History

  • Sunday August 24

    0030 Athletics - Men's marathon
    0630 Boxing - Six finals
    0730 Basketball - Men's final
    1330 Closing ceremony
    All times BST
Medals Table
G S B Tot
1 CHN 51 21 28 100
2 USA 36 38 36 110
3 RUS 23 21 28 72
4 GBR 19 13 15 47
5 GER 16 10 15 41
6 AUS 14 15 17 46
Olympic History

History Timeline

It all started in Athens in 1896...

Team GB

Competitor List

Take a look at the British athletes heading for Beijing

1964 - Tokyo

  • Rand: Two medals for Britain.

    Rand: Two medals for Britain.

The first Games to be held in Asia had a poignant opening ceremony involving final torchbearer Yoshinori Sakai, who was born in Hiroshima the day the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb in World War Two.

Judo and volleyball - the first team sport for women - were introduced.

American Al Oerter won the discus despite a cervical disc injury that forced him to wear a neck harness and torn rib cartilage incurred a week before the competition.

Ukrainian Larysa Latynina's six medals in gymnastics brought her career medal total to an incredible 18, one of only four athletes in any sport to win nine gold medals.

American swimmer Don Schollander won four gold medals while Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila became the first repeat winner of the marathon - less than six weeks after having his appendix removed.

Britain's Mary Rand claimed gold in the long jump and silver in the pentathlon. There were also golds for Lynn Davies (long jump), Ann Packer (800m) and Ken Matthews (20,000m walk).

British gold medals: 4

More History Stories

Around the site today

Shanaze Reade: Chance of multiple gold medals

12 stars for 2012

We look at a dozen young athletes who could trigger a fresh gold rush in London in four years' time.

Egan: light-heavyweight silver

Day 16 - As It Happened

Irish boxer Kenny Egan took silver on the final day of action in Beijing.

Early stages of the marathon.

2008 Olympics - Day 16

Pictures from the final day of the Beijing Olympics including an appearance from David Beckham.

  • © 2008 365 Media Group plc. All Rights Reserved