Is Britain a world force once more?

After winning just one gold medal in Atlanta, Great Britain has already claimed eight in Sydney to move into the top 10 on the medal table.

So have these Games put the Great back into Britain - or are their Olympic rivals still worlds apart?

Shirley Robertson's gold medal on day 14 of the Olympic Games secured Great Britain's best golden haul since Paris in 1924, and the nation's gold bullion reserves are bursting at the seams after a remarkable fortnight Down Under.

The miserly single gold in Atlanta was matched on day one as Jason Queally kicked off the winning streak with victory in the men's 1km cycling time trial and golden shot Richard Faulds followed up in the men's double trap shooting.

And Britain were on a golden pond at Penrith Lakes as the men's coxless four and the men's eight both claimed gold, securing a fifth successive Olympic title for Steve Redgrave in the process.

Denise Lewis and Jonathan Edwards followed up in the athletics arena before Robertson and Ainslie extended the haul to eight, with the prospect of more glory to come from the sailors in Sydney Harbour.

Edwards has already predicted that Britain's medal haul will inspire a new generation of home-grown champions, but is enough being done to ensure the heroes of the future fulfil their potential?

Is Britain among the World's leading sporting nations, or still fighting it out with the also-rans?

Be realistic, look where Team GB was in the medal tally. Get totally professional, and I don't mean by paying athletes money. Australia brought in world class coaches to improve the standard of athletes, or sent athletes a way to train with them. Get football off the back pages once in a while and highlight other sports and other sporting names. In six months time, take a survey to find out if people can remember in which sports the medals were won. Get involved in team sports that are regularly played on the continent, e.g. handball. Above all get realistic about PE and competitive sport in the schools, particularly the primary sector.
Peter Haslett, Australia

To all those people who have mentioned that we won less gold medals than the Dutch, please don't forget that three of their competitors won eight of their gold medals between them!

  Simon, UK

While applauding the successful athletes, can we really compare this generation against others when the number of 'sports' available within the Olympics movement has expanded in recent times? In addition, many of the medals were won in sports where the term world competition is inappropriate. How many African and Asian countries competed in cycling, rowing and sailing?
M Jack, UK

Great achievement, but not exactly world domination yet

  Roy Batty, UK

What pleased me more than the number of medals that were won was the number of personal best performances by a number of our team. To all those people who have mentioned that we won less gold medals than the Dutch, please don't forget that three of their competitors won eight of their gold medals between them!
Simon, UK

Australia and the Netherlands both have approximately one-third of the population the UK has. Despite this, both countries ended up with more gold medals. The UK should be competing with France and Germany to be able to claim to be a "world force" again. Until that time they're the best of the rest.
Gerben, Netherlands

Please spare us the 'Rule Britannia', 'Britain can be great again' nonsense. While our sports people have done exceptionally well and should be congratulated, it is not all about a quantitative haul of medals. It is about improving people's quality of life by making sport more accessible to everyone including many of our fellow 'Britons' who are currently socially excluded in areas of deprivation. Funding is required to make sport a real possibility for everyone and when it becomes part of our society success will surely follow but the end result should NOT be about getting more medals than 'Johnny Foreigner'. Let's cast off this jingoistic nonsense, leave it in the past where it belongs and improve everyone's quality of life.
Andrew, Scotland

Well done to all our athletes who competed here in Sydney, they made us all, including myself, very proud to be British. I was very fortunate to see it in person.
Andrew Stevenson, Australia (Ex-pat Brit)

Events like this are crucial to our national morale

  Jim Watts, Great Britain

In spite of an achievement that really should be celebrated (think about it, our best performance for eighty years), there are too many people on this page on a completely unwarranted negative note. Events like this are crucial to our national morale and bring us together. We face ten times the competition in every event and that is the scale of the achievement, it seems to me.
Jim Watts, Great Britain

The UK did brilliantly in Sydney but let's be realistic. The medal tally may be the best we have achieved since 1920 but we are talking of 11 golds out of 310 awarded. There were far fewer events 80 years ago and it is much more logical to assess our overall medal winning performance as a percentage of the number of events. Sadly, if this was the case then it would not look so great. Having said that, our athletes have done this country proud and, with further increases in funding for sport, we should look forward to an even more successful 2004.
Mark Green, UK

