GREAT BRITAIN matched its total of 65 medals from London 2012 at the Paris 2024 Olympics as cyclist Emma Finucane and weightlifter Emily Campbell both closed the Games with bronze.
For Finucane, it was a third medal of the week following gold in the team sprint and an earlier bronze in the keirin - as she became the first British female athlete in 60 years to win three medals at a single Olympic Games.
Indeed, Paris 2024 was a groundbreaking Games for Team GB in some respects, notably in artistic swimming, formerly known as synchronised swimming.
Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe took a silver medal in the women's duet to register the first ever British success in the sport at Olympic level.
Undoubtedly, though, the moment of the second week came in the truly gripping sport of climbing as teenager Toby Roberts struck an unexpected gold in the men's lead-and-boulder competition.
Roberts transferred his practice during the COVID-19 lockdown on a makeshift wall in his Surrey back garden to the biggest stage of all, scoring 92.1 points out of 100 on the lead wall for victory.
But, somewhat annoyingly, Roberts's golden moment was only one of two for Team GB during the last six days of competition.
Ellie Aldridge won the other gold in the first ever staging of women's kitesurfing - a welcome zippy addition to the sailing programme.
Curiously, though, the sailing regatta was staged off Marseille in the calm waters of the Mediterranean, rather than in the far more suitable Bay of Biscay - and there were numerous races either delayed or cancelled altogether.
That was not the only questionable decision made by the organisers with the main faux-pas being the staging of the swimming leg of the triathlon and the open-water swimming events in the river Seine.
Heavy rain for 24 hours turned an overly-ambitious Opening Ceremony - in which the parade of athletes was staged on boats - into something of a damp squib.
Worse still, though, the downpour increased pollution in the river to unsafe levels for several days, forcing the cancellation of the proposed triathlon training sessions and the postponement of the men's event by 24 hours.
Of course, making the Seine clean to swim in for the first time in 100 years was one of the key legacy pledges made by the Paris 2024 Olympics organisers to the extent that city mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the river herself ahead of the Games.
But, if anything, the whole thing smacked of a costly public relations exercise - and more than a few sceptical eyebrows were raised when, on the day of the women's competition, the water quality was suddenly deemed safe enough for both competitions to take place.
Nevertheless, it would be churlish in the extreme to deny Paris 2024 was a success - or to deny that the French are feeling the same sort of buzz which was evident in large parts of the United Kingdom at the conclusion of London 2012.
Following an early false start when the French high-speed railway network fell victim to a series of co-ordinated arson attacks, and looking beyond the problems with the Seine, there were no more incidents of major concern.
Meanwhile, the hosts enjoyed its best haul at an Olympics for 124 years since hosting in 1900 with gold medals in rugby sevens, cycling, canoeing, fencing, triathlon, judo, surfing, volleyball, taekwondo, and swimming.
Most notably in the pool, a new Olympic legend emerged for the French as Leon Marchand took four individual gold medals in the 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke, and 200m individual medley.
And that was good enough to help France finish fifth in the medal table on 16 gold medals behind only United States, China, Japan, and Australia.
For the record, the Americans topped the table for a fourth time in a row and dominated the overall count with 126 in total.
However, the US finished level with the Chinese on 40 gold medals and only just caught up in the very last event of the Games by squeezing past France by a single point in the women's basketball final.
Netherlands crept above Great Britain into sixth place on the last day of competition after an excellent late run of success spearheaded by woman's marathon winner Siffan Hassan and track cyclist Harrie Lavreysen who took home three gold medals.
By contrast, for the first time since Sydney 2000, no individual British athlete won multiple gold medals at an Olympic Games.
Chief executive of the British Olympic Association Andy Anson said: "It’s frustrating to be seventh in the medal table but we’ve got to celebrate first the number of fantastic moments, the way athletes have won their medals.
"It’s about this continual fine-tuning figuring out what can be done better to move forward. The middle bit of the medal table below the United States and China feels incredibly competitive."
In fairness, the cycling squad is still in something of a transitional phase following the retirements of relentless winners Sir Jason Kenny and Dame Laura Kenny.
