Championships Andrew Selby and Khalid Yafai had both attained the qualification standard for the Olympics in the flyweight division. NOCs may only nominate one boxer per event, and since both had reached the quarter finals of the World Championships, a box off was required. The box off took place at the York Hall during the 2011 British Championships in November. Selby won the first bout, following which Yafai failed to make the weight for the second bout by 300
gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute Mass versus weight, weight of a volume ...
s, meaning that Selby would represent Great Britain at the Olympics. In the subsequent AIBA European Qualification Tournament, two further boxers, Josh Taylor and Anthony Ogogo, also qualified.


Women

Qualification for the women's events was held at the AIBA 2012 Women's World Championships only. On 16 May 2012, Natasha Jonas qualified in the 60 kg category, and Nicola Adams in the 51 kg category. As a result, the host quota place in women's boxing became void. On 18 May 2012 Savannah Marshall qualified in the 75 kg category, ensuring Great Britain is represented at all women's weights at the first Olympic Games featuring the women's discipline.


Canoeing


Slalom

Britain qualified the maximum of one boat in all four classes, at the 2011 World Championships. Places were allocated in Team GB in a qualification event in April 2012. As stated above, Great Britain was entitled to one quota of two canoeists in the men's C-2 event; however, as the successful C-2 canoeists Florence and Hounslow had already qualified in the individual events, a quota for a second boat in C-2 became available.


Sprint

The canoe sprint allocation for the host nation was one place in the men's K-1 1000 m, men's C-1 1000 m and women's K-1 500 m. Team GB was expected to earn a healthy number of British quota places.


Men


Women

; FA: Qualify to final (medal) ; FB: Qualify to final B (non-medal)


Cycling

Great Britain selected 27 cyclists across the four cycling disciplines. Included in the squad was David Millar, who was cleared to compete after a British Olympic Association rule preventing any athlete formerly banned for doping from Olympic selection, was overturned. In the road events
Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional Road bicycle racing, road and track cycling, track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but ...
won the gold medal and Chris Froome the bronze in the men's time trial. This was Wiggins seventh Olympic medal and took him past Steve Redgrave as the British athlete with the most Olympic medals. He also became the first man to win the Tour de France and an Olympic gold medal in the same year. On the track the men's sprint team of Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes set new world records in both the first round and again in the final against France as they won the gold medal. Hoy joined Steve Redgrave as the only British athletes to win five Olympic gold medals. A sixth gold medal in the men's Keirin brought Hoy past the record of Redgrave, and brought him equal with Wiggins on seven Olympic medals


Road

Great Britain qualified for a maximum five quota places in the men's Olympic road race by virtue of their top 10 national ranking in the 2011 UCI World Tour. They qualified a maximum 4 quota places in the women's event by virtue of a top 5 national ranking by the end of May 2012. The BOA announced the five man squad of road racers for Team GB on 4 July 2012.


Men


Women


Track

Qualification for the ten events to be held in the Olympic velodrome was entirely dependent on UCI rankings. Entry was limited to one rider, or as the case may be one team, per nation, a rule widely viewed as an attempt to reduce the dominance of the Great Britain team from the 2008 Games where they had taken gold and silver in three events (men's sprint, men's keirin and women's pursuit), and gold and bronze in a further one (men's pursuit). Nations are also limited to 14 riders in total, although 2 riders from other cycling disciplines may also be called upon. Great Britain qualified in all track events. On 18 June 2012, British Cycling confirmed two accredited 'P' places – sprinters
Ross Edgar Ross Edgar (born 3 January 1983) is a Scottish track cyclist who represented Scotland at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Scotland at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games, where he won a gold medal in the team sprint riding ...
and Becky James – essentially, substitute riders officially selected for the Olympic squad in the event of injury or illness. Competitors in the individual sprint and keirin events to be chosen from respective team sprint squads.