I'd like to congratulate the GB team on an excellent Games. With lottery funding things should only improve more. Funding for athletes so they can train full time seems to be the way other nations succeed. Hopefully we can too. Great coverage from the BBC too!
Lisa Cotton, England

First of all congratulations to all the athletes for such wonderful performances and for lifting the spirits of the nation. At last we seem to have realised that sporting success and all good feeling it brings cannot be had on the cheap. Continued long-term investment is needed to fund training, facilities and academies. It is disturbing to hear that the government plan to cut funding just as its benefits are becoming clear. If we can continue in this more enlightened vein we can continue to compete with the best and in years to come perhaps even be ahead of our European neighbours who have been investing for years and rejoicing in the great national feeling that winning creates.
Andrew Hollins, UK

Here is a thought; why not turn the Dome into a sports centre of excellence? It's big enough to house nearly every event that can be participated in at an Olympic Games. All year training for our athletes!! Just imagine the medal haul we could bring back from the next and subsequent Olympics.
Paul, London, UK

Why not turn the Dome into a sports centre of excellence?

  Paul, London

Regarding Mark Green's comments where he says we won the same number of medals from a much greater number available, that is true but it is also true that there are now many more countries and competitors competing for the greater number of medals.
Mark Kelleher, Britain

From "big" Western European Nations, Team GB came in fourth place after France, Italy, Germany and, astonishingly, the Netherlands. Great achievement, but not exactly world domination yet.
Roy Batty, UK

The future looks promising for Britain!

  Marnie, Australia

Well done Britain, it is great to see a vast improvement! You need to continue funding etc or you'll just fall behind, as well as a greater political encouragement in sport for future generations. Australia has a small population compared to leading sports nations, I think our main success is our passion for sport and its cultural significance in our lifestyle. The future looks promising for Britain!
Marnie, Australia

Much better performance - mind you, could it have been any worse than Atlanta? It's very interesting to me that a huge amount of our success this year came from the less "glamorous" sports (rowing, sailing, shooting cycling, etc). Our lesser heralded sportsmen and women deserve more acclaim. If you look where a lot of the medals are earned by the likes of Germany, Holland, Italy, France etc. - it's in these lesser publicised / glamorous events. I'd rather see us win 5+ golds and a hat full of silvers and bronzes in sailing, rowing shooting, cycling, ping-pong, diving, even synchronised swimming (!) than a single gold in the 100 meter sprints. Well done to our lesser known athletes!
Rich Foster, USA (Englishman in USA)

Congratulations Great Britain! The world is evidencing resurgence in your Olympic successes after several disappointing games. Aussies love to compete with the British and keep a watchful eye on your performances. Whilst we'd never admit it publicly, most of us pretty pleased when the "Poms" do well - It keeps us on our toes!
Paul, Australia

Team GB has performed way above most people's expectations, remember Atlanta, or maybe we shouldn't! The funding from the lottery has certainly been better spent on our sportsmen rather than the dome. However, only when sport is ingrained in our schools and winning is seen as a good, noble thing, can we hope to compete with the French, Germans or even the Dutch. Team GB very well done, Government do your bit and extend the support at grass root levels.
Nick Baker, Venezuela

The results in Sydney have shown that with the right support we can compete at the highest level

  Duncan, UK

The results in Sydney over the past fortnight have been exceptional for the morale of both the athletes themselves and us, the British citizens. It shows that the lottery funding is bearing fruit although to compare ourselves to the elite: i.e. USA, China, Australia etc would be rather far-fetched. However, if the next generation of budding Olympians carry the torch forward then our prospects for Athens 2004 and beyond are very high indeed.
Mark Cole, Wales

I won't argue against those saying that continued funding is important for continued success, but we cannot ignore the fact that Australia and to a lesser extent the US, Germany, Italy etc. appear to have sport more ingrained into their culture than we do.
Mark B, UK

We must make politicians realise the importance of sport - not only for boosting the morale of a country, but also for solving social problems and giving people who may not succeed in other professions a chance of an alternative success. Sport unites everyone.
Robin Spalding, UK

