Only its performance at the 1908 Summer Olympics, which Britain hosted in London, resulted in more gold medals being awarded.

Because London was to be host city of the 2012 Summer Olympics, a British segment featuring football star David Beckham was performed during the closing ceremony.

[9] They later exceeded the total number of targeted medals when Heather Fell secured the silver in women's modern pentathlon.

[11] A further two medals were already guaranteed at this stage in the men's individual sprint, where gold and silver were soon won by Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny respectively.

[13] Despite the men's and women's archery teams having come second and third respectively at the 2007 world championships, British archers were unable to win either of their targeted medals.

His appeal to overturn that ban, on the grounds that it was an unfair restraint of trade, failed and he was omitted from the squad.

Women's marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe faced a battle to be fit for the Games due to a stress fracture in her left thigh.

[8] The mixed doubles pairing of Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson, who won silver in the 2004 tournament, progressed furthest amongst the British athletes, reaching the quarterfinals.

[32] In the debut appearance of BMX events at the Olympics, world champion Shanaze Reade finished out of the medals after crashing out of the women's final.

[34] A total of ten divers were part of Team GB in the individual and synchronised diving events,[35] including 14-year-old Tom Daley, the 2008 European 10 m champion and one of the youngest athletes to ever compete for Great Britain at an Olympics.

[36] A total of twelve entrants competed for Team GB in the three equestrian disciplines that took place in Hong Kong.

Zara Phillips, the reigning world eventing champion and granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, had been included in the squad until her horse, Toytown, sustained an injury, which meant she missed her second successive Olympics.

# – Indicates that points do not count in team total * On 21 August, four horses from Brazil, Germany, Ireland and Norway tested positive for a banned substance.

Two of these came from the re-allocation of places by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the governing body for Olympic fencing, after the withdrawal of other fencers.

[41] Great Britain was drawn in Group B of the Olympic tournament based on world rankings on 18 April 2008.

[43] Head Coach: Danny Kerry Reserve: Team GB entered nine gymnasts into the artistic and trampoline events.

[44] Laura Jones was originally chosen for the artistic gymnastics but, due to a slipped disc in her back, she was replaced by the reserve Imogen Cairns.

[45] The result of the uneven bars final, in which Britain's Beth Tweddle placed 4th, was called into question after documents were found that seemed to say that Chinese gymnasts He Kexin and Yang Yilin were only 14, and therefore under the age required to compete, at the time of the games.

An investigation into their ages was launched by the IOC to determine whether it was necessary to disqualify them, thus Tweddle's standing could have been changed to 2nd, giving her a silver medal.

[8] Ben Ainslie won a gold medal for the third successive Games to become the most decorated British Olympic sailor of all time.

[58] Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats.

Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats.

Sarah Stevenson won Team GB's first ever medal in Olympic taekwondo – a bronze in the women's +67 kg.

[64] The award of the 2012 Summer Olympics to London has brought the question of British participation in the football tournaments to the fore, given that there is traditionally no single United Kingdom national team.

A similar situation occurred with the England Women's team who, by virtue of being one of the top three European sides at the 2007 World Cup, would have been granted a place at the Olympics.

The main rights to Olympic coverage in the United Kingdom are held by the BBC, under the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events.

The opening and closing ceremonies were anchored by Sue Barker and Huw Edwards, whilst general coverage was anchored (at various times of the day) by Adrian Chiles, Clare Balding, Gabby Logan, Jake Humphrey, Sue Barker, Hazel Irvine and John Inverdale.

Former Olympic contenders – including gold medallists Michael Johnson, Shirley Robertson, Adrian Moorhouse, Steve Redgrave, Jonathan Edwards and Chris Boardman – provided analysis.