Sprint


Team sprint


Pursuit

*
Andy Tennant Andrew Wellman Tennant (born June 15, 1955) is an American screenwriter, film and television director, actor, and dancer. Early life Tennant was born June 15, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in Flossmoor, Illinois, a suburb of Chicag ...
and Wendy Houvenaghel were selected as part of the pursuit squads but did not ride during the event.


Keirin


Omnium


Mountain biking


BMX

The cyclists below were selected for the BMX events. On 18 June 2012, British Cycling announced that two further riders – Kyle Evans and Abbie Taylor – had been granted 'P' accreditations, and would be substitute riders in the event of illness or injury.


Diving

As hosts Great Britain were automatically entitled to places in all four synchronised diving events, but athletes for individual events had to qualify through their own performances. Through finishes at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships, the 2012 FINA Diving World Cup event in London, and the dive-off on the final day of the 2012 event, Great Britain achieved the maximum allowable number of quota places; two in each individual event.


Men


Women


Equestrian

Great Britain automatically received a team and the maximum number of individual competitors in each of the 3 disciplines; dressage, eventing and show jumping.


Dressage


Eventing

;*: Piggy French, riding DHI Topper W, was originally selected by Team GB, but withdrew on 2 July 2012 due to an injury to her horse. Nicola Wilson was promoted from the reserve team


Show jumping

; JO: Jump off for gold medal


Fencing

As hosts, Great Britain received eight quota places which could be allocated to any of the fencing events. Additional places could be won in specific disciplines in a series of qualification events. On 24 March 2012, Richard Kruse won a qualifying event in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, thus earning Team GB a ninth quota place in men's foil. On 22 April 2012, Natalia Sheppard attained a qualifying place at the Zonal European Qualifier in women's foil. On 1 June 2012, the BOA announced the first seven of ten fencers, and confirmed the remaining three fencers would be in foil events.


Men


Women


Field hockey

The Great Britain men's and women's teams qualified automatically as hosts. England, Wales and Scotland compete separately in most competitions, but sent a combined team to the Olympics, which was managed by
England Hockey England Hockey is the Sports governing body, national governing body for the sport of field hockey in England. There are separate governing bodies for the sport in the other parts of the United Kingdom. History and organisation England Hockey wa ...
.


Men's tournament

Head coach Jason Lee appeared at his fifth Olympics, having played for Great Britain in
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
and
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
, and been head coach in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
and
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
.


Group play

---- ---- ---- ----


Semi-final


Bronze medal match


Women's tournament


Squad


Group play

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Semi-final


Bronze medal match


Final rank


Football

Great Britain men's football team competed at the Olympics for the first time since 1960. The team was run by
The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...
, as the national associations of
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
and
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
declined to take part. However, despite objections from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, players from all four nations were considered for selection, although Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy, Aaron Ramsey, Neil Taylor and Joe Allen (all Welsh) were the only non-English players who were selected. However, players chosen to represent
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
at the 2012 European Championships were not considered for selection, although one player ( Jack Butland) received special dispensation to compete. Former England captain
David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...
, who was involved in promoting London's bid to host the Games, had expressed an interest in appearing as one of the three over-23 players in the squad. The men's team was managed by Stuart Pearce and the women's by Hope Powell. * Men's team event – 1 team of 18 players * Women's team event – 1 team of 18 players


Men's tournament


Squad


Group play

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Quarter-final


Women's tournament


Squad


Group play

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Quarter-final


Gymnastics


Artistic

Great Britain fielded a full team of five gymnasts in both the men's and women's artistic gymnastics events. The women's team qualified through a top eight finish in the
2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 7–16, 2011, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Due to uncertainty over the nuclear situation following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the Féd� ...
, whilst the men qualified by winning the Olympic qualification event, after failing to qualify at the world championships. Included in the squads were Louis Smith, who won a bronze medal in the
pommel horse The pommel horse, also known as vaulting horse, is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, the modern pommel horse has a metal bo ...
at the 2008 Games,
Beth Tweddle Elizabeth Kimberly Tweddle (born 1 April 1985) is a retired English Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnast. Renowned for her uneven bar and floor routines, she was the first female gymnast from Great Britain to win a medal at the Rhythmic Gymnas ...
, 2009 World Floor Champion and 2010 Uneven Bars Champion, and Rebecca Tunney, who, at the age of 15, was the youngest Team GB athlete from any sport.


