Article originally published 14/08/2016: due to a technical issue this article may have resurfaced for some readers, and the original publish date may not have been visible.
So, Britain most definitely has got talent.
In a remarkable day for British sport, Team GB soared past China to be placed second in the Olympic medals table - winning five golds in one day, making it the most successful “away” day in the country’s Olympic Games history.
What was quickly dubbed “Super Sunday” saw gymnast Max Whitlock become a double Olympic champion and tennis’s Andy Murray, golfer Justin Rose and cyclist Jason Kenny all grab golds.
And that didn’t include the gold for Giles Scott, who has all but secured the champion’s status in sailing - which will be added to the table when the event concludes on Tuesday.
The medals haul is more extraordinary when compared to Team GB finishing 36th in the medals table at the Atlanta Games in 1996, with just one gold medal.
The official Team GB target for this Olympics is 48 medals, one more than Britain’s previous best at an overseas Olympics in Beijing in 2008.
Much has been made of how British sport has flourished since then Prime Minister John Major introduced Lottery funding, which started to trickle down in 1997.
UK Sport, the government agency that allocates Exchequer and National Lottery money to Olympic and Paralympic sport, believes the success is no fluke.
UK Sport’s director of performance Simon Timson said:
“This is not happening by chance: this is success by design. It’s a result of 18 years of consistent, coherent, targeted National Lottery investment and the partnership we have forged with the British Olympic Association.”
Viewers back in Blighty were loving it
If you struggled to keep track, here were all the Team GB medal winners on ‘Super Sunday’.
