Friday 17 August 2012

Go girls! How Team GB's amazing women would be seventh in the Olympic gold medal table if they competed on their own

  • Britain's female Olympians have won ten gold medals, the same number as Germany
  • They outrank France, Spain and Australia in the medal table after wins in events from rowing to taekwondo
  • Scientific study shows Britain punching way above its weight for size of population
  • Lord Coe praises contribution of female athletes at London Games

Before the Olympics began, Victoria Pendleton predicted confidently that London 2012 would become known as the 'girlie games'.

What incredible foresight the British track cyclist showed. Her prophecy has come true in spectacular fashion, with GB's girls delivering many of the historic moments for which these Games will be forever remembered.

Charlotte Dujardin won her second gold of London 2012 yesterday afternoon in the Individual Dressage
From Jessica Ennis powering to gold in the heptathlon and Charlotte Dujardin's incredible elegance in the dressage, to the hurricane force of boxer Nicola Adams and the immense strength of character shown by our rowers, London 2012 has definitely been about our female athletes.

In fact, if GB's women were to compete independently of the men, they would be seventh in the medal table. Their ten gold medals would put them level with Germany's overall tally and ahead of France, Italy, Australia and Japan.

Team GB's women have five times as many golds as Spain and Brazil, and more than those two nations combined with Japan.

And this doesn't take into consideration two of Britain's equestrian golds - the team dressage winners were two-thirds female and the team eventing gold medallists four-fifths.

From orchestrating the beat-perfect movement of the horses in the dressage to executing brutal kicks to the head in taekwondo, Britain's women have delivered right across the spectrum of Olympic sports.

It was the brilliant row of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning in the women's pair that broke Britain's gold medal duck on the fifth day of the Games, prompting an avalanche of precious metal and glorious moments.

Jessica Ennis won the heptathlon in superb style on Saturday night 
Their success at Eton Dorney was followed up by two more rowing golds, including an emotional moment of fulfillment for Katherine Grainger, who won gold at last in the double sculls after three consecutive silver.



Female success then moved indoors, to the electric atmosphere of the Velodrome. 'Queen' Victoria Pendleton may have jumped the gun in the team sprint but she showed her familiar strength of character to return 24 hours later and blitz the field in the keirin. 

And Pendleton's heir apparent Laura Trott, just 20, exploded onto the biggest stage with twin golds in the omnium, the most arduous of cycling events, and the team pursuit alongside Dani King and Joanna Rowsell.

The golden dynasty of British track cycling appears to be set to continue for some time yet.
And further female success in the rowing came when Katherine Grainger (left) and Anna Watkins won the double sculls
Perhaps the defining moment of British success at these Games arrived a few moments before 9pm on Saturday night, when Jessica Ennis, the poster girl of the British team, completed her heptathlon triumph before an adoring crowd in the Olympic Stadium.
The sight of British athletes parading around a venue, smiling broadly and with the Union Jack fluttering behind them, before wiping away the mandatory tear on the medal podium, has become a delightfully common one. 

The glory has continued this week in three contrasting sports.

Charlotte Dujardin and Laura Bechtolsheimer won gold in the dressage, an event of grace and elegance, while Nicola Adams and Jade Jones did likewise in boxing and taekwondo, sports of unbridled power and brute force. 

We have become so accustomed to hearing 'God Save the Queen' during these Games that it would be easy to forget the silver and bronze medals, but the female roll of honour goes on and on.

Rebecca Adlington has never finished out of the medals in an Olympic event, though she wouldn't perhaps of envisaged two bronze medals from her home Games.

Lizzie Armitstead won our first medal, a silver, in the women's road race - a few seconds of early drama as three cyclists sprinted down The Mall which truly set the tone for countless moments of Olympic theatre to come.

The judoka Gemma Gibbons took silver and devoted it to her late mum in a heart-wrenching moment.

Their performances drew gushing praise from Lord Coe, who also pointed out that the London Olympics are the first ever in which both men and women have been included in every squad and participated in every sport.

He added that the 2012 Games had continued the progress for women's sport made in the last London Games in 1948.

'I think that having 1948 with Fanny Blankers-Koen here really moved that argument for the presence of women in the Games.

'We've had more women competing in these Games (and) some of the big high-profile moments.


 'If you look at this morning's media they are focusing on women.'

He also praised the participation of Sarah Attar who became one of the first women to represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympics when she ran in the 800 metres.

Her appearance followed months of talks, with Saudi Olympic chiefs at one point insisting no women would be allowed to take part.

Lord Coe said she had 'really moved this agenda on in London'

International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said: 'If you take, for example, 1984, only 24% of athletes were women.

'This Games, our provisional figure is that this is just over 44%. So we are nearly at gender equality, which is really good going.'

But he added: 'Just getting all the NOCs (National Olympic Committees) to send athletes is great, symbolic and an important symbol, but that is not enough.

'We continue to push the NOCs and work with the NOCs to provide sporting facilities for women, which is challenging in some countries. So we will continue to work on that too.' 
 
Article by Adam Shergold for the Daily Mail, to read full article click here.  
 
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