By the end, Britain's Olympians could hardly stop themselves. The marathon runner Jon Brown, who did not even rate a mention in pre-race speculation, came within seven seconds of a bronze medal to wrap up the country's most successful games in 80 years. The 11 golds outstripped the total of nine from the Chariots of Fire Olympics of 1924 and rank behind only the 14 at Antwerp in 1920 and 56 in 1908, when Britain had home advantage and most of the potential rivals had the decency not to turn up. There were also 10 silver and seven bronze this time. This is the first time since 1908 that Britain has put aside its historic attachment to finishing second and won more gold than silver.
British officials are astounded at their team's performance.
Some of us had private hopes but, whatever they were, we've exceeded them. These figures will be seen as an overwhelming justification of the improved funding for British sport since the introduction of national lottery money, and will lead to pressure for more handouts. British sport has been under-funded for years, but that's changing. Nonetheless, it is impossible to imagine Britain ever matching Australia in organisational terms. Visitors have been left awestruck by the efficiency and national effort that have characterised the Sydney games.