Katie Archibald was also badly missed having been ruled out with a broken leg and dislocated ankle after tripping up a step in her garden on the eve of the Games.
Furthermore, the competition now from other countries in cycling is so much stronger than it used to be.
Ultimately, though, it was the missing gold medals in the velodrome which dropped Britain down the standings when compared to previous Games within the last 20 years.
After all, even outside of the velodrome, silver medals and bronze medals were in plentiful supply for Team GB.
Inspired by Keely Hodgkinson's brilliant gold on Day 10 in the women's 800m, the track-and-field squad hit double figures at an Olympics for the first time since Los Angeles 1984.
All five relay teams reached the podium with bronze medals coming in the men's 4 x 100m, men's 4 x 400m, women's 4 x 400m and mixed 4 x 400m - while the women's 4 x 100m squad took silver.
There was also a silver medal for Josh Kerr in the men's 1500m as he beat his great Norwegian rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen but failed to match a surprisingly strong late run on the inside made by Cole Hocker of the United States.
Just over 24 hours later, Matthew Hudson-Smith was also agonisingly beaten by an American - Quincy Hall - by just four one-hundredths of a second in the men's 400m.
However, the most blissful of the silver medals for Great Britain in the Stade de France undoubtedly went to heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
At the age of 31, after being ravaged by injuries and bad luck at previous Olympic Games, Katarina Johnson-Thompson finally finished on the podium at the fourth attempt.
Johnson-Thompson even pushed defending champion Nafissatou Thiam extremely hard for gold by recording her personal best in the shot put and the 800m.
Still, the required 8.5-second margin over Thiam in the 800m race which concluded the heptathlon always looked like a long shot and the Belgian duly made sure her deficit never fell below that.
But it did not matter really. For Johnson-Thompson, the silver medal was still a victory over the doubters who deemed the Liverpudlian had missed her last chance already - and a glittering reward for a sterling athletics career.
Elsewhere, Caden Cunningham was Team GB's only taekwondo medal winner at Paris 2024, as he took silver in the men's heavyweight division after a split-decision defeat to Arian Salimi of Iran.
Noah Williams won a bronze in the men's individual 10m platform event - a result which meant a diving squad of 11 matched the five-medal haul of the considerably larger swimming selection.
And, in the women's park event, 16-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown won a repeat bronze to join weightlifter Campbell in winning medals in back-to-back Olympic Games.
Finally, Lewis Richardson - with bronze in the welterweight category - ensured the disastrous Olympics in Atlanta 1996 remains the only time since 1964 in which Team GB did not win a boxing medal.
However, it is highly likely that no one will win any boxing medals at Los Angeles 2028 with the sport slated to be dropped - although this decision is set to be reviewed in 2025.
As usual, the whole competition was marred by rotten judging with fighters like Britain's Rosie Eccles somehow deemed to have lost against Poland’s Aneta Rygielska who received a points deduction for failing to keep her head up.
Horrible judging is sadly nothing new at the Olympics - but the women's competition became subject to further controversy over the eligibility of Algerian Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei, both of whom won gold medals.
Certainly, if boxing wanted a quietly effective Games in order to save its place at the Olympics, this was not it.
But none of this was the fault of a Paris 2024 itself, though - and, despite plenty of frustration for Team GB, the squad as a whole still won medals across 18 sports so there is no need for wholesale changes to be made.
Rather delightfully, Paris did not let itself down either.