I think our performance in Sydney is testament the great work our athletes have put in over the last few years and the support that the lottery money has provided. It is scandalous that the government is already talking about reducing the investment in sport for next year. The results in Sydney have shown that with the right support we can compete at the highest level and if we increase the investment better results will follow.
Duncan, UK

There is only one way in which to describe the achievements of our GB team. Simply awesome!
John Dunn, UK

Although this is a great performance France, Italy and Germany are ahead of us

  Nigel Stansbie, UK

This haul of medals is fantastic news for all Brits everywhere and proves to me that lottery funding for our athletes has had a dramatic effect on performance.
Mike Moran, UK

Although this is a great performance France, Italy and Germany are ahead of us. We cannot be considered a great sporting nation until we are competing on a par with nations of similar population, size and wealth.
Nigel Stansbie, UK

It's great to see Britain doing so well! Let's hope this is a taste of things to come for us in the international sporting arena. It shows what can be achieved with better funding and support from sources such as the National Lottery. Money well spent!
Graham, UK

This has been a very successful Olympics for the British team but I don't think that they will ever come close to challenging the likes of the USA, China and Russia. It isn't the quality of athletes that wins you gold medals it is the quantity of athletes and the size of your country that really counts!
Liam Steed, England

Britain's superb performance in Sydney has really put the GREAT back into Britain

  David Hinsley, Great Britain

Of course Great Britain are among the world's leading sporting nations. They have had a good Olympic Games, exceeding most people's reasonable expectations. However, the true test is whether the standards that have been set can be maintained and improved on over time. Then maybe we can claim to be among the elite.
Simon, UK

I think it's a bit early to know either way. Let's wait until the next Olympics before we start getting carried away with ourselves.
Tim, United Kingdom

Britain's superb performance in Sydney has really put the GREAT back into Britain. Every where you go people are quietly proud of our golden team down under.
David Hinsley, Great Britain

Sporting success! It feels good doesn't it? When our athletes perform well abroad, we at home all share in their glory. You can't put a price on the sense of achievement that is generated throughout the nation. The dreams of success it inspires in our youth will need to be supported with world class funding and organisation if we want to repeat the process in four years time and do even better. We can do it.
Jerry Turner, GBR

ith continued investment why shouldn't we be able to take on the 'greats'?

  Chris Evans, England

If you consider the number of medals won per capita for each nation, then the UK's total medal haul looks impressive - but then Australia's looks amazing - twice as many golds as the UK with less than half the population!
James Morris, England

Although Britain's haul of gold medals is impressive, the lack of them in track and field is most worrying. Furthermore, the sportsmen and women who were good enough to win gold are fast approaching thirty or on the wrong side of it. But, it makes me so proud that even with a serious lack of funding in sport, we can win gold in some major events.
Kristian Brown, England

While we have enjoyed a fine Olympics, particularly compared to the debacle in Atlanta, I would exercise caution. The reason we have accumulated as many medals for the first time since Melbourne '56 is the growing number of events in the games. Nevertheless, well done to all the medallists.
Christopher Orriss, Englishman In Fort Worth, TX

I am very proud of the achievements to date and wish to thank the entire team for their efforts. With the longevity of Redgrave, the sheer bravery of Holmes, the finesse and style of Lewis, the power of Queally, the endurance of Edwards and the tactics of Ainslie they have embodied British sport at its best and I hope that we can now go from strength to strength.
Philip Shortt, Great Britain

Despite this being one of the better years in recent memory, we should not go overboard with euphoria

  Luke Penwald, UK

As a nation we seem to enjoy knocking ourselves and making out that we didn't do as well as we could. I think we have performed really well in Sydney and would like to say 'Well done' to all of our competitors for a sterling effort. Maybe the Olympics are just the kick in the behind the Government needs to start funding and pushing sport in this country.
Dan Griffin, UK

Great Britain's success is surely testament to its athletes and how a small amount of lottery funding can go a long way. With continued investment why shouldn't we be able to take on the 'greats'? Australia has done it - why can't we?
Chris Evans, England

A brilliant and thrilling improvement over recent years but until we are right up there with Australia, France, Italy and Germany, we can't claim to have made it back. Look at the medal totals including silver and bronze. We need increased investment to broaden the scope of our successes.
Gerry Curtis, England

We should all be proud of the British success at the Olympics. Despite this being one of the better years in recent memory, we should not go overboard with euphoria. We should be thankful that Lottery money is at last being spent on a wider range of sports, but true results will not be obvious until Athens at soonest. There needs to be a consistent commitment from the government to our Olympic hopefuls and the Sports Academy needs to be up and running.
Luke Penwald, UK

We have seen what a relatively small amount of money can do for the performance of our elite sports people, now what about the grass roots in our country?

