Avid readers of our blog will remember that before the Olympics, we gave you our predictions as to who was most likely to win gold for Team GB. If you can’t remember, just have a quick look through here. Everyone loves an opportunity to prove someone’s predictions wrong, so let’s see how our chosen athletes got on at Rio.
Adam Peaty
Age: 21
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: Gold in 100m breaststroke
Peaty was widely expected to win gold and he did, breaking his own world record twice in the process. He became Britain’s first male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since 1988.
Andy Murray
Age: 29
Previous Golds: 1
Medals won at Rio: Gold in tennis
Murray became the favourite to retain his gold medal as soon as Novak Djokovic suffered an early exit from the tournament. The Scot duly delivered, beating Juan Martin Del Potro in the final and secured himself a second gold medal.
Laura Trott
Age: 24
Previous Golds: 2
Medals won at Rio: Gold in Team Pursuit and Omnium
Trott became Britain’s greatest female Olympian (twice) at these Olympics, winning gold in both the Team Pursuit and the Omnium. One half of cycling’s golden couple, she showed her heart and desire when she was seen vomiting into a bag after winning her event. Her record now stands at 4 Olympic events competed in, 4 Olympic gold medals won.
Mo Farah
Age: 33
Previous Golds: 2
Medals won at Rio: 2 in 5,000m and 10,000m
Pulses were racing at NetBet Towers when Farah fell over in the 10,000m, but they were lowered when he powered through to win the race. The 5,000m looked tougher, considering that he hadn’t had much time to recover, although he won that as well, retaining both of his golds from 2012. He’s now Britain’s greatest track star.
Max Whitlock
Age: 23
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: 2 Gold, 1 Bronze
We said before the Olympics that Whitlock’s best chance of winning gold would be in the pommel horse and he duly delivered. Team GB had never won a gold medal in Gymnastics, but within an hour, Whitlock had won two, the other in the floor exercise event.
Jessica Ennis-Hill
Age: 30
Previous Golds: 1
Medals won at Rio: Silver in Heptathlon
Ennis-Hill didn’t replicate her achievements from London 2012 at Rio, but still left with silver. She was outclassed by Nafissatou Thiam in the javelin, leaving the Brit needing to win by 10 seconds in the 800m. She won by 8 seconds in the end, but it was not enough to claim gold.
Giles Scott
Age: 28
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: Gold in Finn class
Scott was the favourite to win gold in the Finn class and did so before the final race of the competition. All he had to do in the final race was finish, and he obliged with a second-place finish.
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning
Age: 29 and 31
Previous Golds: 1
Medals won at Rio: Gold in Coxless Pairs
Glover and Stanning were head and shoulders above their competition in the Women’s Coxless Pairs. They started off in front and 7 minutes and 18 seconds later, they finished in front of everyone else.
Greg Rutherford
Age: 29
Previous Golds: 1
Medals won at Rio: Bronze in Long Jump
Rutherford struggled through the qualifying stages, and although he didn’t win gold, he did remarkably well to leave with a bronze medal. He could have left with nothing, had the final jump from the American not been a foul jump.
Nicola Adams
Age: 33
Previous Golds: 1
Medals won at Rio: Gold
Adams became the first British boxer to retain her gold since 1924 and seemed relatively untested in the competition. She now describes herself as the best British amateur boxer of all time.
Charlotte Dujardin
Age: 30
Previous Golds: 2
Medals won at Rio: Gold in Dressage
Dujardin became Britain’s most successful female Olympian for a couple of hours, before Laura Trott equalled her medal tally. The horse dancing queen of 2012 retained her title with Valegro and has already targeted Tokyo in 2020.
Danny Willett
Age: 28
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: None
2016 Masters champion Willett was one of two members of Team GB’s golf team at the Olympics, but it was the other member Justin Rose who won the gold medal. Willett unfortunately left with nothing.
James Guy
Age: 20
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: 2 Silvers
Guy missed out on the medal positions in the individual events, finishing fourth behind the controversial Chinese winner Sun Yang in the 200m freestyle and sixth in the 400m freestyle. But he thrived in the team events, being a part of the team who were runners up in the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay.
Jason Kenny
Age: 28
Previous Golds: 3
Medals won at Rio: 3 Golds
We predicted that Kenny would leave with 2 golds. We couldn’t have been more wrong as he left with 3! He was the favourite in the sprint and won, was a part of the team sprint which he also won and edged out the competition in a controversial keirin final.
Lizzie Armitstead
Age: 27
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: None
Armitstead arrived at Rio in controversial circumstances, having missed a number of recent drugs tests and this appeared to weigh on her mind. She finished in fifth place in the cycling road race.
Jade Jones
Age: 23
Previous Golds: 1
Medals won at Rio: Gold in 57kg Taekwondo
We were unsure in our prediction as to how fit Jones would be after an injury blighted four years, but she proved us wrong and retained her gold in Taekwondo from 2012.
David Florence
Age: 33
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: Silver
Florence was unable to break his gold medal duck in the Rio Games, finishing with just silver in the Canoe double. He was disappointing in the single event, finishing in tenth place.
Alistair Brownlee
Age: 28
Previous Golds: 1
Medals won at Rio: Gold
The Brownlee brothers finished in first and second at the Rio Olympics, following on from their first and third place finishes in 2012, Alistair won both times, whilst one of the pictures of the Games will be the brothers hugging in celebration after the finish line.
Chris Froome
Age: 30
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: Bronze
Froome was the favourite in both events that he was competing in, but left with just a bronze in the time trial.
Rowing Four
Previous Golds: 8
Medals won at Rio: Gold
Team GB continued to be successful in this event, making it five victories in five consecutive Olympics. The pressure is on for the team in Tokyo in four years’ time.
Jazz Carlin
Age: 25
Previous Golds: 0
Medals won at Rio: 2 Silvers
Carlin was an outsider to win gold and she narrowly missed out in both the 400m and 800m freestyle events. She’ll be around in Tokyo for another shot at gold.