Men


=Team

= ;Individual finals


Women


=Team

=


=Individual finals

= * Whelan's vault score was wiped after she fell face first during her landing.


Rhythmic

The
British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...
announced that the team would utilise host nation qualification places. However an agreement between British Gymnastics and the BOA stipulated that the team had to reach a target score (45.223) at a test event held in London in January 2012. They narrowly missed this target in the qualification stage by 0.273 marks. though they met the mark on the finals day. This led to a dispute in which British Gymnastics originally argued that they should not be included in the Games as they had failed to make the mark in the agreed manner; the gymnasts argued that it was not clear the mark had to be reached on the qualification round, and that their mark in the final day (which was over the target mark) should be accepted. On 5 March 2012, the gymnasts won their appeal, and British Gymnastics announced that the team would now be nominated for selection.


Trampoline


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 first time that Great Britain has competed in handball at the Olympics.


Men's tournament

;Group A ---- ---- ---- ----


Women's tournament


Squad


Group play

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Judo

British judoka received one place in each of the 14 categories by virtue of hosting the Olympic tournament – the maximum allocation possible.


Men


Women


Modern pentathlon

As hosts, Great Britain received one automatic qualification place per gender. A maximum of two British men and two British women were able to qualify for modern pentathlon events. In the event, Great Britain earned two quota places in each gender.


Rowing

Great Britain qualified boats in 13 of the 14 Olympic events at the 2011 World Championships; the only boat which Britain did not qualify for the Olympics was in the women's single sculls event where Frances Houghton was one place short. In the heats of the women's coxless pair, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning set a new Olympic record with a time of six minutes 57.29 seconds.


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


Sailing

As hosts, Great Britain received automatic qualification places in each boat class.


Men


Women


Fleet racing


Match racing

* Due to the lack of wind the 5–8th place classification races were cancelled. The final round robin table was used for classification. ; BFD: Disqualified under the black flag rule. ; M: Medal races. Points awarded in medal races are double the position achieved in the race.


Shooting

As the host nation, Great Britain were awarded a minimum of nine quota places in nine different events. Additional places have been secured by Richard Brickell in the men's skeet, Richard Faulds and Peter Wilson in the men's double trap and Georgina Geikie in women's 25 m pistol. In addition, a shooter that has qualified for one event may compete in others without affecting the quotas. On 28 May 2012, the Great Britain team was confirmed.


Men


Women


Swimming

British swimmers have achieved qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)): All British swimmers must qualify by finishing in the top two of the Olympic trials having gained the GB qualifying A standard set by British Swimming in the relevant final (that time being the fastest time of the sixteenth fastest swimmer internationally in that event in 2011).


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. * Amy Smith tied equal with two other swimmers for the final spot in to the semi-finals. A swim-off was held between the three competitors, which Smith won and was awarded with the 16th qualification place in to the semi-finals. ** Competed in the heats only


Synchronised swimming

As the host nation, Great Britain will have a squad of 9 synchronised swimmers taking part in both the duet and team events. British Swimming announced the squad on 8 May 2012.


Table tennis

Team GB fielded a six-strong table tennis team at the 2012 Olympic Games after being granted permission to use host nation qualification places.


Taekwondo

Britain did not take any formal part in qualification tournaments in taekwondo, as the GB team already had four guaranteed places at their disposal, two for men, two for women. British Taekwondo nominated four athletes to take up their host quota places. The nomination of Lutalo Muhammad for the 80 kg class was originally rejected by the BOA on 31 May 2012, following concerns over the selection process. Muhammad, European champion, and world ranked number seven, at 87 kg had been nominated in preference to double European champion at 80 kg, and world ranked number one fighter at that weight, Aaron Cook (Muhammad was ranked below 50th in the world at that weight category, at which he had rarely fought recently). On 8 June 2012, Muhammad's renewed nomination was ratified.


