Team GB’s Olympians return to normality

For four years they’ve poured blood, sweat and tears into training for the Paris Olympic Games. 

So it was no wonder Team GB‘s athletes were keen to take advantage of time off as they returned to the UK with their medals and the country’s backing behind them. 

The 327-strong group of athletes managed to surpass Team GB’s total medal haul from the Tokyo Olympics by claiming 65 medals in total.

So of course, every athlete had earned a hero’s welcome as they returned to Britain via the Eurostar on Monday. 

And the competitors wasted no time settling back into normality after their stay in the Olympic village, sharing Instagram posts of their first day back home. 

Georgia Bell picked up a brilliant bronze in the 1500 metres, smashing Laura Muir’s British record with a time of 3min 52.61sec to finish third in a thrilling final in Paris.

It was made all the more impressive, given Georgia had to take a sabbatical from her full-time job in cyber security to fulfil her Olympic dream, having only returned to athletics two years ago after running a fast Parkrun.

Yet the 30-year-old took another day off work on Monday to enjoy a well deserved glass of wine before appearing on Tuesday’s episode of This Morning. 

Tom McEwen helped Team GB secure their first gold medal of Paris 2024 as he, Ros Canter and Laura Collett were crowned team eventing champions at the Chateau de Versailles. 

Team GB finished with a winning score of 91.30, with a strong margin of victory over France who ended on 103.60 as the runner-up.

And after his unbelievable feat, Tom decided to watch other athletes at the top of their game as he headed to the circus to watch the acrobats with his friends. 

Swimmer Tom Dean took the spotlight alongside his teammates at the Olympics after winning gold in the Men’s Freestyle Relay.

And the athlete, 24, already his eyes on the next challenge as he has reportedly signed up to Strictly Come Dancing. 

Yet it wasn’t the dance studio that Tom was rushing off to on Monday but the golf course, as he snapped a picture enjoying a game with friends at Harleyford Golf Club. 

Adam Peaty was billed as one of Team GB’s biggest medal hopes heading into Paris 2024, however only finished second in the 100m breaststroke event that he has been nigh on invincible in for years.

After missing out by two hundredths of a second he admitted in his post-race interview that he had been struggling with soreness in his throat, and lo and behold he tested positive for Covid the following day.

Having shaken off the virus to an extent that he was able to compete in the men’s 4x100m medley relay at the weekend, he was then dealt another blow with Team GB finishing fourth, and he is still thought to be on a a potent cocktail of antibiotics.

Adam, 29 – who had previously stepped away from swimming over mental health battles – admitted he would have to take another break after the pain of his loss in Paris. 

However, that didn’t stop him working out upon his return to the UK, taking to Instagram on Tuesday to share a snap on his exercise bike.  

Duncan Scott became Scotland’s most decorated Olympic athlete at Paris 2024, adding a further two medals to take his tally to eight. 

Having swum to gold with the British 4×200 metre relay team he then nabbed a silver medal 48 hours later after he went head-to head with France’s Léon Marchand  in the Olympic 200m individual medley final.

Yet there was no time to sit and reflect on making history because Monday night was spent at a friend’s wedding in his native Scotland.  

Amber Anning secured a bronze medal in the 400 meters relay final along with Victoria Ohuruogu, Laviai Nielsen and Nicole Yeargin.

The British athletes came third as team USA won the gold medal by a huge margin followed by the Netherlands securing the silver medal.

Amber also came fifth in the 400 metres Olympic final and set a new British record.

Her performance in the final saw her eclipse Christine Ohuruogu’s British record, which had stood for 11 years. 

So it was only right that Amber celebrated with her loved ones upon her time, sharing snaps enjoying a family barbecue. 

Cyclist Elinor Barker picked up silver in the Women’s Madison and bronze in Team Pursuit in order to make history. 

The sporting star, 29, has now won more Olympic medals than any other Welsh woman and it was made all the more special as her first games since welcoming son Nico in 2022. 

Elinor was just glad to be back in her hometown on Monday, sharing a snap driving home with the Welsh flag and heart emoji. 

Britain’s performance at this year’s games secured more ‘great investment’ for athletes looking to compete at Los Angeles 2028, UK Sport has confirmed.

Sally Munday, chief executive of UK Sport, said: ‘This is the absolute joy of our system. Because we’ve become so good at it [Olympics and Paralympics]… we have a consistency of investment, [and that means] the majority of these athletes are able to train full-time.

‘We’re able to give them a grant to contribute towards living costs and the national governing bodies [of the sports] are able to put programmes together that allow them to train every single day.

‘We’ve already been speaking to the sports about investment for the LA [2028] cycle, so some of the athletes will get some down time, then they will start looking forward to what they’ve got coming up in the next year, like championships, and beyond that to LA.’

Bosses have also vowed to launch a review to work out why Team GB had so many ‘near misses,’ as they struggled to convert bronzes and silvers into gold medals.

The 65 medals they did win gave them a haul bettered only by table-toppers USA and China, but their 14 gold medals saw them slip below Japan, Australia, France, and the Netherlands as well.

‘It’s frustrating to be seventh in the medal table. This has been an unbelievably competitive Olympic Games. The middle bit of the medal table below the United States and China feels incredibly competitive,’ said Andy Anson, chief executive of the British Olympic Association.

‘There were near misses. We’ve got to celebrate the medals. We’ve got to do that first, and then, as UK Sport, the national governing bodies, ourselves, we’ve got to sit back when we get home and just say, “Was there something? Is it sport by sport? Individual issues? Was there something more systematic?” Let’s look across the whole scene… but in a controlled way.

‘I think the breadth of success is incredibly important in terms of the resonance it has around the country – 65 medals is a brilliant achievement.

‘I, for one, can’t wait for Los Angeles, because I think it [the Olympics] is going to become even bigger by then. Bring on LA because we’re going to get back at the Aussies and get back up that medal table.’

Gold medal Olympian Keely Hodgkinson skipped the closing ceremony in Paris to continue her Marbella getaway this week.

The Games ended with a star-studded closing ceremony on Sunday night but Keely had already left the French capital and has been soaking up the sun in Spain.

On Monday the British 800m star, fresh from her podium success last Tuesday, celebrated in style with her family in the Costa del Sol.

The athlete, 22, was spotted strolling along the beach in Marbella with her father, Dean Hodgkinson, during their trip.

She showed off her incredible toned figure in a racy red, black and yellow bikini from the brand Super, cooled off in the ocean and was seen shielding her head from the sun on the beach in a Jacquemus bucket hat.