It was great to be part of history tonight after seeing Team GB secure its 1,000 Olympic medal as Ethan Hayter, Daniel Bigham, Charlie Tanfield and Ethan Vernon claimed silver in the cycling men’s team pursuit in Paris.
British and Northern Irish athletes have competed at every single Olympic Games since 1896, when the modern Olympic Games first took place in Athens. The country’s first Olympic champion in 1896 was Launceston Elliott, who won the one-handed lift in weightlifting.
The Great Britain and Northern Ireland team still has the distinction of being the only nation to have won a gold medal at every edition of the summer Games since.
Coming into Paris, the team had competed in 29 summer editions of the Olympic Games – as well as the 1956 Equestrian Olympics – and 24 winter editions of the Olympics.
The nation’s Olympians have now won 313 gold medals, 339 silver and 348 bronze across all summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games.
Of the 1,000 total medals, 34 of them have been won at the winter editions of the Olympic Games. The number doesn’t include medals won in arts competitions in Games between 1920-1948.
Skateboarder Sky Brown, who is representing Team GB at Paris, became Team GB’s youngest-ever summer Olympian, as well as Team GB’s youngest ever Olympic medallist at the age of 13 years and 28 days when she won bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Jerry Millner is the oldest Briton ever to have won an Olympic gold medal at 61-years-of-age, a distinction he achieved at Bisley in 1908, when he won the free rifle event with a score of 98 points out of a possible 100.
Jason Kenny remains Team GB’s most successful Olympian with nine medals to his name, including seven gold medals and two bronze.
However, swimmer Duncan Scott, competing at Paris, is closing in on Kenny. Glasgow-born Scott secured a gold and silver medal in swimming at La Defense Arena, taking his overall tally to eight medals, and making him Scotland’s most decorated athlete.
Of the 1,000 medals, 360 of them have been won since the advent of National Lottery funding and the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games.
Mark England, Team GB’s Chef de Mission at Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, said: “Watching the men’s team pursuit win silver to secure Team GB’s 1,000th medal this evening was incredibly special.
The men’s pursuit team racing to silver, TeamGB’s 1,000th Olympic medal
“I have been lucky enough to witness a number of Team GB medal moments and I hope there are many more to come in Paris over the coming days.”
In the eight Olympics I have attended, I estimate I have seen about 100 medals being won.
There have been many personal highlights and magical moments from Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell striking gold in Barcelona, Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent claiming our only gold in 1996 at Atlanta, Redgrave’s historic fifth gold in Sydney and Kelly Holmes’ double in Athens in 2004.
The funding athletes receive from the National Lottery has transformed the sporting landscape in the new millennium as athletes are no longer primarily amateurs but full-time competitors.
That was been reflected in Team GB becoming a powerhouse in world sport with results at Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo and Paris far removed from earlier Olympics where medals were often scarce.
In more recent Olympics, I have witnessed Rebecca Adlington’s success in the pool in Beijing, was at the Olympic Stadium at London 2012 for ‘Super Saturday’ when Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all won gold in the space of one awe-inspiring hour.
Then in Rio, I saw Jason and Laura Kenney pedal to victory in cycling, swimmer Adam Peaty at the peak of his powers, Farrar performing a 5,000m and 10,000m double at consecutive Olympics and Max Whitlock taking gymnastics in this country to new heights.
After missing Tokyo due to the pandemic which made it impractical to attend, Paris has already provided further lasting memories, notably Alex Yee in the men’s triathlon and Keely Hodgkinson’s amazing win in the 800m.
And to be present for the landmark 1,000 medal was also a cherished moment, one which I will never forget.