  Neil Cleaver, United Kingdom

Great Britain's success at the Sydney Olympics shows what great sporting talent we have in this country. The lottery funding that our athletes have received shows that we never really lacked talent but were hindered by poor facilities, which put us at a disadvantage compared to other nations. Hopefully our Sydney success will be just the start of a British sporting rise. So rather than adopt a typically negative British attitude, let's support our athletes, they have showed what they are capable of!
Will Carr, England

I believe that as a nation we are habitually short termist and quick to take a negative outlook on situations. The performance of our athletes at the Sydney games represents the return on the investment that we have made in our sportsmen and women over the last few years. We have seen what a relatively small amount of money can do for the performance of our elite sports people, now what about the grass roots in our country? We need better facilities and support for our children so that the UK can become the world's greatest sporting nation.
Neil Cleaver, United Kingdom

It just shows what our athletes are capable of when they are on a level playing field with the other top countries. For many years other countries' athletes have been funded for their training, where as many of our lesser known athletes, have had to hold down a day job to pay for their coaching and fares to others countries. Keep up the National lottery funding, and soon we might be challenging the likes of USA, Russia and China.
Greg Edwards, UK

I don't mean to sound like a pariah, but aren't there a great deal more medals to be competed for today than there were in 1924? Are we winning a comparable share of the medals as we did then?
Anthony Swift, UK

With the prospect of reduced funding for all our sportsmen and women this could well be a false dawn

  Ben Huxtable-Smith, UK

A good improvement, yes, but world-beaters, no. All our major European peers rank higher than us in the medals tables (France, Germany, Italy- even Holland). Australia, a country with a fraction of the UK's population are completely outperforming us on a medal for medal basis despite the population disparity between the two companies.
Ross , Japan

We are getting there, but there is still a long way to go and with the prospect of reduced funding for all our sportsmen and women this could well be a false dawn.
Ben Huxtable-Smith, UK

It makes really proud to be British.
Clive Lane, Britain

Although eight gold medals is certainly an improvement from Atlanta, we are still too far behind the rest of the world in certain areas. The British Swimming team were pathetic and our women's field sports are also dismal. It is high time that the support was placed firmly on those sports we lagging behind in.
Kevin Rainey, UK

In many ways we punch above our weight in sports generally. The really obvious thing about the medals table is how it is dominated by wealthy industrialised nations like the UK, that can afford the luxury of diverting resources to ensure medals victories. Countries like India, Brazil, South Africa etc have big populations but individuals with talent are not identified. Perhaps a better question is what can be done to improve the Asian, Latin American and African nations and help them achieve their true sporting potential? Then we would really have a global Olympics.
Ivan Gee, UK

There's no-one below us in the medal table that we can be excited to be ahead of

  Dominic Foster, UK

For once our athletes seem to be just about "punching their weight". The heavyweights of USA, China and Russia are inevitably at the top of the medals table, Australia are riding high on a tidal wave of home support as Spain did in 1992, but of the chasing pack our 21 medals are still less than Germany's 42, France's 33 and Italy's 28. When we can match the investment in people and facilities of our European neighbours, them we should be able to call ourselves a world force. If the momentum can be maintained, there's no reason to think this won't happen at Athens 2004!
Charlie Pearce, UK

It's definitely a huge improvement on Atlanta and the athletes should receive a lot of acclaim. But there's no-one below us in the medal table that we can be excited to be ahead of, and some above us that we should expect to be ahead of based on population and economics.
Dominic Foster, UK