Merci beaucoup - and onto the Paralympics which begin on 28 August.
| Pos | Final standings | G | S | B | TOTAL |
| 1 | UNITED STATES (USA) | 40 | 44 | 42 | 126 |
| 2 | CHINA (CHN) | 40 | 27 | 24 | 91 |
| 3 | JAPAN (JPN) | 20 | 12 | 13 | 45 |
| 4 | AUSTRALIA (AUS) | 18 | 19 | 16 | 53 |
| 5 | FRANCE (FRA) | 16 | 26 | 22 | 64 |
| 6 | NETHERLANDS (NED) | 15 | 7 | 12 | 34 |
| 7 | GREAT BRITAIN & NI (GBR) | 14 | 22 | 29 | 65 |
| 8 | SOUTH KOREA (KOR) | 13 | 9 | 10 | 32 |
| 9 | ITALY (ITA) | 12 | 13 | 15 | 40 |
| 10 | GERMANY (GER) | 12 | 13 | 8 | 33 |
| 11 | NEW ZEALAND (NZL) | 10 | 7 | 3 | 20 |
| 12 | CANADA (CAN) | 9 | 7 | 11 | 27 |
| 13 | UZBEKISTAN (UZB) | 8 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| 14 | HUNGARY (HUN) | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 |
| 15 | SPAIN (ESP) | 5 | 4 | 9 | 18 |
| 16 | SWEDEN (SWE) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| 17 | KENYA (KEN) | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| 18 | NORWAY (NOR) | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 19 | IRELAND (IRL) | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 20 | BRAZIL (BRA) | 3 | 7 | 10 | 20 |
| 21 | IRAN (IRI) | 3 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
| 22 | UKRAINE (UKR) | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 23 | ROMANIA (ROU) | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 24 | GEORGIA (GEO) | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 25 | BELGIUM (BEL) | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| 26 | BULGARIA (BUL) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 27 | SERBIA (SRB) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 28 | CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 29 | DENMARK (DEN) | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 30 | AZERBAIJAN (AZE) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 30 | CROATIA (CRO) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 32 | CUBA (CUB) | 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| 33 | BAHRAIN (BRN) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 34 | SLOVENIA (SLO) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 35 | CHINESE TAIPEI (TPE) | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| 36 | AUSTRIA (AUT) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 37 | HONG KONG (HKG) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 37 | PHILIPPINES (PHI) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 39 | ALGERIA (ALG) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 39 | INDONESIA (INA) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 41 | ISRAEL (ISR) | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 42 | POLAND (POL) | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 43 | KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ) | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 44 | JAMAICA (JAM) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 44 | SOUTH AFRICA (RSA) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 44 | THAILAND (THA) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 47 | ETHIOPIA (ETH) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 48 | SWITZERLAND (SUI) | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 49 | ECUADOR (ECU) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 50 | PORTUGAL (POR) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 51 | GREECE (GRE) | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| 52 | ARGENTINA (ARG) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 52 | EGYPT (EGY) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 52 | TUNISIA (TUN) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 55 | BOTSWANA (BOT) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 55 | CHILE (CHI) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 55 | ST LUCIA (LCA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 55 | UGANDA (UGA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 59 | DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (DOM) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 60 | GUATEMALA (GUA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 