'Hugely Successful Day', Says Team GB Chief
“What a great day,” said Clegg, Great Britain’s Chef de Mission for the 2008 Games. “Four gold, one silver and four bronze medals for Team GB, spread across a number of different sports.“Those of you who were in Athens four years ago will recall that we had a fantastic day, the 21st August, which I described as possibly the most successful day in British Olympic history. But I do believe that the performance of Team GB today means that this is the most successful day of the last 100 years.
“Team GB is in really good spirits at the moment. There’s a huge buzz around the Village and everybody is confident that over the remaining eight days we can continue to build on the success that’s been achieved over the last week or so and take Team GB to further heights.”
Saturday’s successes in rowing, swimming and cycling have left the medal table at the end of day eight of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games reading seven gold, three silver and seven bronze medals for Team GB.
“There’s no particular medal target,” said Clegg. “But expectations were that we were going to have a really successful games here and I think that’s been borne out by some fantastic performances from members of Team GB, not least our double gold medallist Rebecca Adlington.
“But one needs to look well beyond the medal table. These Games will be judged as a stand alone Games, but they will also be viewed in the context of London 2012.
“When we won the bid (for the 2012 Olympic Games) in Singapore in 2005, seven years is quite a long time in anyone’s life span. But all of a sudden the (London) Games are getting closer and I think the whole country will suddenly wake up to the fact that we are the next hosts when Boris (Johnson, the London mayor) receives the flag from the mayor of Beijing at the Closing Ceremony.
“I don’t think that Team GB could do any more in terms of exciting the nation over and above giving a really good performance here and really convincing the nation that the aspirational target we have of fourth place in the medal table at 2012 is achievable.
“I think British sport is in a really good position at the moment and a good Games here will allow us to make the progress we want towards our target for 2012.”