Team GB athletes have returned to the UK "exhausted
but happy" after collecting 65 medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The athletes arrived at the Eurostar terminal at London St
Pancras station on Monday.
"To be back celebrating with Team GB fans, the noise is
just incredible, and the fact everyone's turned out to come and see us is
really amazing," Amber Rutter, who won silver in the women's skeet
shooting, told the OceanNewsUK.
"I think there's a lot of exhaustion but everyone's so
happy. It really is an incredible moment."
Great Britain won 14 golds, 22 silvers and 29 bronzes in
Paris, matching their total medal haul from London 2012. It is also the
joint-third-highest tally for Team GB at a single Games behind Rio 2016 (67
medals) and London 1908 (146).
However, their gold medal tally and final placing of seventh
in the medal table are the lowest since the Athens Games of 2004.
'An amazing experience'
Also among the athletes to return home was gymnast Bryony
Page, who won trampoline gold to secure a complete set of medals after silver
in Rio in 2016 and bronze in Tokyo in 2021.
The 33-year-old was a Team GB flagbearer for the closing
ceremony alongside triathlete Alex Yee.
"It hasn't sunk in," Page told OceanNewsUK. "My
coach said it quite nicely: I have a whole lifetime for it to sink in. I am
going to be an Olympic champion for the rest of my life.
"This whole Games has been an amazing experience. To be
part of this team for the third time is just phenomenal."
Rutter, who became a mother in April, said she was thrilled
to be coming home to her family with an Olympic medal.
"It feels incredible," she said. "It's
something at one point I never thought I would achieve, so I'm super happy.
"I’m so happy to be back. Just to see this little guy
is the best thing."
An emotional Tom Daley, who has
announced his retirement from diving after winning his fifth
Olympic medal in Paris, said: "Right now, I'm really happy with how
everything's gone. I just think it's always hard when you say goodbye to your
sport. Lots of things to process, but I think it’s the right time.
"This year felt like such a bonus and I got to compete
in front of my family, my kids. I got to be flagbearer. So yeah, bucket list
ticked off on every occasion."
Grainger praises 'extraordinary' GB success
UK Sport chair Katherine Grainger says Great Britain's
success in Paris is "extraordinary", but Team GB have moved past the
era of "winning at all costs".
The five-time Olympic medal winner says creating a positive
environment for the athletes is just as important as finishing on the podium.
"It is about winning well, not winning at any
cost," Grainger, who leads the body responsible for allocating funding to
sports for each Olympic cycle.
"If you love sport, you want to great success but you
want to believe in it, you want high standards, with people thriving in a very
positive environment.
"The national governing bodies have embraced this and
delivered time and time again, showing winning well is possible. The more times
we do this, the more success we will have."
Grainger also said GB's lower medal haul and slip down the
medal table was as much to do with the improvement of other countries.
"It is a strategic ambition to be top five but is not a
target," she said. "The US and China sit out ahead of everyone but
between third and eighth is incredibly congested.
"With the announcement of the Brisbane games in 2032,
which is a longer lead-in time than normal, Australia are on the rise. France
as the home nation you expect to to be up there too, and the Netherlands
enjoyed the best gold medal haul they have ever had.
"There are incredibly competitive nations around the
middle [of the medal table] and we are part of that."
