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Touchline: What was the most pleasing
aspect of the Rio 2016 Olympic and
Paralympic Games from an overall team
perspective?
Liz Nicholl:
At UK Sport we agreed an incredibly
challenging aspirational goal to make
history and become the first nation to
win more medals at the Olympic and
Paralympic games post hosting. To
achieve that is quite simply, I believe, the
greatest success in the history of British
sport. The way all the sports, athletes
and the British Olympic Association and
British Paralympic Association rose to the
challenge of making history and came
together to deliver so many inspirational
performances when it really mattered is a
source of incredible pride.
Tim Hollingsworth:
ParalympicsGB excelled at Rio 2016. It
was incredible to watch the team surpass
expectations to smash the medal target
with a total of 147 medals - including 64
gold - the third highest medal haul in
British Paralympic history. The medal
target is an obvious but incredibly
important measure of success, but it was
when we started to look at the range of
historic performances across the team
that you really begin to appreciate the
strength in depth. ParalympicsGB secured
medals in 15 of the 19 sports in which we
were represented – a feat which equals
the record previously held by the USA
from Athens 2004 as the greatest ever
in one Games. Away from the numbers,
there was also a real sense of team spirit
in the camp under the superb leadership
of Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe, and
despite some of the more challenging
aspects of the Games, we created a
fantastic environment for our athletes to
come together as a team and really shine
and a really powerful and successful set
of programmes for our VIP stakeholders,
commercial guests and other wider team
members.
Mark England:
Making history. To come away from Rio with
more medals than London 2012 and our
greatest ever haul at an Olympic Games on
foreign soil was an incredible achievement
from Britain’s finest Olympic athletes.
Team GB also did something unique in
Rio in becoming the first country ever to
win more medals at a Games immediately
after hosting, following up 65 medals in
London with 67 in Rio de Janeiro.
Our goal before the Games was to make
history and inspire the nation through the
power of Olympic sport and I firmly believe
the team delivered on that aspiration.
Tommy Yule:
Most pleasing was to see the how the
development of the athletes played out in
the Olympic and Paralympic environment.
There were many examples, from good
decision making during final preparation,
dealing with the media to developing new
relationships with the BOA support staff.
Faced with new challenges the athletes
showed great character to deal with any
situation and remain on track to achieve
their goals.
Were there any particular events or
sports that you felt 'over-achieved' on the
basis of performance and targets?
LN:
Clearly, it was fantastic to see the majority
of the sports executing under pressure
to realise their full medal potential and
deliver these historic results. Some of
the sports, including diving and para
canoeing, surprised even themselves
by exceeding the top end of the target
range they had agreed with us. Having
said that, what made Rio so special were
the countless milestone moments where
sports and their athletes re-wrote history
whether it was Max Whitlock winning two
gold medals in an afternoon when GB
had never won a Gymnastics gold in its
history to Dame Sarah Storey becoming
the most decorated British female
Paralympian of all time. The list goes on
and on and is testament to the strength
of our high performance system and the
meticulous Games time planning and
support provided by the British Olympic
and Paralympic Associations.
TH:
Rather than ‘over achieved’ I would say
our sports created performance plans
which gave athletes the very best chance
of succeeding by peaking at the right
time. In that context success was not an
accident. Nonetheless there were some
sports that did really maximise their
potential and thrived in Rio, including
Wheelchair Tennis which won six medals
and produced an all-British final with
Gordon Reid pipping Alfie Hewett to gold
in the men’s singles, and Archery which
scored a historic 1-2-3 in the women’s W1
– a feat that hasn’t been achieved by either
Team GB or ParalympicsGB in more than
20 years. At the Lagoa, our Rowers won
medals in all four classes, the first nation
ever to do so at a Paralympic Games. In
fact, all of our female athletes won gold at
that particular venue, whether in Rowing
or Canoe, which made its Games debut.
These performances and more truly boast
strength in depth when it came to the
medal haul.
ME:
There were many incredible performances
fromour sports in Rio and this is testament
to the hard work of the athletes and their
support staff. It was great to see sports
leave Rio with their best ever Games,
with diving, gymnastics, taekwondo, and
triathlon all returning having enjoyed
record hauls in Rio; and Rowing, Sailing,
Cycling, and Triathlon topping their
respective sports individual medal table
A number of our sports did exceed their
UK Sport medal target but, rather than
over-achieving, their successes were
richly deserved and the result of years
of forensic planning and meticulous
preparation to peak at the Games.
What do you attribute the amazing
success of the teams' performances at
Rio 2016 to?
LN:
A significant factor has been the National
Lottery funding. The sustained strategic
investment since 1997 has allowed us to
build the high performance system that is
the envy of the world.
As we all know money doesn’t guarantee
success - it’s a people business and how
you use the money is key; it’s allowed us
to invest in attracting, developing and
retaining world class coaches,
erformance