How did Team Great Britain fare during the Gold Rush weekend?

This weekend in the Paris 2024 Olympics was certainly full of tension for athletes and fans alike. There were dozens of events to watch with bated breath and Team Great Britain came out of it with more medals to its fame and athletes advancing towards event finals.

Day 8: In golden style

Saturday's events included rowing, sailing, gymnastics, team dressage, and athletics.

The men's eight crew in rowing, guided by coxswain Harry Brightmore, took one of the weekend's fifty-four gold medal victories. The team consisted of Sholto, Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Chanie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, and Tom Ford and beat the silver medal team from the Netherlands by 1.08 seconds. Elwes described the race as "99.9%...perfect...We shot out the start like a rocket and then just never looked back."

Meanwhile, the women's eight took bronze in their event. Henry Fieldman was coxswain to the team of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellan, Holly Dunford, Emily Ford, Laura Irwin, Eve Stewart, Harriet Taylor, and Annie Campbell-Orde. Campbell-Orde had this modest remark to make of their victory:

"I think I was really trying to focus on what Henry was saying at the time, because if I thought about the whole 2km, it was almost a bit overwhelming. He said to do the best of our ability, and I think that we did that at that moment on that day.""

- Annie Campbell-Orde

Windsurfer Emma Wilson likewise took a bronze medal, coming in behind Marta Maggetti of Italy. She hopes that can inspire kids and "show them that you work hard and that's what happens, then that's a win."

The first men's artistic gymnastic medal of the games for Team Great Britain was by a narrow margin. Jake Jarman finished just 0.033 points behind Artem Dolgopyat of Israel, who took the silver. The gold was awarded to Carlos Edriel Yulo of the Philippines. Max Whitlock finished fourth on the pommel horse event, but as he retires, he is Team GB's most decorated gymnast in history. He leaves the sport with a record to be proud of: three gold medals and three bronze.

In the equestrian events, the team dressage competition netted a bronze medal for the trio of Carl Hester, Lottie Fry, and Becky Moody. This is the fourth Olympics in a row in which Team Great Britain has medaled in team dressage. Carl Hester has been an instrumental player in all of those victories.

With athletics under way, the 4x400 meter relay was responsible for the team's first medal in the category. Samuel Reardon, Laviai Nielsen, Alex Haydock-Wilson, and Amber Anning took bronze behind gold medalists from the Netherlands and silver medalists from Team USA. Their time of 3:08.01 was a truly impressive one.

Day 9: A mother shines

This day saw four medal-winning performances from Team Great Britain and one went to Amber Rutter. Just three months after the birth of her first child, Rutter took silver in the women's skeet final. She was not able to compete in Tokyo because of Covid, but says that "being an Olympic medalist and a mum at the same time, is something that feels so inspirational. I hope we can share the message to other mums that our life doesn't stop after having a baby."

In golf, Tommy Fleetwood took silver ahead of Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama. Fleetwood described the experience of being on the podium as "one of the most amazing moments I've had as a golfer. I'll remember that for the rest of my life."

In the equestrian individual dressage, Charlotte took home her second bronze medal of Paris 2024. She praised the performance of her horse Glamourdale, but also had wonderful things to say about her fellow competitors:

"The prizegiving was just insane. That feeling going around with Jessica [Von Bredow-Werndl] and Isabel [Werth too, idols and huge inspirations in our sport, it was just incredible."

- Charlotte Fry

Finally, Harry Hepworth took bronze on the vault with a score of 14.949. He became the first British man to medal on that apparatus and also the first British man to reach the final round for the rings. He finished seventh in that event.

The weekend was full of thrills and we look forward to feeling even more pride as Team Great Britain continues to shine.