Whilst it's brilliant that we've had such huge improvement in our placings from the last few games, and certainly restored much long-lost national pride in our sportsmen, if we truly want to match the likes of Australia and the USA, we need to have long-term funding and support for our athletes. The Lottery funding has obviously made some difference and this funding should be increased rather than the government plan to reduce it. The atmosphere in the UK has certainly been more buoyant over the last couple of weeks. If the government want to keep this "feel-good" factor, they may do worse than take heed.
Catherine H, UK

I think to put Britain down as a sporting force again would be an act of complacency that tends to contribute to our underachievement. You need to make comparisons with countries of similar population and economic infrastructure. Countries such as France, Italy and Germany have more gold medals than Britain.
Noah All, Algeria

We have had a combination of getting the rub of the green and Lottery sponsorship to thank for our bounty

  Steve Turner, UK

This has been an Olympics, from which Britain can take great encouragement. Medals have come from a wide range of events, showing strength in depth. It's important to build upon this success, and the next step is to try to match the neighbours: France, Italy and Germany.
Stuart Large, Indonesia (British)

The under achievement in past years has been due to lack of funding and facilities. The lottery money, which has been well spent has provided a solid base for the future. This is only a base and must continue to be developed.
Will, England

We have had a combination of getting the rub of the green and Lottery sponsorship to thank for our bounty.
Steve Turner, UK

Congratulations to all our medal winners, but I still feel we are nowhere near a leading sporting nation, despite a good Sydney Olympics. Until our athletes get the support in the form of funding and facilities in this country, we shall never be able to keep up with the US and the Aussies etc.
Paul, UK

We have made a move in the right direction. However, it is imperative that the funding of our athletes across the board is not only maintained, but increased.
Bruce Eyre, UK

I think we should be very proud of all of our Olympians. To compete so well against all the other countries in the world is a great achievement
Phil Atkin, England

We believe that we're having our best games for years and yet we'll still end up behind Germany in the medals table

  Chris Morrissey, UK

Britain are far from the elite. Australia have a quarter of GB's population and yet are well ahead of GB in the medal table. Lottery money will help - but only a bit. The British mentality is not defeatist - it is arrogant. We are still harping on about the war, 1966 and Waterloo - other countries are living in the here and now - and winning in the here and now.
Steve Campbell, United Kingdom

We should congratulate the medal winners of course, who have produced great results for us all to watch. However, one can't fail to notice that for a nation of 56 million people our haul is the same as the Netherlands with only 16 million.
William Lack, England

We should feel justifiably proud of our athletes who have performed well at the Sydney Olympics. This represents a major step forward for British sport and is to be welcomed. It has been a good games for Team GB with some notable successes, of which the country is very proud, but before we can be taken seriously as a major sporting "super-power" there is much to do.
Stuart Robertson, UK

It's amazing how different expectations are between countries. We believe that we're having our best games for years and yet we'll still end up behind Germany in the medals table. Their quest for medals is being deemed as a failure even though they'll finish well ahead of us. And what about Australia? For a country with the population of London this is an amazing achievement. I hope that our success in these games will push us forward and raise our expectations in the future, so that the fourth biggest economy in the world has a medals tally to reflect its size.
Chris Morrissey, UK

I think Britain are doing brilliantly at these Olympic games

  John Copley, UK

Britain has done better and there are grounds to be optimistic for the future. However to put things into perspective, countries with which we should be competing such as France, Germany and Italy are winning 2-3 times more medals than Britain.
Keith Hurdman, Switzerland

Let's not go over the top about our successes, but no-one can doubt the sheer determination of our athletes. Surely these triumphs are related to the recent investment in athletes by the lottery fund. Let's hope its the beginning of even more success.
Martin, Essex, UK

I think Britain are doing brilliantly at these Olympic games, especially as we only got one gold at Atlanta thanks to Steve Redgrave and the others in the rowing. It seems as though we are a long way behind the leaders USA, China and Russia. However, if you look at how many medals a country has won compared to their population, the home team Australia with only 20 million comes top by a long way. Holland and Romania are up there with Australia too if you look at it like this. As for the Brits, we are right up there with the Americans.
John Copley, UK

There have been some inspired performances from some great, established athletes. If this is to be maintained we need to improve at the grass roots level and think long term. We cannot rest on our laurels. Let's build on this and then Britain may one day again be Great.
Kenneth, UK