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

2000 - Sydney

  • Redgrave: Five consecutive golds.

    Redgrave: Five consecutive golds.

Generally considered to be the best-ever Games.

Britain's Steven Redgrave produced an heroic performance to become the first rower to win gold medals at five consecutive Olympics, while Matthew Pinsent won his third in the same men's eight boat.

Denise Lewis (heptathlon) and Jonathan Edwards (triple jump) had success in track and field while cyclist Jason Queally (1km time trial), Richard Faulds (double trap shooting), Shirley Robertson, Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy (all sailing), boxer Audley Harrison and Stephanie Cook (modern pentathlon) also all claimed gold.

However, much of the success was reserved for the home nation. Aborigine Cathy Freeman, who had the honour of lighting the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony, won an emotional 400m in front of an expectant crowd.

Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe, just 17 years old, won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle by breaking his own world record, and picked up further golds in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay and a silver in the 200m freestyle.

America's Marion Jones became the first woman to win five medals in athletics in the same Olympics with successes in the 100m, 200m, 4x400m relay and bronze in the long jump and the 4x100m relay.

Birgit Fischer earned two gold medals in kayak to become the first woman in any sport to win medals 20 years apart.

British gold medals: 11

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.

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