60 | MOROCCO (MAR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 62 | DOMINICA (DMA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 62 | PAKISTAN (PAK) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 64 | TURKEY (TUR) | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 65 | MEXICO (MEX) | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 66 | ARMENIA (ARM) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 66 | COLOMBIA (COL) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 68 | KYRGYZSTAN (KGZ) | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 68 | NORTH KOREA (PRK) | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 70 | LITHUANIA (LTU) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 71 | INDIA (IND) | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 72 | MOLDOVA (MDA) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 73 | KOSOVO (KOS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 74 | CYPRUS (CYP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 74 | FIJI (FIJ) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 74 | JORDAN (JOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 74 | MONGOLIA (MNG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 74 | PANAMA (PAN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 | TAJIKSTAN (TJK) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 80 | ALBANIA (ALB) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 80 | GRENADA (GRN) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 80 | MALAYSIA (MAS) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 80 | PUERTO RICO (PUR) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 84 | CAPE VERDE (CPV) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 84 | IVORY COAST (CIV) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 84 | PERU (PER) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 84 | QATAR (QAT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 84 | REFUGEE TEAM (EOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 84 | SINGAPORE (SGP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 84 | SLOVAKIA (SVK) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 84 | ZAMBIA (ZAM) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
TEAM GB
| GOLD | |||||
| 1 | 29-Jul | Rosalind Canter (Lordships Graffalo) Laura Collett (London 52) Tom McEwen (JL Dublin) | Equestrian | Team eventing | |
| 2 | 29-Jul | Tom Pidcock | Cycling | Men's mountain bike cross-country | |
| 3 | 30-Jul | Nathan Hales | Shooting | Men's trap | |
| 4 | 30-Jul | Matt Richards Duncan Scott Tom Dean James Guy Kieran Bird James McMillan | Swimming | Men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay | |
| 5 | 31-Jul | Alex Yee | Triathlon | Men's event | |
| 6 | 31-Jul | Lauren Henry Hannah Scott Lola Anderson Georgie Brayshaw | Rowing | Women's quadruple sculls | |
| 7 | 02-Aug | Emily Craig Imogen Grant | Rowing | Women's lightweight double sculls | |
| 8 | 02-Aug | Bryony Page | Gymnastics | Women's trampoline | |
| 9 | 02-Aug | Scott Brash (Hello Jefferson) Ben Maher (Point Break) Harry Charles (Romeo 88) | Equestrian | Team jumping | |
| 10 | 03-Aug | Sholto Carnegie Rory Gibbs Morgan Bolding Jacob Dawson Charlie Elwes Tom Digby James Rudkin Tom Ford Harry Brightmore (cox) | Rowing | Men's eight | |
| 11 | 05-Aug | Sophie Capewell Emma Finucane Katy Marchant | Cycling | Women's team sprint | |
| 12 | 05-Aug | Keely Hodgkinson | Athletics | Women's 800m | |
| 13 | 08-Aug | Ellie Aldridge | Sailing | Women's kite | |
| 14 | 09-Aug | Toby Roberts | Climbing | Men's lead-and-boulder combined |
| SILVER | |||||
| 1 | 27-Jul | Anna Henderson | Cycling | Women's road time trial | |
| 2 | 28-Jul | Adam Peaty | Swimming | Men's 100m breaststroke | |
| 3 | 29-Jul | Tom Daley Noah Williams | Diving | Men's synchronised 10m platform | |
| 4 | 29-Jul | Adam Burgess | Canoeing | Men's C-1 canoe slalom | |
| 5 | 29-Jul | Matt Richards | Swimming | Men's 200m freestyle | |
| 6 | 31-Jul | Kieran Reilly | Cycling | Men's BMX freestyle | |
| 7 | 01-Aug | Helen Glover Esme Booth Sam Redgrave Rebecca Shorten | Rowing | Women's four | |