Tennis

Great Britain had only two players that qualified automatically through their world ranking: world number four
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
took part in the men's singles, and also played with his brother
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray (born 13 February 1986) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam (tennis), major doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup winne ...
, who had sufficiently high ranking in doubles, in the men's doubles. Ross Hutchins and Colin Fleming have also qualified for the men's doubles. Great Britain did not have any other players with a sufficiently high world ranking to qualify automatically, and therefore applied for a number of wildcard places in the men's and women's draws. A total of four British players (two each in the women's singles and women's doubles) were given places, allowing Great Britain to take part in all five events (a pair for the mixed doubles will be selected at the Games). On 12 July, the IOC confirmed that withdrawals from the women's doubles event had created a vacancy in that event, and Great Britain's entries in the singles event, Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong would team up to enter. On 24 July, Heather Watson, one of Great Britain's other women's doubles pair, was given an entry to the women's singles as a replacement for
Alona Bondarenko Alona Volodymyrivna Bondarenko Dyachok (; born 13 August 1984) is a Ukrainian former tennis player. Her sisters Valeria and Kateryna Bondarenko are also tennis players. Her career-high singles ranking is No. 19, achieved on 14 April 2008. Alo ...
of Ukraine, who withdrew due to injury. Laura Robson (tennis), Laura Robson replaced Croatian Petra Martić withdrew due to injury, chosen as an alternate replacement.


Men


Women


Mixed


Triathlon

Helen Jenkins became the second Briton to qualify for the Olympics, when she won the 2011 ITU Triathlon World Championships, Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series 2011 London event, meeting the British qualifying standards of finishing on the podium at the race over the Olympic course. The next day Alistair Brownlee and his brother Jonny Brownlee, Jonathan Brownlee became the third and fourth people to qualify for London, as Alistair won the race and Jonny came in third over the Olympic course.


Volleyball

As hosts, Great Britain gained automatic entry for men's and women's teams in both indoor and beach volleyball.


Beach


Indoor


Men's tournament


=Squad

=


=Group play

= ---- ---- ---- ----


Women's tournament


=Squad

=


=Group play

= ---- ---- ---- ----


Water polo

As hosts, Great Britain gained automatic entry for both men's and women's teams.


Men's tournament


Team roster


Group play

---- ---- ---- ----


Women's tournament


Team roster


Group play

---- ----


=Quarter-final

=


=Semi-final 5–8

=


=Classification 7–8

=


Weightlifting

As the hosts, British weightlifters have already received three men's quota places and two women's places for the London Olympics. The GB team must allocate these places to individual athletes by 10 June 2012. * Following disqualifications as a result of retested samples.


Wrestling

Great Britain were originally offered three guaranteed places at the Games as host nation. If any wrestlers qualify directly through the qualification process, these places were to be reduced. On 29 May 2012, the BOA announced that British Wrestling had failed to meet the agreed criteria for the three quota places, and therefore only one quota place would be awarded. Ukrainian-born Olga Butkevych was selected in the women's 55 kg category.


Women's freestyle


Media coverage

The BBC paid £40–50 million for the broadcast rights to the 2012 Olympic Games and showed around 5,800 hours of content over the 17 days of the Games, all of which was available in High-definition television, high definition. This is an increase on the amount of coverage shown at the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
in Beijing when half of the international feed, 2,500 hours, was broadcast. To accompany its coverage the BBC commissioned an anthem from the British band, Elbow (band), Elbow, entitled "First Steps (Elbow song), First Steps".


Victory parade

A celebratory parade took place in central London on 10 September 2012 to commemorate the Olympic and Paralympic Games.


See also

* Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics


References

{{Nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2012 in British sport, Summer Olympics Great Britain at the Summer Olympics by year, 2012 Nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics