LONDON, June 30 (Xinhua) -- With the vigorous development of mass sports and "precise investment" in elite sports, Britain, with a population of more than 60 million, has seen its Olympic record rise steadily in the past 20 years. At the upcoming Paris Olympics, the British team should be able to maintain their top five position in the medal table without much deviation, and if they can perform well, it is not a fool's dream to jump to third place.
In the past three Olympic Games, the British delegation has won more than 60 medals and no less than 20 gold medals. Although the Paris Olympics, which will be unveiled in more than 20 days, are not a home battle for them, but the "Eurostar" train from London to Paris is more than 2 hours, and the athletes do not need to travel tirelessly, and the time difference of 1 hour is not worth mentioning.
Sport Britain, the agency responsible for allocating funding for the UK's Olympic and Paralympic programmes, announced their plan at the end of 2020, expecting £352 million (£1 or 9.20 yuan) for a total of 43 Olympic and Paralympic events in the 2021-2025 cycle, with at least two additional allocations in the following years, totalling more than £15 million.
Cycling has long been a key part of the British team's Olympic medal harvest, and the funding allocated in the Paris cycle has increased by more than £3 million to more than £27 million compared to the previous cycle. Whether it's the traditional track, road cycling or the emerging BMX sport, Team Great Britain has a number of gold medals.
From Beijing to Rio, the British team has won no less than 6 gold medals and 9 medals in track cycling in three consecutive Olympic Games.
In addition, Sport Britain has allocated more than £20 million for athletics and rowing during the cycle. Rowing has always been a consistent Olympic gold medal for the British team, with gold medals in every edition from 1984 to 2016. They just confirmed their entry list in early June, and half of the 42 athletes will be competing in the Olympics for the first time. In athletics, the men's 1500m world champion Kerr has high hopes of winning medals in both the men's and women's sprints.
In addition to athletics, the British team also has a number of good swimmers in another fundamental sport, swimming. At the Tokyo Olympics, they won an unprecedented 4 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze, and they were the best teams outside of the two "hegemons" of the United States and Australia. Now, the "Frog King" Peaty is looking to regain his strength after battling depression and alcohol, and Scott, who has won one gold, five silver and six Olympic medals, is also in good form, competing in both freestyle and medley.
As for the niche sport of sailing for Chinese audiences, the sport has been practised in the UK for more than 300 years, with gold medals in six consecutive Olympic Games and a steady number of medals between three and six. Add in the gymnastics of veteran Whitlock, the diving of Daley, and the skateboarding led by 15-year-old Brown, and even if the gold medal count is 20 years old, it should be a reasonable goal for Great Britain to maintain a total medal count of more than 60 at the Paris Olympics.
In the medal table, although it is difficult for the British team to compete with the United States and China, it is a strong competitor for the host French team, as well as Australia, Germany, Japan and other teams.