h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The top three nations in the medal rankings for this Olympiad were certainly predictable. But what is perhaps a bit surprising, is how well the British athletes performed, winning 47 medals (19 of them gold) and finishing a very strong fourth.

In outclassing the Germans, Japanese, French, Koreans and Aussies, the Brits certainly surprised a lot of people. Over the last 100 years, their previous best results occurred at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the Games that the USA and several other Western nations refused to attend due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

As a Canadian whose countrymen did not set the world on fire at Beijing, I recently heard that the philosophy of sports training and government funding in Britain has been radically altered over the past few years, which probably accounts for such postive results at Beijing. May the UK enjoy equally good success at the London Olympiad in 2012!

RC