Britain's greatest summer ever

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from England

What a great summer it has been to Great Britain, the proud hosts of the XXXth Olympic Games now in progress here in London. The performance of the British sportsmen and women at the London 2012 Games has been their best ever Olympic harvest in over 100 years!

London is the only capital to host the modern Olympic Games on three occasions and it was at their first ever Olympic Games as the host that the Great Britain accounted for its best ever performance. When Great Britain first hosted the Olympic Games in 1908, they bagged a record 146 medals, including 56 gold, 51 silver and 39 bronze to head the final medals standings, well ahead of second-placed USA which could win less than half (23) of Great Britain's gold haul.

But when London hosted the Olympic Games 40 years later - in 1948, the Great Britain painted a pathetic picture finishing at 12th place in the final medals standings, wining only three gold medals in a total of just 23 medals which included 14 silver and six bronze medals. On that occasion, the USA finished in top with 38 gold medals while Sri Lanka, making its debut, won a silver through Duncan White in men's 400m hurdles.

Best Summer ever

However, this has easily been the best summer in British sports history. With three more days competition left before Sunday's grand finale, Great Britain has so far won a total of 52 medals - 25 gold, 13 silver and 14 bronze to take the third place in the medals standings as at Friday morning.

Though the hosts had anxious moments in the first few days, missing out widely expected gold medals in cycling and a few other events, they bounced back, making the best use if favourable home conditions.

True that the Jamaicans commanded the sprint business at Olympic Stadium but Great Britain and USA too enjoyed their own share in athletics as well as in several other sports.

Britain's success at the London Olympics must be seized on to improve sport in schools and communities and guarantee future victories, top athletes and British Government Ministers have urged. Teachers should bring back competition in every school and more people should volunteer at local sports clubs if the legacy of the Games was not to be lost, they said.

Former Olympic gold medallist in heptathlon, Jessica Ennis has said that children needed to learn that competition was positive. British Prime Minister David Cameron too has joined the debate, claiming that that teachers "don't want to join in" and ministers suggested that the medal success was unlikely to be repeated without a significant change.

The Daily Telegraph reported that British youth face an obesity epidemic, with many offered few opportunities for the sort of competitive sports that used to be the norm. Only about four in 10 children regularly take part in such sports. Many clubs are seeing a surge of interest from the young but do not have the resources to offer them the opportunities that could help produce future medal winners.

Sir Chris Hoy, the British track cyclist, ended his dream run on Tuesday night with his country's seventh gold medal in the sport. As the Union Jack was rising to the roof as sweet tones of "God Save the Queen" rang through the jam packed arena with iron-lunged Britons refusing to leave.ÓTeam GB! Team GB!" echoed in his ears. He couldn't stop hugging other Team GB members.

True that Great Britain will not be able to emulate the feats of China as the hosts. When Beijing hosted the last Games in 2008, China underlined its supremacy with 100 medals, including 51 gold. However, most Britain's feel that their performance so far is far more creditable based on population as 62 million in Great Britain compared to China's 1.3 billion people. But that is not a true yardstick to judge true potential of a country's performance.

"This is way more special than Beijing. When you're there, you're not really aware of the support you get at home," said Olympic champion Hoy, who won three gold medals in 2008.

More medals for Great Britain

Celebrated rider Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France, then became the first cyclist to win Le Tour and the Olympics time trial in the same summer. Great Britain bagged gold and bronze in men's triathlon Tuesday, and won four gold in rowing and two in equestrian.

But the most memorable day in British sporting history was last Saturday. In a sensational evening in British track and field history, the hosts won gold in the heptathlon, men's 10,000m and men's long jump.

Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah capped a historic day - the best ever for GB athletics - by winning the heptathlon, long jump and 10,000m in front of a packed stadium with jubilant spectators. The rowers had started the celebrations with gold in the men's four and the women's lightweight double sculls before the women's team pursuiters added track cycling gold in the London Velodrome. Britain's Ben Ainslie became the most successful Olympic sailor, winning gold in the single-handed Finn class to claim a record-breaking fifth consecutive medal.

Those were the results of strenuous preparations that the Britons have done after a dreadful performance in Beijing Games. After their 2008 Olympic debacle, Great Britain hired Dutch track coach Charles van Commenee who got down high-performance staff and world-class nutritionist Glenn Kearney.

Capacity crowds at venues

The capacity crowds at all Olympic venues here have been a great source of encouragement for British sportsmen and women. Over 200,000 fans patronize the Olympic Park daily to cheer the home stars. "It's the crowd that has pushed and inspired our athletes," Britain's 200m athlete Margaret Adeoye said. "They kind of pull you along. You're at the bend and you hear a big roar, especially when you're in a good position. They kind of give you an indication of where you are".

Chairman of the London Olympic Games Organising Committe, Sebastien Coe, a double gold medalist in Olympic middle distance running, is a happy man as the hard work and dedication of his committee have paid rich dividends. He now demands compulsory sport be included in schools.

The success of home athletes has put British Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure to reverse planned cuts to sports spending. Local sports clubs throughout Britain are reporting spikes in sign-ups.

"I'm changing my citizenship. I like to be on the winning side, and the winning side in this Olympics is British," American Sally Jenkins wrote to his popular column in The Washington Post. " I know a trend when I see it: First there was their steady infiltrating of Hollywood, the Hugh Granting and Jude Lawing of our films, then their insinuation into our clothes, via Stella McCartney and Burberry. So I'm just doing the inevitable, before Mo Farah plants his flag in my front garden and calls it a protectorate," said Jenkins.

Great Britain may perhaps have a greater harvest by the time curtain of the 204-nation Games comes down on Sunday night. They have already taken the maximum use of hosting the Games. Perhaps, Australia must be regretting for not doing so when Sydney hosted the Games 12 years ago.

Of course the Sydney 2000 Games brought happy memories for Sri Lanka which won an Olympic medal after 52 years. It was at Sydney Olympics that sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe bagged women's 200m silver medal for Sri Lanka. But hosts Australia did not have happy memories as Great Britain enjoys now. Australia could win only 16 gold medals to be placed fourth at the Sydney 2000 Games, perhaps way ahead if one goes by Great Britain's dismal performance at London 1948 Games! LONDON, Friday.