| 8 | 02-Aug | Ollie Wynne-Griffith Tom George | Rowing | Men's pair | |
| 9 | 02-Aug | Ben Proud | Swimming | Men's 50m freestyle | |
| 10 | 02-Aug | Duncan Scott | Swimming | Men's 200m individual medley | |
| 11 | 04-Aug | Amber Rutter | Shooting | Women's skeet | |
| 12 | 04-Aug | Tommy Fleetwood | Golf | Men's event | |
| 13 | 05-Aug | Joe Clarke | Canoeing | Men's kayak cross | |
| 14 | 06-Aug | Jack Carlin Ed Lowe Hamish Turnbull | Cycling | Men's team sprint | |
| 15 | 06-Aug | Josh Kerr | Athletics | Men's 1500m | |
| 16 | 07-Aug | Dan Bigham Ethan Hayter Ethan Vernon Ollie Wood Charlie Tanfield | Cycling | Men's team pursuit | |
| 17 | 07-Aug | Matthew Hudson-Smith | Athletics | Men's 400m | |
| 18 | 09-Aug | Elinor Barker Neah Evans | Cycling | Women's Madison | |
| 19 | 09-Aug | Dina Asher-Smith Amy Hunt Imani-Lara Lansiquot Daryll Neita Desiree Henry (heats) Bianca Williams (heats) | Athletics | Women's 4 x 100m relay | |
| 20 | 09-Aug | Katarina Johnson-Thompson | Athletics | Women's heptathlon | |
| 21 | 10-Aug | Kate Shortman Isabelle Thorpe | Artistic swimming | Women's duet | |
| 22 | 10-Aug | Caden Cunningham | Taekwondo | Men's heavyweight (+80kg) |
| BRONZE | |||||
| 1 | 27-Jul | Yasmin Harper Scarlett Mew Jensen | Diving | Women's synchronised 3m springboard | |
| 2 | 28-Jul | Kimberley Woods | Canoeing | Women's K-1 canoe slalom | |
| 3 | 29-Jul | Laura Collett (London 52) | Equestrian | Individual eventing | |
| 4 | 31-Jul | Beth Potter | Triathlon | Women's event | |
| 5 | 31-Jul | Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix Lois Toulson | Diving | Women's synchronised 10m platform | |
| 6 | 01-Aug | Becky Wilde Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne | Rowing | Women's double sculls | |
| 7 | 01-Aug | Oli Wilkes David Ambler Matt Aldridge Freddie Davidson | Rowing | Men's four | |
| 8 | 02-Aug | Anthony Harding Jack Laugher | Diving | Men's synchronised 3m springboard | |
| 9 | 03-Aug | Heidi Long Rowan McKellar Holly Dunford Emily Ford Lauren Irwin Eve Stewart Hattie Taylor Annie Campbell-Orde Henry Fieldman (cox) | Rowing | Women's eight | |
| 10 | 03-Aug | Emma Wilson | Sailing | Women's IQFoil | |
| 11 | 03-Aug | Lottie Fry (Glamourdalec) Carl Hester (Fame) Becky Moody (Jagerbomb) | Equestrian | Team dressage | |
| 12 | 03-Aug | Jake Jarman | Gymnastics | Men's floor | |
| 13 | 03-Aug | Sam Reardon Laviai Nielsen Alex Haydock-Wilson Amber Anning Nicole Yeargin (heats) | Athletics | Mixed 4 x 400m relay | |
| 14 | 04-Aug | Lottie Fry (Glamourdalec) | Equestrian | Individual dressage | |
| 15 | 04-Aug | Harry Hepworth | Gymnastics | Men's vault | |
| 16 | 05-Aug | Alex Yee Georgia Taylor-Brown Sam Dickinson Beth Potter | Triathlon | Mixed relay event | |
| 17 | 05-Aug | Kimberley Woods | Canoeing | Women's kayak cross | |
| 18 | 06-Aug | Sky Brown | Skateboarding | Women's park | |
| 19 | 06-Aug | Lewis Richardson | Boxing | Men's welterweight | |
| 20 | 07-Aug | Elinor Barker Josie Knight Anna Morris Jess Roberts | Cycling | Women's team pursuit | |
| 21 | 08-Aug | Emma Finucane | Cycling | Women's Keirin | |
| 22 | 09-Aug | Jeremiah Azu Louie Hinchcliffe Zharnel Hughes Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Richard Kilty (heats) | Athletics | Men's 4 x 100m relay | |
| 23 | 09-Aug | Jack Carlin | Cycling | Men's sprint | |
| 24 | 10-Aug | Noah Williams | Diving | Men's 10m platform | |
| 25 | 10-Aug | Georgia Bell | Athletics | Women's 1500m | |
| 26 | 10-Aug | Lewis Davey Charlie Dobson Alex Haydock-Wilson Matthew Hudson-Smith Toby Harries (heats) Sam Reardon (heats) | Athletics | Men's 4 x 400m relay | |
| 27 | 10-Aug | Amber Anning Laviai Nielsen Victoria Ohuruogu Nicole Yeargin Yemi Mary John (heats) Hannah Kelly (heats) Lina Nielsen (heats) Jodie Williams (heats) | Athletics | Women's 4 x 400m relay | |
| 28 | 11-Aug | Emma Finucane | Cycling | Women's sprint | |
| 29 | 11-Aug | Emily Campbell | Weightlifting | Women's +81kg |
EARLIER PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS BLOGS
26.07 Sport-by-sport preview
01.08 Flurry of gold for Team GB
07.08 Hodgkinson crowned new queen of British athletics
